Do we need such a lot of ministers?

President Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed 37 State Ministers on September 8, 2022; 48 days after he appointed his 18-member Cabinet.  This probably signifies the end of the hue and cry over the so-called “All-Party Government.” In spite of a few members of Parliament from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) having absorbed into the new Cabinet and the State Ministers, the new appointments placed the government and the country firmly in the hands of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) again.
In an attempt to hold off the criticism over these appointments at a time the country is reeling under an unprecedented economic crisis, members of the government ranks are arguing that these appointments would not be a burden to the people. They claim that the new State ministers would not accept their salaries and perks entitled to them, but only those entitled to an MP. 

United National Party (UNP) Chairman Vajira Abeywardena who was appointed to the Party’s solitary National List slot which was held by President Wickremesinghe before he was elected to the top most post had stated during a newspaper interview that as the government elected at the last Parliamentary election has not been able to fulfill anything during the period from 2020 to 2022 due to the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of State ministers should definitely be appointed to serve the people. The argument implies that the government was unable to serve the people amidst the economic crisis and the pandemic due to the absence of State ministers. It is very flimsy, as there were two sets of State ministers under Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency. It is almost the same group that President Wickremesinghe has re-appointed as State ministers. 

President’s office has given instructions to trim the expenses of the State ministries, but not advised to forgo all perks. Despite it having not alluded to the personal perks of the State ministers, it says that private Secretaries of State ministers are entitled to an official vehicle and two vehicles for other support staff of the minister.  Nevertheless, the question arises here as to why the seven SLFP Parliamentarians broke ranks to join the government even without informing their leader, if they do not financially gain anything. On the other hand, no minister had complained that he cannot serve the people without State ministers or deputy ministers. Media reports have been saying for the past several weeks that it was the SLPP that has been demanding to appoint State ministers for obvious reasons.  

The government is going to appoint another 12 Cabinet Ministers as well, according to media reports. Hence, the possibility of a set of Deputy Ministers being appointed cannot be ruled out. If so, we are going to see all these at a time when the prices of almost all essential items have shot up threefold, or at least twofold, during the past one year. UNICEF says that malnutrition in Sri Lanka is highest in the region. And the rationale behind the number of State ministers compared to that of Cabinet ministers is incomprehensible. Also not clear is the basis for appointing two or three ministers for particular ministries. 

It is no secret that the people are facing severe economic hardships. The countries and international financial organizations have bluntly stated that this fate befell the country due to mismanagement, corruption and waste. They are very serious about these aspects in their document about Sri Lanka. The UNHRC refers to “economic crimes” that brought in the current mess in the country.  The politicians of the current administration, except for the President justified all those “crimes” when they were committed for the past three years. The World Bank now wants to audit the accounts relating to the procurement of fertilizer using its funds by those appointed by the Bank. Such is our leaders’ credibility among the international community. 

Hence, if they do not feel the humiliation, the leaders of the country have at least to give the donor countries and the international financial institutions an assurance that the funds they disburse in the country would not be defrauded or wasted, if they are to bail out the country.