Ceylon Chamber proposes key reforms to create effective, efficient, independent public sector

• Says proposals were drafted by Public Sector Reforms Committee after careful analysis of constitution 
• Proposals aimed at ensuring formal checks and balances within public sector
• Objective is to transform public sector into a people-centric arm of state 

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has put forward a series of proposals to bring about the necessary reforms to ensure Sri Lanka has an effective, efficient and independent public sector that would help the progression of the national economy.  The proposals, drafted by the Committee on Public Sector Reforms of the CCC, after careful analysis of the constitution, were presented to the policymakers recently. 

In a statement to the media yesterday, the CCC said the identified proposals are aimed at ensuring formal checks and balances within the public sector and improving efficiency, in order to transform the public sector into a people-centric arm of the state.  The first proposal is the re-establishment of the Constitutional Council (CC) with wider powers (similar to the 19th Amendment). Calling for the CC to be reintroduced through an amendment to the constitution, the chamber said the majority of the members of the council should be independent citizens and be appointed through the approval of Parliament. 

The second is limiting the number of Cabinet ministers to no more than 20 members. In addition to removing state ministries, the CCC recommended limiting the size of the ministries by clustering the existing subjects with the same number of deputy ministers.  

The CCC shared a newly developed mechanism with regard to the appointment of secretaries to ministries, so that the process is fair, subject to open competition and does not have any political interference.  

Stressing the need for the pool to be larger than the number of slots available at any given time, the CCC suggested that appointments should not have a fixed term and could change with the government to reflect the mandate given by the people. If the Cabinet ceases to hold office, the ministry secretaries should stay on till new secretaries are appointed, without hindering the regular operations of ministries and institutions under them, it said. 

The performance evaluation of ministry secretaries should be carried out by a five-member panel based on certain pre-determined criteria.  

The fourth proposal put forward is for a provision to be made to appoint a secretary to the president following a prescribed procedure as proposed for a ministry secretary. The president may have the discretion to appoint a private secretary, a media secretary, three coordinating secretaries, five consultants and five non-executive grade private staff members totalling to 15 staff members, the CCC said, pointing out the allocation positions are the maximum that can be appointed.  

For ministers, the staff should be limited to a maximum number of five members, with the addition of a personal driver. The five-member staff should ideally include an economic advisor, relevant subject knowledge advisor, political advisor, private secretary and coordinating secretary, the chamber suggested.  The need to re-establish the National Procurement Commission (NPC) as an independent commission, with wider powers under an amendment to the constitution, was highlighted.  

The NPC should have a facilitating, advisory and monitoring role but not a regulatory, where it can issue penalties. The CCC asserted these functions must be applicable for the pre/during/post-procurement process. It should also not have executive powers, where they have the ability to stop procurement activities, as this can lead to delays in the procurement process, the CCC stressed.  On the declaration of assets and liabilities of MPs and public officials, the CCC noted the declaration can be done via an online system, thereby keeping the information confidential. Such an online system can be designed to detect anomalies in declarations, the CCC said. If anomalies between declarations are detected, the chamber suggested that a third party with the relevant expertise should be called in to review the declarations.  

Further, the CCC stressed the need for the MPs to declare their assets before they take oaths and make subsequent declarations each year by December 31. If the assets are not declared initially before oaths, then the public nominee should not be able to take oaths.  

Lastly, for MPs who are appointed as chairmen of District and Divisional Development Councils and are given additional vehicles and allowances, the CCC asserted the need for these costs and allowances to be curtailed.