CITIZENS’ RIGHT TO EFFICIENT,

EFFECTIVE AND RESPONSIVE

GOVERNANCE

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION IN MODERN STATE AND AN OVERVIEW OF
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN SRI LANKA

A.M. Navaratna Bandara

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 CITIZENS’ RIGHT TO EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE AND RESPONSIVE
GOVERNANCE:
AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN MODERN
STATE AND AN OVER VIEW OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN SRI LANKA

A. M. Navaratna-Bandara

UNIVERSITY OF PERADENIYA
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
PERADENIYA
AUGUST 2009

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction - Governance and Public Administration … … 01

2. Role of public Administration in Modern State … … … 07

3. Best Administrative Delivery Practices in Other Countries … … 16

4. The Public Administrative System in Sri Lanka – An Overview… … 25

5. The Constitution and the Public Administration in Sri Lanka … … 34

6. Citizens’ Perception towards the Public Administration in Sri Lanka … 43

7. Conclusion - Right to Efficient, Effective and Responsive Governance … 52

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Preface

This report is prepared to facilitate an informed civil society dialogue on “Citizens’ right to
efficient, effective and responsive administrative governance”. The report discusses the role of
public administration in modern state focusing on the citizens’ rights perspective. It also
includes an overview of the public administration system in Sri Lanka and a report based on a
survey conducted on the public perceptions of the public administration in Sri Lanka.

The study was conducted on the invitation of the National Democratic Institution for
International Affairs (NDIA). Reading material was prepared and will be used for an informed
dialogue process to be organized by them on the following themes:

1. The Rights to Efficient and Effective Governance

2. The Right to Responsive Governance

3. Effective and efficient Implementation of state decisions

As the study progresses with a field survey on administrative delivery system in selected
locations we have expanded the study adding some new aspects such as citizenship and public
administration, the public administration system in Sri Lanka, the constitution and the public
administration in Sri Lanka. I would like to thank Mr. S. Balakrishnan of NDI for his patience
while I completed this complex task.

AM Navaratna-Bandara
August 2009

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1 – INTRODUCTION - GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1.1 Prelude
Governance has been defined in the social science literature as the process through which the
government conveys its laws and policy decisions to society. According to these interpretations
governance occurs in at least three broad ways: through networks involving public and private
sectors partnership; through the use of market; and through the public administration. The
present report, concerns the public administration which plays a crucial role in the process of
governance.

A wide spectrums of activities take place within the public administration when translating the
laws and policies made by the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government into
action. The public administration of a country is the business-end of government through which
the costs and benefits are measured for the efficient and effective use of public resources in
implementing the public policies and laws. It is the delivery point from which the people receive
public goods and services produced by these policies and laws.

In modern democratic governments the members of public administration are accountable to the
citizens of the country and obliged to serve them efficiently, effectively and economically with
entrepreneurial skills. “This is derived from the intellectual foundation that is based on the
concept of ‘public’ which represents the citizens. For its material or financial existence the
public administration depends on citizens as taxpayers” (M. Shamsul Haque, Relationship
between citizenship and Public Administration: Reconfiguration”, International Review of
Administrative Sciences, SAGE Publication, 1999, Vol. 65(3)309-325, p.325). The practical
obligation of the public administration is the realization of the needs and expectations of its
citizens. “Hence the essence of public administration lies in the principles of citizenship. In
democratic societies, it is the unique relationship of public administration with citizens that
maintains its public identity, reinforces its legitimacy, sets its ethical standards, determines its
roles and duties and distinguishes it from business management in the private sector” (Ibid.).

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The work of public administration is experienced by the thousands of people who make daily
visits to the administrative organizations of the state. Most of them are visiting these places to
receive the public goods and public services for which they have paid for through taxation.
Apart from that the citizens who participate in market activities, non-profit ventures also
experience the actions of public administrations as they have to follow the rules imposed by
these administrators. Actually the actions and non-actions by these people in the public
organizations are crucial for making things happen in government. The political leadership
through the legislature and executive institutions “…may pass all the laws they wish but unless
those laws are administered effectively by the public administrators little or nothing will actually
happen” (B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre, Introduction: The Role of Public Administration in
Governing in B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre (eds.) Hand Book of Public Administration, SAGE,
Los Angeles, p.01).

There is “…a massive amount of administrative activities involved in facilitating laws” (Ibid)
and policies made by politicians into action and in delivering public programmes to citizens by
the public administration. As such some have identified public administration as the executive
arm of government. The traditional approaches to public administration argued that the public
administration as the executive arm of the government had to be involved with all tasks related to
the implementation of law and public policy. These traditional approaches to public
administration also highlighted the importance of the setting of standards to the work of public
servants in order to provide equal treatment to the citizens as well as to reduce errors in
administration. This so called “forward mapping” approach has produced more procedures and
controls on the work of street-level administrators who are responsible for translating laws and
policies into actions. The outcome of these approaches is to anchor the public administration
with a formal organization called bureaucracy which gives first place to the centralized decision
making and top-down process of governance. As such these traditional approaches have been
criticized as rigid, inflexible, ineffective and unresponsive to the needs of citizens. In recent
years more society and citizen centered perspectives have been introduced and we are now
discerning beyond the traditional law and policy implementation perspectives.

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In the 1970s an advocacy movement calling itself “New Public Administration (NPA) emerged
emphasizing the need to give more freedom to the street level administrators in making decisions
that meet the demands of the poor and minorities who were not originally accommodated in the
decisions taken at the power centers. The movement blamed the existing system for giving pre-
eminence to the well-being of the organization and not to the well-being of the people at the
receiving-end of the system.

Since the 1980s we have been experiencing another reform movement which puts emphasizes on
the management of resources, performance appraisals, responsive governance and citizen
participation. This movement is called New Public Management (NPM). It has been proposed
to restore the legitimacy and effectiveness of government. Central to the NPM is an emphasis on
performance and greater responsiveness to citizens and their needs. Hence citizenship has a pre-
eminent place in the present day administrative governance.

According to T.H. Marshal, one of the pioneers in studying the changing perspectives of
citizenship in the modern era “…citizenship as a status bestowed on those who are full members
of community” envisages “equal status for all the citizens with respect to the rights and duties”
(Quoted in Ruth Lister, Citizenship: Towards a feminist synthesis, Feminist Review, No.57,
Autumn, 1997, pp.28-48, p.27). The modern citizenship envisages participation in the
government decision-making for every citizen of the country and the right to equitable access to
the services offered in government. The public administration system and its members employed
by the state, (utilizing huge chunks of the tax money collected from its citizens have a
responsibility to provide quality service to the latter.

Jane Erik-Lane, one of the authorities in the modern “state management” has named the modern
state as a “workfare state’ ((Jan-Erik Lane, State Management, Routledge, London, 2009,
pp.118-121) because of the present day state’s involvement in vast amount of public work in
order to fulfill the “social objectives”. The ultimate outcome of this broadening of state activities

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is compelling the delivery centres, handled by the public administrators, to accommodate
citizens’ rights, good governance, human rights and human security in their work practices.

In Sri Lanka the political debate has been around the constitutional reforms since the late 1980s.
There is a tendency among the public as well as the opinion makers to equate politics with
dramatic events such as elections and conflicts between different political groupings. One of the
lacunas in these debates is the role played by the public administration in the process of
governing. The only exception was the 17th amendment to the constitution passed in 2001 in
which an attempt was made to rescue public administration from political interference. However,
the drive towards the passing of this piece of legislation was not taken with a pro-citizenship
perspective.

At present we have 225 members in the national parliament. If all the members of other
representative institutions in the country added to this number the total does not exceed even
2000. On the other hand, in the public administration arena, more than 800,000 employees are
working for the government. The majority of them are street-level bureaucrats, meaning public
officers serving in the institutions that deliver public goods and services to the people. These
street level people are serving in the District and Divisional Secretariats, Grama Niladhari
Offices, Police Stations, Schools and Field offices of the departments belonging to the central,
provincial and local level governments.

In the Appropriation Bill (the Government Budget) presented to the Parliament in 2009 the
government has allocated Rs.66,402 million for the salaries of the employees in the General
Public Service (if we add the enrolments of employees in the Foreign Service this total goes up
to Rs.155,381 million). However, the general feeling in society is that the country’s
administrative systems is unproductive, inefficient and not up to the standards hence a burden for
the tax payer. These complaints or perceptions of the public are sometimes based on the
opinions of others or their own affective orientations which they have developed in their life time
in relation to their personal experience. Some of these weaknesses are systemic and thus related

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to the formal structures necessitated by the principles governing the modern system of
government. Some are emanating from the cultural context we all are associated with.

Therefore it is our view that the general public as the citizens of this country must be educated on
the main currents attached to the administrative process of the country as well as the historical
and international experiences related to public sector management to have an objective
assessment of these perceptions.

1.2 THE ARRANGENMENT OF THE REPORT

This report is written to facilitate a public dialogue on the rights perspectives as identified in the
previous section. The report offers information and discussions useful to the general public to
understand:
(a). the nature and scope of the public administration in the modern state, the best practices
developed in other countries for the delivery of public services and global standards adopted by
the international institutions for the public administrative system of the modern state focusing on
citizens’ rights
(b). the system of public administration in Sri Lanka focusing on the historical settings (inclusive
of both colonial and post-colonial experiences), the constitutional, administrative and political
framework in which the system has to operate, the issues relating to the establishment of
citizenship based governance system in Sri Lanka, and
(c). the formal and informal processes of the administrative delivery system in Sri Lanka
focusing on the field study conducted by the authors of this report as well as the related studies
recently done by others.

The report is divided into three sections. Section one presents an overview of the role of public
administration in the modern state and the recent reforms implemented in other countries which
provide best practices for delivering public services as well as the international standards related
to the public administrative systems. Section two presents an overview of the public
administrative system in Sri Lanka, and the constitutional provisions related to the public
administrative delivery system in Sri Lanka. Section three contains two chapters. The first

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chapter is based on the information gathered from the field survey conducted during July-August
2009. It focuses on the peoples’ perception based on their affective-orientation towards the
public administration and the formal as well as informal processes attached to the delivery
system. The last chapter surveys definitions of the thematic focuses of the report, namely,
efficiency, effectiveness, equity and responsiveness. It will lead to a discussion on the rights
perspective attached to these value outcomes.

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 SECTION – I

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2 – ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN MODERN STATE

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Administration is “an activity concerned with getting things done” (Luther Gullick, see M.P.
Sharma, Public Administration in Theory and Practice, Kitab Mahal, Allahabad, p.37). It is
basically an act of management that involves planning, organizing, staffing, directing,
coordinating, recording and the budgeting activities of an institution. The state institutions which
undertake these managerial activities are placed under the leadership of a political executive and
they are called public administrators.

However, the most important function assigned to the administrators in the modern government
is “systematic and detailed implementation of public law and public policy as decided by a
competent authority” (Leonard White, Quoted in Ibid., p.36). Since the public policy making is
targeted at public problems which are beyond the efforts of individuals in society the public
administrators, as the implementers of public policy, must fulfill the objectives of these policies
by delivering the expected goods and services to the people equally, ensuring equitable
distribution among them. In the administrative theory and practice developed with the
advancement of popular democracy it was accepted that the public administration must be
carried out by professional and politically neutral administrators. The principle of politically
neutrality was advocated on the grounds that the position of the public official should be
organized as a “Public Trust” and the implementation of public policy required certain
“technical” and “business” skills that should be handled without political or any other divisive
considerations. The notion of a non-political administrator later became generally accepted and
was recognized as a necessary pre-condition for the success of democratic governance. The
improvement of technical and business capacities in the public administration has been accepted
even today as the most important criterion of measuring the success of democracy as it facilitates
efficient and effective use of public resources and energies to deliver quality service to the
people.

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2.2 NATURE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Although the above managerial activities are common to the public, private and non-profit
sectors, the things to be administered by the administrative organizations of the state are different
from those of private or non-profit organizations. The task of public administration can be better
understood if we compare the nature of public and private sectors.

The administrative organizations belonging to the state have to operate within a political
environment while the organizations belonging to private sector operate within the market.
Consequently there are marked differences between the functions of the public administration
and the business administration. The administrative organizations belonging to the private sector
function with competitive partners and basically deal with the economics. On the other hand the
administrative organizations of the State are monopolistic and basically deal with politics. These
differences may be attributed to the fundamentals affixed to the State which is a political entity
and a territorially based organization that exercises the supreme authority over the individuals
and the organizations within its territory by monopolizing the use of violence. It sometimes goes
beyond the democratic norms and takes actions which may be imperative for the maintenance of
its authority in the political society. These basic political characteristics of a nation state have
not diminished in the current era though we have developed democratic norms and global
constrains to contain the repressive roles played by the state. As such, in the era of globalization
of democratic norms one of the most crucial issues related to the public administration is how we
organize the administrative system to serve public goods and promote public interest while
serving the state to impose its authority over the population.

2.3 The crucial issue areas of public sector management

Jane-Erik Lane, one of the authorities on modern public management, in his most recent analysis
of public sector management and administration argues that the modern state has become a
“workfare state” and the functions assigned to its administrative arm are delivering of public
services, paying for social security and respecting the rule of law(2009, p.i). He identifies the
following aspects in order to locate the crucial functional areas to be attended to by the
contemporary state administration (descriptions and the last two points are added):

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 1. Imposition of public regulations - the crucial issue is how to offer efficient service to the
people while maintaining this regulatory environment;
2. Relationship between the law and the state – the crucial issue is how to impose the law of
the land in the best interests of the people;
3. Combining ecology and policy-making – the crucial issue is how to keep a balance
between the natural resources and the development objectives (however, the crucial issue
in the developing world is how to safeguard the integrity of an administrative system
from the forces that are inherent to the most dynamic aspects of the ecology that are
social forces which influence the system to deviate from standard practices in favour of
their vested interests);
4. Multi-level governance – the crucial issue is allocation of power and resources among the
different levels of government and how to distribute the public goods and services
resulting from that allocation through the public administration reaching the remote and
marginalized corners of society;
5. Public, private and NGO partnership – the crucial issue is how to persuade the private
and NGO sectors to support the government organizations in providing services which
cannot be totally handed over to the private sector or to the NGOs;
6. Policy implementation – the crucial issue is how policy making would accommodate the
different interests represented in the different layers in the policy networks in society;
7. Serving the citizens – the crucial issue is how to fulfill the role of government in
protecting and fulfilling citizen’s rights categorized into civil, political, social, economic
and cultural;
8. Protection of the human and fundamental rights of people – this is the key measuring
instrument to be used in assessing each of the issue areas named above.

2.4 MAJOR ROLES TO BE PLAYED BY THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The above issues can be understood in relation to the different roles played by the public
administrative system of a country. These roles are associated with the following:
1. Enforcement of power and authority of the State – it is the administrative
organization that has to impose the will of the state by implementing the laws passed

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 by the state institutions using both cohesive and integrative powers, fostering the rule
of law principle.
2. Custodian of State Resources – as the Custodian of State Resources the key
responsibility is to defy political and other societal pressures so as not to misuse
public resources.
3. Policy Advising – the key responsibility is to help society to enlarge the existing
conceptual map for the advancement of social, economic and technological
development of the country by advising the ministers on matters relating to policy
formulation.
4. Executive Arm of the government – the public administration system is the arm of the
government which implements laws passed by the legislators and execute the public
policies, programmes and plans as decided by the political executive. The key
responsibility is not just making them clearer but also to identify detailed
implementation with the technical perfection attached to the delivery of their outputs.
5. Resources management – the public administration system is responsible for handling
human and material resources belonging to the State efficiently, effectively and
economically, thus the key responsibility is to economize the use of resources
focusing on cost-benefits, value of money and finally lessening the burden to the
tax-payers.
6. Service Delivery of the government – it is the public administration system which
delivers public services that have social objectives and thereby cannot be
administered by the private sector. It is difficult to handle even by the organized
efforts of civil society and thus the key responsibility is to serve its citizens
responding to their demands efficiently and diligently.
7. Mediator of public interests – the public administration system has to act as a “go
between” the state and the private and NGO sectors. In turn it must build
partnerships for delivering services required by society.

When examining the key responsibilities attached to these different roles it is not difficult to
understand the complexities surrounding the public administrative system of a country and also

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the several Principals to be served by the public administrative system. If we apply the modern
Principal-Agent approach the members of public administration system have four Principals to
serve, namely, the State, the government, society and the individual citizen. However the most
crucial question today is how does public administration get these different jobs done for these
different Principals while providing a better service to the citizen who is the most important
principal actor? In this regard we have two main perspectives to look at in the public
administration of modern government. They are the rule of law principle and the modern
conception of citizenship.

2.5 RULE OF LAW AND THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The issues of public policy and citizenship cannot be solved on the assumption that a
government exists only to serve public goods or promote public interest. Although in the
modern era the government has been functioning as an institution of policy making in order to
organize the efficient use of energies available for society, it cannot avoid the most primordial
function of the government, which is to protect and enforce the sovereignty of state. However, at
present this function is closely linked to the rule of law principle as the people have been
recognized as the source of power of the state.

Rule of law is an essential element in modern government. Constitutional democracy cannot

function properly without it. Even the regimes which do not follow democratic governance
maintain some sort of rule of law framework. There are certain rules of law requirements that
have to be followed by the public administration. These requirements restrain the activities of
public administration to a certain extent thereby making the formal structure or bureaucracy an
essential requirement for its actions.

The following are some important requirements that are to be adhered by the public
administration for the imposition of rule of law (adopted from Jane-Erik Lane, p.05):
(a). Procedural accountability: meaning that the administrative decisions must be taken in
accordance with established and known procedures; thus public administration cannot work
thorough informal organizations; it needs a formal structure and any deviation must be within the

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accountability procedures within the formal structure. The tendency to reduce the service
delivery process to rule following exercise is unavoidable.

(b). Legality: meaning that the administrative decisions must follow the law of the country that
either permits or requires the state administration to act; thus the most important aspect is law of
the country; hence Constitution and Acts of Parliament have a role to play in organizing the
services offered to the people. Any lacuna in the law might give more freedom to the
administrators to use their discretion which is a requirement for the public servants to do their
job perfectly; then the benevolence administrators are essential to offer efficient public service to
the people

(c). Complaint and redress: administrative decisions must be capable of filing a complaint,
expressing their grievances and seeking redress or compensation; thus the decisions of public
administration are subjected to the investigations and inquiries by the public bodies represented
by the people. The establishment of public complaint and redress procedures become the most
important element to be included within the work process of public administration. Institutional
mechanisms like the OMBUDSMAN, the National Human Rights Commission, the Judiciary
and administrative tribunals become essential requirements of the administrative system

(d). Inquiry and responsibility: the agents taking administrative decisions and providing public
services must accountable and responsible for their actions or non actions; thus the actions of
members of the public administration must be regulated by rules and regulations in order to
make their decisions transparent.

2.6 CITIZENSHIP AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century BC stated in his ‘Politics' that “a citizen is not a
citizen because he lives in a certain place, for resident aliens and slaves share in the place”
(Aristotle, Politics c340 BCC, Book III, Internet Ancient History Source Book). Rather, he went
on to say, the special characteristic of a citizen is that he “shares in the administration of justice,
and in [public] offices (Ibid.).” Aristotle's definition leads to the conclusion that a citizenship

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status is fully realized when the citizens become active participants of decision making in the
public service and also the recipients of social rewards deriving from that participation.

The difference between Aristotle’s “Athenian citizenship” and modern citizenship is that
modern citizenship is a universal legal entitlement of all legitimate residents of the State. At
least in theory, it transcends class and other social differentiation patterns. It offers national
identity common to all the legitimate residents of the state territory on the basis of common
citizenship. In addition it is embedded with certain political, economic, civil, social and cultural
rights. This redefinition of citizenship was not spontaneous. It occurred due to the spread of free
market, industrialization, modernity, information technology, global values of good governance
and human rights. The social movements that followed the ideological streams of liberalism and
socialism and the emergence of an international system promoting human rights also contributed
to this redefinition of citizenship.

As such the modern citizenship is closely associated with the rights of citizens. Citizenship rights
initially identified political, civil and social rights. “Political rights include the right to vote and
secret ballot, right to hold positions in government etc. Civil rights include freedom of speech,
religion and assembly. Basically civil rights are meant to protect the citizens’ civil life from the
state power; political rights provide the citizens degree of control over the State; and social rights
are the entitlements of citizens to be protected by the government. Social rights by definition are
group rights and envisage minimum standards of health and welfare, including health and
unemployment insurance, public pensions and social services for individual citizens” (see Bart
van Steenbergen, The Condition of Citizenship, SAGE Publication Ltd., London, pp.02-03).
Since social rights help to build a social life of citizens the state has to play a proactive role.

In the second part of the 20th century economic rights were added to the citizen’s rights
discourse. They have created two different ways of enjoying citizens’ rights. Since the
delivering of economic rights is associated with the market, the citizen has to become an
economic man in order to secure his or her economic rights. On the other hand a citizen has to
become a political man to deal with the state’s obligation of civil, political and economic rights.
Although the economic man attempts to maximize his/her interest in the market the political man

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cannot maximize his/her private interest as the state is responsible for the maximization of public
interests. Thus the State has to play different roles in the two spheres.

The political and civil rights are negative rights, meaning, they seek from the state not to obstruct
the enjoyment of these rights but to respect and protect them. Contrary to that social and
economic rights are positive rights, meaning, they seek from the state to play a proactive role.
Social rights are claims of citizens from the state. In order to guarantee the economic rights the
state must facilitate the market to do the job and build partnerships with the private and the non-
profit sectors. On the other hand State should empower the citizen to deal with the market forces
and intervene in market failures.

The above examination on redefinition of citizenship in the modern era points to the fact that the
public administration, as the executive arm of the government, has a greater responsibility in
guaranteeing citizenship rights. As the citizenship rights perspective identifies the state as the
“Duty-Bearer” the state obligations to these rights become the moral and legal responsibilities of
the agents of state, namely, the public officers. Most of the functions related to the rule of law as
identified in the previous section such as procedural accountability, legality, complaint and
redress and Inquiry and responsibility comply with the claims of citizens to share public offices
through decision making, decision implementation and access to the services delivered by these
public offices.

The transformation in the meaning of citizenship has influenced the governing institutions to
lock it into the social fabric of the state. Consequently citizenship has became not just a bundle
of rights but a process by which citizens actually participate in governance. This participation is
essential for its citizens as the access to these rights are closely related to the bargaining
capacities of citizens. In this regard the formal arrangements in the governing process for
citizens to participate in the decision-making, decision-implementation and receiving goods and
services plays a crucial role. The formal arrangements are included in the constitutional
provisions, administrative regulatory arrangements and the capacities provided for the
administrative organization.

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Finally the public administration acting as the linkage point between the state and citizens as its
members cannot just rely on the formal system to do their job. They must assist the people to
achieve full citizenship by becoming an active partner in government as concerned and informed
citizens. This cannot be done unless they are ready to protect the peoples’ right to efficient,
effective and equitable governance. It is a proven fact that the street-level administrators have
certain discretion to re-interpret and reinvent the policies when they attend to the day to day
activities. Hence the culture of administrators, i.e. their attitudes, mindsets and commitment can
also play a role in shaping the way they implement the policies of government and the delivery
of services to the citizens.

The general acceptance in the recent discourses on the role of public administration is that when
facilitating the citizens’ participation in the affairs of government, the public administration must
accommodate such values as integrity, transparency and accountability in delivering services to
the people (Elia Armstrong, Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in Public
Administration: Recent Trends, Regional and International Development and Emerging Issues,
United Nations, 2005, p.01). Here “integrity refers to honesty, trustworthiness in the discharge
of official duties. They work against corruption and the abuse of office; transparency refers to
free access by the citizens to timely and reliable information on decisions taken and services
available in the administrative institution and the performance in the public sector; accountability
refers to the obligations on the part of public officials to report on the usage of public resources
and answerability for failing to meet stated performance objectives” (Ibid.).

This discussion has identified the crucial areas to be considered when discussing the rights
issues in relation to the public administration. In the next chapter we will be examining the
international standards and best practices in other countries with a particular focus on New
Public Management methods adopted.

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3 - BEST DELIVERY PRACTICES IN OTHER COUNTRUES

3.1 INTRODUCTION

In recent years many countries around the globe have attempted at reforms to improve the
service delivery and management performance in the public sector. These reforms were aimed at
the establishment of administrative service which cost less for the citizens and served them better
with business type management practices. The trend was to adopt as far as possible private sector
management practices to produce a customer friendly service delivery system as well as to focus
on a value for money concept.

The most publicized recent reform process is called New Public Management (NPM). These
reforms started in Britain and the United States in the 1980s and later moved to other countries.
NPM comes with a wide range of reforms from which the public service may choose to reduce
bureaucracy. The main elements of NPM are geared towards restructuring the public sector in
order to introduce competition, better financial management and performance evaluation based
on a service delivery system. The objective is to produce smaller faster-moving service delivery
organizations that would prosper by the pressure of competition. But their survival would not
only depend on their financial and managerial performances but also on the user responsiveness
too. When the Information Technology Revolution emerged, these public service reforms were
incorporated into a new dimension called E-Governance. This has created proactive governance
which attempts to allow citizens access to public service through electronic means.

The United Nations Organization is also involved in helping its members to improve the delivery
of services to the people. The United Nations established a Public Administration Network
Mission to promote the sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices throughout the
world in sound public policies, effective public administration and efficient civil services. After
evaluating the recent reforms in the Commonwealth Countries one scholar has identified eight
subjects that can lead to better public service in the world, namely:
(1). Restructuring of the public service
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(2). Reexamining the political/administrative interface
(3). Maintaining high ethical standards and an intolerance for corruption
(4). Reviewing the role and responsibilities of Public Service Commissions
(5). Consideration of the value and impact of performance standards
(6). Exploring the contribution of partnerships, not just with the private sector but beyond
(7). Maintaining high quality services and,
(8). Proposal to develop an index of public sector competence (A.S. bin Abdul Ahmad, Best
Practices in Public Administration: Experiences from Commonwealth Countries in Mazlin
Ahmad (ed.), Public Service Management: Achieving Quality Service in the 21st Century,
National Institute of Public Administration, Public Service Department, Malaysia, 1998, p.2
(pp.2-10) .

These reforms formulas are followed by many countries and have introduced some good
practices from which we can learn from. We will get a better understanding of the public service
reforms and the necessary best practices that need to be adopted for the improvement of a public
service delivery system in Sri Lanka.

3.2 REFORMS AND BEST PRACTICES IN OTHER COUNTRIES

3.2.1 The NPM based reforms

The NPM based Civil service reforms prevailed in the 1980s in advanced capitalists democracies
as a responce to the poor performance of civil service evident in expanded government size, over
expenditure in wage bills, unaccountability of civil servants etc. The main concern of civil
service reform programmes (administered by these countries) was to deal with the heavy
financial burden created by the public service system, which was identified as one of the major
weaknesses of the public service. The failure to deliver expected policy outcomes compelled the
policy makers in these societies to focus on the public sector expenditure from the point of view
of Value for Money (VFM).

The idea of reinventing government emerged in the 1980s focusing weak concern on the public
sector expenditure. As the liberalization of economies activated the market and the private
22 | P a g e
sector brought new management practices producing wider space for the domestic economies
,the public sector had to rethink the centuries old bureaucratic practices which did not match
with the new economic drive in the country. In this context the public sector expenditures had
been identified as a burden to the people. In practice, this led to a re-examination of the
performance of public sector using the criterion used by the private sector and an introduction of
reforms attempting to reduce the cost of the civil service by reducing the size of its civil service.
On the one hand this facilitated the introduction of decentralized budgetary management systems
and citizen/customer/client focused practices following market methods on the other.

The NPM reform is a process which is still spreading all over the world. It is a new pattern of
governance associated with the use of a wide range of different “tools” and with a reliance on
third parties to manage and deliver government services. It first originated in western countries
and gradually spread to non western countries. The NPM reforms have been far-reaching and
have been sighted as one of the most important developments in western governments especially
in the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), like
Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom. NPM is often seen as public sector reforms that
are motivated by public hostility to government, shrinking budgets, and the imperatives of
globalization. It was seen as an Anglo Saxon phenomenon because the early reformers were
Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia and to some extent the USA. However, during the 1980s
and the 1990s the NPM reforms were carried out, on an almost global scale.

3.2.2 The reforms in the United Kingdom

The reforms made in UK during the government of Margret Thatcher were initially identified as
an effort to reduce the expenditure of the public sector. The government commenced the reform
programme claiming that the public servants were enjoying a privileged status and earning good
money without much labour as there were no performance based pay system in the government.
The government announced that it was interested in changing the managerial style of the public
service to make the system more competitive and citizen friendly.

The reform process was based on the conception that the administrative man in the public
organizations like his counterpart - the economic man in the market makes attempt to maximize
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his self-interest such as wealth, status, prestige and comfort. Hence the public interest based old
organizations had to adopt new management principles such as performance based pay,
decentralized budgets, customer satisfaction and market methods. Finally it facilitated a
fundamental change in the management culture and restructuring of the administrative system
that existed since the 19th century.

First the government sent the public servants who where involved in delivering services into
smaller service delivery centres called Executive Agencies. The Senior Managers had to become
the policy making core of the ministries, and the Agency Heads who were recruited through
competition from the Senior Managers of the public and private sectors, had to sign contracts
with the ministries to full their demands. As such the Senior Public Servants who were working
with the ministers to formulate public policy were now responsible for dealing with Executive
Agencies which accept the supply side of the government and the direct demands coming from
the public.

These new service delivery centres the Executive Agencies, whose main function is to undertake
the services assigned to them under these profitable contracts, act effectively as private firms.
The Executive Agencies have now become firms within the government undertaking public
service delivery as business activities undertaken for profit. The citizens pay directly to get the
services provided. However, it was the government that undertook to the use payment on behalf
of the citizens. Finally the British Government managed to reduce its workforce by nearly 40%
and save millions of pounds by eliminating many procedures which cost more for the
government to purchase than it required. The government budgetary expenditure was reduced
drastically as the Executive Agencies were now functioning as “income driven and cost-
recovery” institutions. The government too became customers of these institutions.

One of the social outcomes of the NPM process was the introduction of a Citizen Charters. The
term ‘Citizen’ in the Citizen’s Charter implies the clients or customers whose interests and
values are addressed by the Citizen’s Charter and, therefore, includes not only the citizens but
also all the stakeholders. The Citizen’s Charter is a bond of honor between the public service
and citizens, and safeguards the right of citizens to enjoy quality and high-standard services. At
the same time it gives satisfaction to public servants for the services they provide to the public.
24 | P a g e
The Citizen’s Charter is not legally enforceable. However, it is a tool for facilitating the delivery
of services to citizens with specified standards. The main objective of the Citizen's Charter is to
improve the quality of its public services. On the basis of the Citizen’s Charter, public services
are obliged:

 to inform the public in detail on the kind of services they provide

 to define and publicize standards of services
 to be easily accessible and friendly to the citizen and to provide adequate information
 to explain the options afforded and give correct advice to the public
 to be courteous and forthcoming in providing services and to rectify mistakes

The Citizen’s Charter is not a document which contains only theoretical and general principles
and aims. On the contrary, it contains specific provisions and sets out specific obligations for the
public services, e.g. the period of time within which the department has the obligation to reply,
the type of information to be given etc. A Citizens' Charter represents the commitment of the
organization towards a certain standard, quality and specified time frame of service delivery,
grievance redress mechanism, transparency and accountability.

3.2.3 The reforms in other countries

In the USA the NPM based public service reforms started under Ronald Reagan. However, most
recent changes took place under Bill Clinton. His Vice President Al Gore, led a National
Performance Review (NPR) and devised the public sector reform programme called “Re-
Inventing Government”. This reform focused on the reduction of procedural delays and the
enormous costs involved with these slow processes especially in the procurement processes. It
enabled the public sector managers to focus on decentralized budgets and run their programmes
profitably using user payments and contracted jobs allocated through the Federal Government
Budgets.

New Zealand has introduced a home grown reform programme to improve civil service
performance. Apart from this civil service reform being seen as a tool for curbing government
spending through personnel and wage cuts, it also included the creation of a skilled and efficient
government workforce. Cost containment is an important aspect of NPM reform, but there are
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other equally important aspects. An efficient and motivated civil service has been identified as
critical for governance, production and distribution of public goods and services. It is also
recognized as the effective tool for the formulation and implementation of economic policy, and
management of public expenditure. “The broader aim of civil service reform based on NPM was
therefore, the creation of a small size government workforce with the skills, incentives, ethos,
and accountability needed to provide quality public services and carry out functions assigned to
the state” (World Bank & International Monetary Fund, Reforming The Civil Service, Finance
And Development, 1996, Vol. 33, No 3 Pp 10-13).

In some countries civil service reforms contributed to microeconomic stability through

supporting the downsizing of programmes which reduce the size and cost of civil service to an
affordable and sustainable level. Reducing the size of the civil service is often a prerequisite for
ensuring that governments can sustain and finance a smaller and better-paid civil service over
time (World Bank & International Money Fund, “Civil Service Reform in Africa, Mixed results
after 10 Years”. Finance and Development, 1998, Vol. 35, No 2, pp. 10-13). However, although
the civil service reforms have been applied and implemented in different countries, the reforms
have always being complex, mixed up with various institutional challenges that required time to
accomplish. Civil service reforms are difficult to implement since they often involve rearranging
difficult human configurations and changing human behavior (Olsen, J. P., Petrs B.G., 1996,
Lesson From Experience: Experiential Learning In Administrative Reforms in Eight
Democracies, Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, p. 12). Current civil service reforms are
usually incoperated closely with administrative reforms that rearrange the focus of the state and
government. This enables a more lean and strategic role through the strengthening of institutions
and processes to perform core state functions. The administrative systems are expected to
develop fewer layers and devolve operational authority to front-line managers. With a
downsized staff, many services may leave to be ‘contracted out’ for efficient service delivery.

3.3 COMPONENTS OF GOVERNMENT REFORMS IN THE RECENT YEARS – AN

OVER VIEW

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One scholar has identified three major focuses in the government reforms which have taken
place in the recent past, namely, (1).Less costing government (2).Professional government and
(3).E-government (A.L. Verma, Public Administration, Lotus Press, New Delhi, 2006, p.238).
Next we survey the administrative measures implemented in other countries under these
headings (the information provided below under these themes are from the same author, pp. 238-
258).

3.3.1 Less Costing Government

The less costing government became one of the prime focuses of the recent public sector reforms
in the world. This was associated with the introduction of strong financial controls and effective
budgetary processes into the public sector. These measures were linked to the highly publicized
campaigns aimed at the introduction of productivity as a concept relevant to government
expenditures. The governments adopted several interrelated strategies to enhance productivity in
the public sector. They included components such as cost accounting, performance based
budgeting, flexibility among budget accounts and promoting productivity.

In New Zealand the government services are arranged to compete for budgets on the basis of
their goal achievements. The public sector institutions were given clear-cut performance goals.
These institutions had to sign written contracts to achieve goals associated with the
implementation of each of the programmes. Singapore is a good example of innovations that
were promote productivity and make government cost less. The government of Singapore has
built their attempts to manage costs around four concepts – Limit Damage (waste), Maximize
Discretion (of the administrators involving procurement), Measure Costs (with the outputs) and
Pursue Excellence (in the service delivery). France passed the constitutional bylaw and the
Budget Act focusing on the productivity and the reduction of costs in the government in 2001.
The USA passed the Government Performance and Results Act in 1993 to improve the
performance of government officials. The Canadian Federal Government successfully overcame
the budget deficit that accounted for 8.5% of Gross Domestic Product in 1995. In Chile the
Inter-Municipal Environmental Programme joined with smaller municipalities to reduce the cost
of training the officials, strengthen the environmental management and implement a common

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programme for several municipalities. In Italy services centres called one-step-shops were
established in order to provide several services required to start a new business. The Mexican
Government has established more than 650 federal government work centres with the ISO –
9000 standards up to 2006. In Australia major reorganization took place for the inclusion of
customer culture into the social service programmes.

3.3.2 Professional Government

The notion of an effective state depends on an effective public sector. This became the important
issue in many countries. The ineffective public sector is associated with the following problems:

(a). The public sector had difficulty in recruiting talented persons as it could not compete
with the private sector or with NGOs

(b). The public sector faced severe skill shortage and lack of funding to train its
workforce

(c). Public sector employees faced severe wage compression and this influenced talented
executives to leave the public service

(d). Public sector suffered from excessive political patronage causing the government to
employ large numbers of employees without much work for them to do

(e). Public sector officials do not always work under the rule of law

A major study conducted by the International Monetary Fund found a clear-cut relationship
between public sector salaries and the level of corruption in a country. The study estimated that
wages in the government relative to the salaries in the manufacturing sector needed to be
increased by 2.8-7.4% to eliminate corruption in the public sector. However money is not the
only contributory factor in the creation of a corrupt public service. The adherence to the rule of
law by the public service has been identified as one of the factors that contribute to the public
sector corruption. It is a well known fact that in the countries where the rule of law is not well
established the public service does not undertake their job according the law.

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Singapore is one of the countries which increased its salaries to control corruption. The
Singapore government successfully eliminated the wage disparity between public and private
sectors. Under Margret Thatcher the United Kingdom experienced similar reforms when the
Executive Agencies were established to deliver services to the public. The personnel in these
agencies were offered (through service contracts) increased monetary benefits including large
bonuses depending on their performance. In 1999 South Korea introduced a public service
reform programme called “Open Competitive Position System” designed to recruit outstanding
talent from both the public and private sectors. Presently nearly 20% of the positions in the civil
service in every ministry are positions open to this competitive scheme.

3.3.3 E-Government
A recent UN study noted that 89% of the world governments were using the internet in some
capacity to provide information and/or services despite the fact that not all citizens are exposed
to the internet. The states using the internet have been categorized into three groups. The first
group included the governments using internet sites to offer political information about the
leadership of the country. The second group uses the internet to attract non-citizens to invest in
the country. The third group is called interactive. They offer citizens services through the
internet by allowing them to download forms and request information from the government. The
third categories of countries are the states that have adopted IT to reduce costs and increase the
quality of services offered to citizens. Singapore is the pioneer in establishing E-Citizen Portal
as a single gateway to government service. The Canadian government is the world leader in
interactive government. It increased its citizens input and official decision making using E-
Government.

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 SECTION - 2

30 | P a g e
4 - THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM IN SRI LANKA – AN OVERVIEW

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter surveys the origins and the development of public administration in Sri Lanka. The
discussion below focuses on the legacies of colonial bureaucracy, failure to establish
development oriented administration, the politicization of bureaucracy and the challenges faced
by the present day public administration.

4.2 THE COLONIAL BUREAUCRACY

4.2.1 The ideological and organizational framework

A modern version of an administrative system was introduced to Sri Lanka during the British
Colonial rule that existed for nearly one and a half centuries. The policy changes were
introduced by Colebrook-Cameron Commissions that came to the country in 1829 though the
colony was under an administrative institution headed by a Governor. The Commissioners were
under the influence of the 19th century liberalism that stressed the values of free-trade and were
laissez-faire in preparing their recommendations.

Since the recommendations of these commissions were aimed at the introduction of a free market
the colony was gradually transformed into, what is called, a “Colonial State” which was
established to facilitate the extraction of a surplus free-market economy through profits for the
benefit of Great Britain. This facilitated the demarcation between state and government. The
establishment of Legislative and Executive Councils and the establishment of independent
Judiciary took place in 1833.

Transforming the administrative system of the government from ‘aristocracy’ to ‘bureaucracy’

was also took place during this era. The selection of administrators through patronage was
abandoned gradually. In the 1870s steps were taken to establish an administrative system led by
an administrative leadership selected through competitive examinations conducted following the
guidelines of the Civil Service Commission of Great Britain. This was necessitated by the

31 | P a g e
political transformations that were taking place in Britain in the direction of democratic
governance.

Nevertheless the executive machinery and the process of governance in the colonial state were in
the hands of administrators. Therefore the colonial state was basically an Administrative State
until 1931 when the British government allowed the indigenous leaders to take part in social
welfare policy making and take a lead part in the administrative system through limited self-rule.
This transformation required the demarcation between politics and administration as the
independence of public service became an important requirement.

The state administrative system of the Colonial State was based on a rigid regulatory system that
aimed at controlling both public servants and the people. The standard civil service codes were
introduced in order to make the public officers work as servants to the crown. At the same time
it was used to keep strategic control of the machinery of government in the hands of the
European officers. The main functions of the administrative organization were the handling of
law and order and the collection of state revenue through taxation.

Although the colonial administrators (as servants to the crown) were required to protect the
imperial interests there were specific instructions to adopt benevolent paternalism when
approaching the ordinary masses. At least once a week the administrators were obliged to visit
the villages and towns to see for themselves the problems faced by the ordinary people. During
their visits they were advised to see the availability of basic necessities such as water, sanitation,
agricultural requirements and essential food items to the villagers. The executive authority of the
colonial state was highly centralized under the leadership of the Governor whose office
functioned as the Central Coordinating Secretariat of the government. The Colonial Secretary
functioned as the chief of the administrative system and the executive functions of the
government were subdivided into departments.

The Local Administration had features similar to the Prefectural system in France. Like the
Prefects in France, the Government Agents who led the highly centralized provincial
administrative system located in the Kachcheriya had military, police, administrative and fiscal

32 | P a g e
authority to administer the Province as the agents of State and government. It is not an
exaggeration to say that the backbone of the colonial state was the Government Agent’s
provincial administration which was a hierarchically arranged structure in order to maintain the
centralized authority of the colonial government.

The Kachcheri system began between 1796 and 1798 when a Resident Superintendent of
Revenue was appointed, one for Jaffna and Mannar, one for Colombo & Galle and the other for
Trincomalee and Batticaloa. In 1833 the entire country was divided into five Provinces, each
was placed under a Government Agent (GA). The GA was the revenue officer. Because of this
he was responsible to the Revenue Department. With the increase of govt. functions GAs
became the government’s general agents in the field. Consequently the line of authority was
changed. The Colonial Secretary became the head of the system. The GAs had to work with him
to implement general orders of the government and the decisions were taken by the colonial
Secretary. The indigenous hierarchy of officials extended down to villages with the Village
Headman system supervised by the GA.

The term Kachcheri (the building where the office of the GA was situated) came into being to
identify the GA’s administration. The Kachcheri, (set up by the Madras tax collectors who were
in Sri Lanka between 1796-98) was the office established in nine areas besides Colombo. By
1928 this de-concentrated administrative structure (i.e. an administrative system decentralized
from the centre but re-centralized at the local level) consisted of nine provinces and nineteen
districts, 110 Chief Headmen’s divisions, 613 sub-divisions under headmen, and about 4000
villages under Village Headmen. Although the Government Agent was primarily a revenue
collector, a great variety of functions came were exercised by him (“he became jack of all
trades”).

During the colonial period the Government Agents looked after whole aspects of the lives of the
ordinary masses. The second Governor of the island, Thomas Maitland assigned the following
functions to them:
1. circuit visits to the whole of his province
2. exercise judicial power during those visits to resolve petty disputes
33 | P a g e
 3. make arrangements to guarantee the supply of necessities such as seed,
grain, clothing and agricultural tools to the villagers
4. relieving villagers from the vexation of the Tax Gatherer

Leonard Woolf who wrote “Village of Jungle” in his Diaries in Ceylon 1908-11 gave us a fair
idea about the functions of a GA. He identified the following functions:
1. Inspecting towns with Sanitary Inspectors
2. Inspecting Hospitals
3. Visiting villages with the Mudlyars to hold inquires on village disputes that came to
his office
4. Inspecting bridges and roads
5. Inspecting schools
6. Investigating murder cases reported to him

As shown in the above descriptions the GA performed a combination of legislative, executive

and judicial functions. In addition to those duties he was expected to give his recommendations
at the Conference of Government Agents. The Police ordinance recognized the GA as the Head
of Police service in the province. In addition the GA was given control over the inferior
departments in his province. In the final analysis the GA became the representative of the
Central Government responsible for promoting the general interests of his province. According
to the Civil Service Manual the tasks expected of him were practically unlimited. They
comprised of the obligation of being fully acquainted with all the systems of agriculture and
industrious pursuits and all the relations of on going trade being carried out.

Later the government departments also established field administrative units at the provincial
level. The Departments of Surveyor General’s, Public Works, and Irrigation were the earliest
departments that came to the provinces. The technical departments and the departments which
had more day to day administrative works at the local level established direct control over their
field administration. This created a parallel organization of departmental field units functioning
alongside with the Kachcheriya.

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4.2.2 Transition from Colonial Bureaucracy to politically neutral Bureaucracy – 1931-48
With the Donoughmore Constitution of 1931 the Colonial Bureaucracy faced the challenge of
transforming itself to a politically neutral Bureaucracy led by the politicians elected by the
people. The new constitution granted universal franchise and enabled the Ceylonese politicians
to take over 07 Executive Departments (Ministries). These measures had a significant impact
upon the structure and style of functioning of the bureaucracy.

The introduction of universal franchise completely transformed the character of the political
institutions. The political institutions were now under compulsion to be sensitive and responsive
to the needs of ordinary people though the system provided a limited self rule. The bureaucracy
was now made accountable to political power emanating from the people. Now it had to shift
from the colonial concern of law & order and revenue collection to universal welfare. The
establishment of the difference between politics and administration became extremely important
in order to distinguish imperial interests and the local concerns, and also to enable the smooth
functioning of procedural standards and technical requisites.

For the first time the demarcation between politics and administration became a necessity. The
Constitution created a Public Service Commission (PSC) as an advisory body which advised the
Governor who used the powers entrusted to him in the past constitutional practice on
appointment, promotion, transfer, dismissal and disciplinary control of public officers. However,
the bureaucratic transition was not properly addressed as the politicians were interested in
“Ceylonization of Civil Service” and consolidating the newly gained power by distributing the
“spoils” among their personal and political friends. This created the political practice of abuse of
power enabling people loyal to them to get positions, be granted allocations and other fringe
benefits which came from public office.

4.3 THE NATIONAL BUREAUCRACY

The constitutional order facilitated by the granting of independence in 1948 required a national
bureaucracy which was to be the executive arm of the government dealing with twin challenges
faced by the new state, namely, nation building and development. The first constitution provided
35 | P a g e
constitutional protection to the public service by establishing an independent Public Service
Commission, which was also identified as a measure of minority protection against the abuse of
recruitment process in favour of majority community. However at independence the public
service was still living with the legacies of colonialism. It was still within the mindset of law
and order maintenance administration of the colonial state.

As stated earlier the transition from Colonial Bureaucracy to National Bureaucracy was not
properly addressed by the national leadership during 1931-1948. However, the common class
and elite outlook shared by both the political and the administrative leaders and, the continuation
of most of the public policy strategies established during the colonial period had facilitated a
good working relationship between the politicians and the administrators. But this tranquility did
not last long.

With the change of governing regime and the introduction of somewhat “radical policy changes”
in 1956 the country drifted towards a period in which tension between the political leadership
and the administrative leadership became a visible feature. The tension between the
administrative and the political leaders produced a conflict between new political leaders and the
leaders of the administrative state. The allegation of non-corporation by the administrative
leadership was leveled against the public servants by the political leaders. The constitutional
protection provided for the administrators were identified as one of the obstacles for the political
leaders to fulfill people’s aspirations.

The final onslaught was the abolition of constitutional protections in the constitution against
politicization when the new Constitution was adopted in 1972. However, several actions were
initiated some eight years ago in order to facilitate the measures that consolidated the political
power over the public administration. In 1963 the government abolished the Ceylon Civil
Service, (the administrative class that led the colonial state which was based on meritocracy and
the Village Headman System which was based on aristocracy) and replaced them with a Ceylon
Administrative Service (now Sri Lanka Administrative Services) and Grama Sevaka Service
(now Grama Niladhari Service). Though the abolition of these services was used to to get rid of
an outdated “Brahmin Class” the changeover helped the politicians appoint political favorites
overlooking seniority and a persons ability.. In 1970 the establishment of the Department of
36 | P a g e
Public Administration further strengthened the politicians’ grip on the administrative system as
the country was moving towards the centralization of political as well as economic power.

The First Republican Constitution abolished the Public Service Commission (PSC) established in
1948 and handed over the powers of the public service to the Cabinet of Ministers which
received the constitutional protection under “Parliamentary sovereignty”, entrenched in the new
Republican Constitutions. The New constitution established the Public Service Advisory Board
and the Public Service Disciplinary Board to replace the PSC. In 1973 the Political Authority
System and the Decentralized Budget for District Development was inaugurated enabling the
formation of a district political leadership over local administration in Sri Lanka. The
constitution of 1978 crowned the political centralization process by establishing an Executive
Presidency and its leadership in the system of governance. The new system established the
Presidential leadership over the administration. Consequently appointment of leaders of the
administrative system became the constitutional function of the President who now appoints the
Secretary to the President, the Secretary to the Cabinet, Secretaries of the Ministries and Chief
Secretaries of the Provincial Councils.

4.4 THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE AND THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Though the post-independent constitution changes targeted the public administration envisaging
greater political control over the bureaucracy, these changes did not address the real issues
confronted by the administrative system. The post-colonial state was to take up nation building
and national development as its key objectives while the public administrative system needed
certain technical and cultural capacities to undertake the tasks associated with these twin
objectives. One such need was to move from a procedural oriented centralized administrative
system to a development oriented decentralized administrative system. Though the requirement
was to establish a development administration which means “development of administration”
and “administration of development” the system veered towards the politicization of
bureaucracy.

The second Republican Constitution continued the process of politicization of bureaucracy and it
reached its height under the Presidential system. The politicians engaged in administrative

37 | P a g e
business and administrators doing political business became the hallmark of governance process.
The final outcome is the creation of an administrator subservient to the politicians in power.
This has created a “bureaucratic imbalance” i.e. the administrators failing to stand between the
positions of “despot and subservient”.

The establishment of Provincial Councils in 1978 created an “Inter-mix of administrative

delivery system”. The establishment of three tiers of governance, namely, Central, Provincial &
Local governments have changed the administrative landscape at the Provincial, District and
Divisional Level. The practice of both administrative de-concentration and devolution was
witnessed by the people. However, Sri Lanka has a long way to go to achieve real benefits of
multilevel governance in terms of efficiency, cost effectiveness and citizens’ satisfaction. A
criteria need to be developed to assess the performance of these changes using conceptual
frameworks such as “centralization and decentralization continuum”; “politicization of
bureaucracy”, “imbalance in resources transfer” and “stability, allocation and distribution
functions”.

4.5 REFORMING THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

In the 1990s management efficiency and the productivity of the administrative organization came
to the forefront. The less-government idea promoted by the liberalization of economy and the
donor pressure has made these aspects urgent considerations of the policy makers and the
administrators.

Several attempts were made in the recent past to this effect. An Administrative Reform
Committee was appointed in the early 1980s. An Administrative Task Force was established by
the Presidential Secretariat and a Minister for Administrative Reform was appointed during
1995-2002. After 2002 the Prime Minister’s Office took up the responsibility of creating a
management oriented administrative culture. Within the public administration E-governance
became a catch word among the administrators. Some departments and ministries have
computerized public information system to expedite the service delivery. As a result services
such as the issuance of birth certificates, National Identity Cards, Driving Licenses and Passports
have been expedited. The department of examination releases results of the public examinations

38 | P a g e
through the internet. The use of the internet by the many ministries has been used mainly to
provide information on programmes undertaken by the government. It seems these information
systems have been used to attract non-citizens who are interested in investing in the country.
However the public administrative system has a long way to go in helping the citizens have
responsive governance through the use of the internet. The low rate internet usage by the people
could be identified as one of the contributor factors for non-availability of a fully developed
proactive governance in Sri Lanka. In 2007 HE the President has announced the establishment
of the Council for Administrative Reform.

The proposals such as the establishment of a Senior Management Service and a Management
Assistance Service, the introduction of Flexi Hours, A Citizens’ Charters and Staff redundancy
schemes were included in the reform agenda. However, the establishment of a Senior
Management service was abandoned during the time of President Chandirka Bandaranaike as
there were political pressures for appointing favorites. The establishment of a Management
Assistant Service, accommodating all clerical, steno and office assistant services is still
continuing but the senior members of these services have not shown any enthusiasm and in this
respect the Trade Unions have reservations. The whole process lacked the commitment from the
political leadership. Although there were projects funded by the World Bank and other donor
agencies to inculcate culture favorable to e-governance these activities did not lead to
comprehensive changes due to lack of continued commitment from the political leadership.
Consequently these programmes have become spare time work for the senior managers in their
internal organizations. However, the most important issues to be addressed by the public
administration in Sri Lank today, are the high levels of administrative corruption, low
productivity and the prevalence of politicized culture among the administrative personnel.

39 | P a g e
5- THE CONSTITUTION AND THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN SRI LANKA

5.1 INTRODUCTION
The present constitution consists of several legal directives for the public administration. The
most important of them are the articles that elucidate the nature of state, the source of state
power, principles of state policy, fundamental rights, public finance, exercise of executive power
and the conditions applying to the public officers.

Many of these constitutional directives are related to the process of centralization of political
power that is associated with the state craft strategy followed by the makers of the constitutions
of 1972 and 1978. The centralization of political power became a popular attraction in the 1970s
as the people were interested in decolonizing polity and moving towards rapid economic
development and a socialist democracy. Consequently the constitutional arrangements
necessitated for the strengthening of fundamental principles such as political neutrality of public
administration and independence of judiciary were diluted to suit the political power objectives.
The following is a brief survey of these important constitutional provisions and their implications
on the public administration.

5.2 THE NATURE OF STATE AND SOURCE OF STATE POWER

The first three Articles of the Constitution stipulate the nature of State, the source of State power
and the sovereignty of State. Article one declares that Sri Lanka is a Free, Sovereign and
Independent Republic and Article two pronounces that the Republic of Sri Lanka is a unitary
state. These provisions later became the sacred principles to be followed by the members of the
public service. In 1983 the Parliament approved the sixth amendment to the constitution and
made it compulsory for the public employees taking an oath, promising that they “…will not
directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or
advocate the establishment of a separate state within the territory of Sri Lanka”. As such the

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public officers must not just show their allegiance to the state but also to its territorial integrity
and unitary nature. Accordingly a public officer will lose his/her employment if proved guilty
for abetting or associating secessionism.

The most important implication of this constitutional requirement is keeping the public servants
inside the bureaucratic maze inherited from the colonial state. The Financial and Administrative
regulations introduced during the colonial period were continuously followed by the public
administration. This has been the feature even in the administrative organs belonging to the
devolved system of governance today. Though the country has been experiencing multi-level
governance for more than two decades it has become a daunting task to change from imposing
rule to a customer driven service delivery approach.

5.3 SOVEREIGNTY OF PEOPLE

Article 3 of the constitution declares that “In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the
People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights
and the franchise.”

As such Article 3 of the constitution unfolds and broadens the content of sovereignty declaring
that powers of government, fundamental rights and franchise are the means of exercising
sovereignty by the people. This interpretation has far reaching consequences as Article 83 states
that “approval by two thirds of Members of Parliament and the approval by the people at
Referendum” is required to pass any legislation affecting or amending the particular Article.

The most fundamental implication is that the constitution empowers the people to participate
directly in the legislative process through referendum. These constitutional provisions have
become the protective of peoples’ right to exercise franchise at elections to be held in six years
time and enjoy fundamental rights declared in the constitution and interpreted by the Supreme
Court. The referendum clause has made transparency as an important element in governance as
the actions of the executive and legislature is subjected to review by the people at open platforms

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during the process of referendum. As such the governance decisions cannot be taken in secrecy
overlooking the rights of citizens and the due legal processes.

The chapter on fundamental rights, together with these provisions, has empowered the people to
take up their rightful place in the polity. They have the legal right to challenge the action of
government and public administration in the courts seeking judicial remedies. This has been
straightforward in the chapters on fundamental rights and powers of Supreme Court. Article 126
of the constitution declares that “…the Supreme Court shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction
to hear and determine any question relating to the infringement or imminent infringement by
executive or administrative action of any fundamental right or language right declared and
recognized by chapter III and chapter IV.” Therefore the member of any governmental
organization, especially the members of public service could be tried at the highest court of the
country. The people have legal entitlement to filing complaints, expressing their grievances and
seeking redress and compensation against the administrative decisions violating their rights.
Theoretically these provisions made the rule of law the pre-eminence aspect of the political
system though the politics has the ability to manipulate the system in its favour, using the level
of political awareness of the people.

5.4 CHAPTER ON FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

The fundamental rights declared in the constitution can be arranged into the following broad
categories:
(a). Protection of life:
Freedom from torture or cruel treatment or punishment
Right to protection before the law
(b). Dignity
Freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment
Freedom of thought and conscience
(c). Justice
Right to have equal treatment before the law
Right to have a fair trial

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(d). Protection by the law
Right to freedom from unlawful arrest
Right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty
(e). Liberty
Right to freedom of expression
Right to assemble freely
Right to association
Right to form and join Trade Unions
Right to engage in lawful occupation, profession, trade, business or enterprise
(f). Religion
Freedom of religion including the right to embrace a religion or belief of his choice
Freedom to display a religion personally or with others
(g). Citizenship
Freedom to return to Sri Lanka
Entitlement for non citizens, permanently and legally residing in the county to the rights
declared in the constitution.

The constitution stipulated that the fundamental rights recognized by the constitution shall be
respected by all the organs of government. As pointed out in the previous section the
administrative actions violating the fundamental rights could be challenged at the Supreme Court
which has the sole judicial jurisdiction on fundamental rights declared in the constitution.
Apart from the provisions empowering Supreme Court the basic law has established the Office
of Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (OMBUDSMAN) to enable the people and
the members of the public administration to seek informal redress for fundamental rights
violations by the public administrators. Later the government established a National Human
Rights Commission [Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC)] to promote human rights
and to inquire about complaints on fundamental rights violations enabling the people to find
redress without going through the complex and extracting process of the Supreme Court.

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The office of the OMBUDSMAN was established with the view that people need an institution
which could facilitate easy access to justice with regard to the arbitrary actions of public
administrators. The constitution stipulates that any person can complain against the actions of
administrative officers who have infringed his/her fundamental rights or are about to infringe
their rights. The OMBUDSMAN has the constitutional authority to enter into any government
institution and access any official document which is not named as a classified document.
However, the OMBUDSMAN does not have legal jurisdiction to issue binding judicial orders.
The task of the OMBUDSMAN is to settle the dispute by offering informal redress and submit a
report to Parliament and the President.

The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission was established with a mandate of promoting human
rights and finding a mutually agreed settlement to disputes involving fundamental rights
violations. The Commission was therefore involved in investigating complaints of fundamental
rights with a view to settling them informally. In recent years it has become involved in
resolving such complaints and also in assisting the Supreme Court to undertake detailed
investigations of FR cases directed by the Supreme Court.

However, the working of these institutions in the field of fundamental rights is far from
satisfactory. Both institutions lack basic human and financial resources to function
independently. These institutions have failed to gain confidence among the people because of
their inability to provide legal redress. Therefore critiques have labeled these institutions as
ornaments in the political system.

5.5 PUBLIC FINANCE

The control of public finance is vested in Parliament by the constitution. Accordingly the
approval of Parliament is a must for both the collection and the disbursement of state revenue.
The constitution has established two funds, namely, the Consolidate Fund and the Contingency
Fund for this purpose and provided detailed legal procedures for the use of these funds.
The direct outcome of this constitution provision is the continuation of a centralized system of
fiscal management initiated by the colonial bureaucracy and further strengthened by the 1948

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and 1972 constitutions. Traditionally it was the Department of Treasury and the Department of
Auditor General that evolved as the central departments responsible for the management and the
disciplinary control of public finance. The main functions derived from the above constitutional
provisions such as the management of national tax policy, effective use of government revenue,
enforcement of government financial regulations, execution of the national budget and
enforcement of budgetary controls, have been identified as key functions of the Department of
Treasury (see webpage of the Ministry of Finance, Sri Lanka).

The Auditor General’s Department is responsible for assisting Parliament in exercising its
authority in controlling the handling of public finances by the administrative agencies of the
state. According to the website of the Department of Auditor General, its mission is to promote
public accountability by carrying out audits and reporting to Parliament on the discharge of
accountability by the executive to enable Parliament to exercise control over public finance. Its
key functions are auditing of the accounts of all the Departments of the Government, Provincial
Councils, Local Authorities and Public Corporations and of any Business or other Undertakings
vested in the Government and to report to Parliament annually (see website of the Department of
Auditor General).

These constitutional and administrative arrangements demonstrate that Sri Lanka is following
“the principle of external financial control which stresses the role of the Legislature in exercising
the supervisory control over the finances handled by the executive branch.” This is an acceptable
practice in the Westminster system of government where complete divorce of finance and
administration has become an established practice.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Committee of Public Enterprises (COPE)
appointed by Parliament from its members scrutinize the reports submitted by the Auditor
General on behalf of Parliament and recommend the necessary measures to Parliament with
regard to the violation of budgetary discipline set forth by Parliament and the Financial and
Administrative regulations.

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As the central department is involved in preparing the annual appropriation bill and maintaining
the state revenue, the General Treasury has the responsibility of maintaining the financial
standards within public administration. It exercises discretionary powers over the approval of
cadre positions in the government departments and the allocation of funds within the
government. This practice of using centralized regulatory mechanisms to control the fiscal
functions at all levels of governance was inherited from the colonial administration.

Since the centralized regulatory mechanisms inherited from the colonial administration did not
face a serious paradigm shift after independence, these institutions have become the bureaucratic
rule imposers inhibiting the changes in the style of service delivery. The general view within the
public service is that these institutions are interested in maintaining the procedural standards but
unable to help the public service to create a development oriented pro-citizenship approach in
the implementation of public programmes. Some have even argued that the politicians’ answer
to the negative approach of these rule imposers was politicization of bureaucracy in order to push
the administrators to violate their rules. Finally the administrative system in Sri Lanka has
become yet another system of administration which is interested in the well-being of the
organization and not the well-being of the people.

5.6 CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE

The Public Service of the Country is now virtually under the leadership of the President as the
appointment of all the leaders of the public administration such as Secretary to the President, the
Cabinet, the Ministries and the Provincial Councils are vested with the President. The President
can also influence the appointment, promotion, transfer, disciplinary control and dismissal of
Heads of Departments as these functions are vested with the Cabinet of Ministers.

This situation is unavoidable as the Executive Presidency is the focal point of the constitutional
mechanism created by the constitution for the exercise of executive power of the people. The
constitution declares that the President of the Republic is the Head of State, Head of the
Executive, Head of the Government and the Commander of Armed Forces. Furthermore the
President is the sole authority in appointing all the Officers of State including the Heads of the

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Military , the Police Forces and the Judges of the Superior Courts. The constitution has offered
him legal immunity for all legitimate actions he has done as the Head of State and Government.
As past experience tells us, the President who is elected by an island-wide electorate with an
absolute majority can establish autocratic governance overriding the powers of the Legislature
and the Judiciary.

With the passage of 17th amendment to the constitution the Public Service Commission (PSC)
has been empowered to be in charge of the public service. Now the constitution has assigned the
powers to appointment, promotion, transfer, disciplinary control and dismissal of public officers
to the Public Service Commission. With the passage of the 17th amendment an Administrative
Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was established with powers to hear appeals from decisions of the PSC
and the Police Commission. Therefore the public officers have been given the option of going
before the AAT rather than going before the Supreme Court for alleged violations of their
fundamental rights by the superior officers.

The passage of the 17th amendment reflected the change of mind on the part of the politicians
who have understood the damage they have done to the public service through politicization. The
politicization of bureaucracy refers to the violation of the Principle of political neutrality of the
public administrators as envisaged in the liberal system of government. Thus the liberal system
of government envisages the political parties alternating in government require a non-political
administrator to play the role of advisor to the political executive and comes from any political
party. The notion that recognizes “the policy making as a political activity and the
implementation of such policies as a bureaucratic activity” emerged out of this political practice
adopted by the statesmen who have shaped the politics in the modern democratic governments.

In Sri Lanka the principle of political neutrality of public administration became an entrenched
element of the system of governance since the Donoughmore constitution which introduced the
idea of having a Public Service Commission to safeguard the political neutrality of public
servants. The Constitution of 1948 once again established the Public Service Commission
entrusting it with powers for the appointment, promotion, transfer, remuneration, disciplinary
control and dismissal of public servants. However, the independence of public administration

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was not to the liking of the political elite who have ascended to power since the 1950s. The need
for a strong centralized state was promoted by the politicians since the 1960s and finally the
culmination of this became apparent in the two republican constitutions. Since the inauguration
of the constitution of 1972 the trend was to make public servants subservient to the political
bosses in the executive government.

The fundamental argument promoted through the passage of the 17th amendment was to reverse
the process of politicization of bureaucracy and to create an independent professional public
service in order to improve efficiency in the delivery of services. However, the experiences
regarding the 17th amendment tell us that its implementation is far from satisfactory. The
Constitutional Council is non-existence since 2005 as the tug-of-war among the small parties in
Parliament regarding the nomination of their member to the Council was manipulated by the
President not to reconstitute the Constitutional Council. It is worth mentioning here that in its
First Report the Constitutional Council noted that “…(though) the Seventeenth Amendment is an
important step in the direction of good governance, but it should not cause a thrill of a delirious
joy through the country, as though at last a sovereign medicine were found for all the diseases of
the body politic.”

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 SECTION - 3

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6 - CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN

SRI LANKA – The Survey Results on the State Service Delivery in Selected Locations

6.1 INTRODUCTION

‘Public services and goods’ refer to the basic needs and collective needs of communities that are
usually supplied by some form of government, like water, sanitation, solid waste collection,
transport, health and education. The main reason for the existence of the Public Service
therefore is to provide goods and services to the community.

Public institutions and employees play a major role in ascertaining, producing and providing
public services that are responsive to community needs and expectations and are supposed to be
accountable, impartial, open, accessible and responsive to all sections of citizens irrespective of
class, race and region. However, there are bureaucratic waste, inefficiency, corruption,
discrimination, underrepresentation, irresponsiveness and other maladies prevalent in this
primary duty of delivering goods and services to people.

One of the best ways to focus on these issues is to directly consult citizens through public
opinion surveys helping to understand the perceptions of citizens with public service delivery.
Citizens’ perception of the role of public administration in delivering public services and their
assessment of public services can provide valuable information for improving service delivery.
This is because citizens have direct experience to public services in terms of their efficiency,
adequacy, accessibility and reliability.

Perception of citizens particularly matters as it helps to develop an analysis of the nature and the
quality of service delivery on the basis of the experiences of people themselves. When citizens
identify specific issues and problems of government service we intellectuals are able to articulate

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them as feedback for citizens’ dialogues to appropriate government channels for action or the
mass media. It offers the government the opportunity to investigate and resolve the problems, if
they are real. If they are not real, then take steps to change public opinion if the perceptions are
based on misunderstanding.

6.2 THE SURVEY

The present survey was conducted simultaneously in three different locations, namely, Nuwara
Eliya (A plantation District), Dehiattakandiya (A Mahaweli Settlement Area in the Eastern
Province) & Kalmunai Coastal (Semi urban area in the Eastern Province) during the period 23-
30th of July 2009 to find out the state of public service delivery by Government institutions (GIs)
in the respective survey locations. The questionnaire was prepared to collect data employing
both quantitative and qualitative methods.

The field survey examined primarily the question of equity and efficiency in delivering services
by government institutions. In general, questions were asked from respondents focusing on three
important aspects of service delivery relating to citizenship: (1). their knowledge about the
institutions and services available in their respective area of residence, (2). their experience with
government institutions and, (3). their attitudes and perceptions on the functioning and
performance of government institutions.

As this is an opinion survey of beneficiaries of government services, the study was limited to an
investigation of perceptions held by ordinary citizens who had experience of visiting government
institutions for receiving state services particularly during the last year. Since this survey was a
rapid appraisal, we used both quantitative and qualitative questionnaire methods (i.e. asking
questions to collect information to put into tables and having long discussions with the people
allowing them to express their own personal views) to collect the data.

Also we have used the studies conducted by other organizations recently, particularly on the
corruption and the delivery systems in the public sector as comparative data and to fill the gaps
in our survey as well.

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6.3 THE ISSUES FOCUSSED IN THE SURVEY

Since the study will be incomplete without at least a brief account on certain important issues
that inhibit the efficiency, effectiveness, equity and responsiveness in the service delivery they
will be briefly discussed before reporting the results of the opinion survey.

The study noticed that corruption, favoritism, regulatory procedures and lethargy of personnel
have been identified as the key problems faced by the people who visited the government
institutions for receiving services. These are the maladies that have been identified by the many
researchers who had examined the administrative systems in developing countries as factors that
undermine good governance, distort public policy, lead to the misappropriation of resources and
harms the private and public sector and their development.

Corruption can be regarded as the abuse of public office for private gain when an official
accepts, solicits or extorts a bribe. Corruption is one of the greatest challenges facing the
contemporary world. It undermines good governance, distorts public policy, leads to the
misappropriation of resources and harms the private and public sector and their development.

It is worth noting that according to the Global Corruption Perception Index, Sri Lanka ranked 84
in 2006 in a list of 115 countries (Transparency International 2006 & 2001-2002, Sri Lanka
Economic Association (SLEA) White Paper 2007). In the case of Sri Lanka, nevertheless, there
are some other specific causes for corruption in addition to the aforesaid common causes. A
White Paper prepared by the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA) in 2007 has discussed
factors responsible for corruption in Sri Lanka under several headings. They include Poor or Bad
Governance; Low Financial Remuneration in the public Sector; Cultural Background: Foreign
Aid; The Failure to Take Punitive Action; Failure of Civil Society; Too much Discretion
Allowed to Public Officers; Lack of Competition in the Supply of Public Services; Weak
Accountability. The report also discussed the cultural attitudes of society, especially among the
villagers as reasons for prevalent of corruption. Accordingly, corruption exists not only due to
flawed procedures within the institutions, but also due to the encouragement by service recipients
(Ibid.).

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In the current opinion survey, people have identified Police and the G.N. Offices as the most
corrupt institutions in their areas. From the survey we noticed that the practice of corruption
takes place largely due to the lack of awareness about the nature of state services on the part of
beneficiaries, excessive discretionary power of certain public officials such as police and Grama
Niladharies, and lack of service driven mentality among the public officers.

Favoritism refers not only to the normal human inclination to prefer acquaintances, friends and
family over strangers but also to the favored treatment given to people who have political,
economic, educational and social power. Whatever form it may take, favoritism is also a corrupt
practice as it deprives ordinary people of their right to access government service. When public
(and private sector) officials demonstrate favoritism to unfairly distribute positions and
resources, they are guilty of cronyism or nepotism, depending on their relationship with the
person who benefits. Like corruption, favoritism also exists within most of the state institutions
that provide service to citizens. It’s visible through the survey that favoritism is a common
practice nearly in all the public service institutions with the health sector scoring the highest.

Therefore it should be understood that the major reason for the prevalence of both corruption
and favoritism within public service institutions is the ignorance of people about the services
they are entitled to receive and the proper channels that they need to go through to get those
services.

6.3 People’s Perception and Experience about Public Service Delivery

In this section the background information pertaining to the Government Institutions (GIs)
covered by the survey is reported. In general, it is observed that despite various Acts, Ordinance
and Charters, most of the GIs in Sri Lanka are not in a position to provide a satisfactory and
efficient service by following the formal procedures and practices because of the culture and
attitude prevailing within the state institutional setting and among the citizens as well.

In general the majority of recipients are unhappy about the services rendered by the public
servants and they feel that they cannot expect a proper service unless they have third party
support. The third party support they use are friends, relatives, politicians and the paying of
bribes directly to the officers concerned or through an intermediary. Thus, equal and equitable

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access to state services by citizens with differing socio, ethnic and cultural background is less
possible through the existing system and the mechanism of the state services delivery.

6.4 PRIMARY INFORMATION

As stated in the beginning, the survey covered eight geographical areas located in the above two
districts. Out of these, four are semi urban areas (Sammanthurai, Nintavur, Akkaraippattu &
Alayadivembu – Amapara District), one Mahaweli settlement area (Dehiatta Kandiya – Ampara
District), one plantation area (Nanuoya – Nuwara Eliya) and one Sinhala village (Kalapura –
Nuwara Eliya). The sample distribution is fairly representative. It covers almost all the
differences in geographical and ethnic concentration of the country. Data was gathered using a
formal semi structured questionnaire with some open ended questions in order to capture
descriptive information. The questionnaire was coded and subjected to tabulation to facilitate
quantification of descriptive information.

Geographical Distribution of the sample

26% Dehiatta kandiya

36%
Nintavur
Akkaraipattu
Samanthurai
12%
N'Eliya
12% 14%

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Table 2: Ethnic breakdown of the sample by area

Area Sample Sinhala % Tamil % Muslim %

1.Dehiatta Kandiya 40 40 26.0 - -- - -

2.Sammanthurai 20 - - 05 3.0 15 9.0

3.Nintavur 20 - - 05 3.0 15 9.0

4.Akkaraippattu 20 - - 10 7.0 10 7.0

5.Nuwara Eliya 60 30 18.0 30 18.0 - -

Total 160 70 44.0 50 31.0 40 25.0

6.4 THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES REGULARLY VISITED BY THE PEOPLE

The survey found that the District Secretariat, the Divisional Secretariat, the Grama Niladari
Office, the Police Station and the Government Hospital are the most common institutions visited
by the sample population belonging to different geographical areas and ethnic groups.

The people living in Mahaweli settlements and in the Estate plantations have an institutional
setup unique to them. The Mahaweli settlement are being looked after by the Zonal and District

55 | P a g e
Offices and the Managers appointed by the Mahaweli Ministry. Most of the agrarian services
required by the farming communities are channeled through these offices.

The estate plantation communities have an institutional setup unique to the plantation areas. The
State has now established its own authority system in the plantation districts through the Ministry
of Infrastructure which is now functioning under the Mega Ministry called the Ministry of
Nation Building. After the privatization of plantations a new organization called the Plantation
Welfare Trust has been in operation. These institutional arrangements have contributed to the
weakening of the Plantation Raj established during the colonial period. However, new political
alignments in the area and also the caste based political and trade union organizations are
controlling the peoples’ dealings with the government offices including the Grama Niladari.

Apart from these special arrangements in every locality, it is the Grama Niladari office which is
visited by the people when dealing with the initial formalities of applying for a National
Identity Card, Passport Application, Death Registration, Certificates of Residence, Character
Certificates, Registration of electors, Permit for felling a tree, complaints of petty crimes and
minor disputes among people. The functions assigned to Grama Niladhari (GN) show that this
particular officer has become the sole representative of government and the state at the village
level. It seems that if the area is remote to the District or Divisional Secretariats the Grama
Niladari has too much discretionary power with the functions assigned to him by the law. It
seems that their discretionary capacities have further strengthened due to their close connection
to the police, as the village level government officers are responsible for law and order issues in
their particular area.

The majority of the people interviewed have named the District and Divisional Secretariats, the
Government Hospital, the Office of District Medical Officer of Health (MOH), the Grama
Niladari, the Samurdhi Bank, the Post Office, the Agrarian Service Centre, the Police Station and
the Cooperative Shop as the offices most frequently visited by them and their family members
for services offered by the government. It is interesting to note that a considerable number of
people in the villages and the plantation areas are not clear in distinguishing government offices
from the Non Government Organizations. For example, the majority of the samples we have met
in the Sinhala village in the Nuwara Eliya District had named SARVODAYA as a government
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office they visit regularly. This shows not only the level of knowledge and awareness of
ordinary masses of public institutions but also their level of citizenship which according to the
citizenship criterion of Aristotle are not really sharing the public office. Table 3 presents the
information provided by the people about the services available within the offices in their areas.

Table 3: Peoples’ knowledge about the GIs and their Services

No. Institution Services

01 Hospital Free hospitalization, medication, surgery

02 M.O.H Office Thriposa, Vaccination

03 District Secretariat (Kachcheri) Land Grants

04 G.N. Office Residence or Character Certificate & Income

Verification Certificate, Initiation of National
Identity Card and Passport Application, Birth
& Death Registration, Registration of Voters

04 D.S Office Processing of applications for National

Identity Cards, Passports, Birth Certificates,
Vehicle Revenue License, Rehabilitation Fund
Claim, Registration of business

05 Kachcheriya Driving License,

06 Agrarian Service Centre Fertilizer Subsidy, Seeds and Plants, Irrigation

Tax and Problems Related to Farming

07 Samurdhi Bank/office Loans and Other Samurdhi Benefits

08 Police Civil Complaints, Police Reports, Civil

Disputes and Settlements

09 Cooperative shop Ration (Purchase Rice & Kerosene by the

villages)

10 Post office Parcel, Telegram, Postal letters

11 Veterinary office Cattle Care including Breeding of Animals

and their minor ailments

12 Mahaweli Settlement Office in the Issues Relating to Water for Irrigation, Land
Village (Colony Office) Claims, Fertilizer Subsidy

Table 3 shows the knowledge and awareness of the people about the existence of Government
Institutions (GIs) and the services available to them in those offices. The services named in the
table are the services requested by the majority of people. However, out of 160 respondents,
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although over 75 per cent were able to identify the institutions available in their respective
locality, majority of them were not able to identify either most or all the basic services (we have
identified more than 30 services in the questionnaire) available at these institutions.

Some said they seek the support of a friend/ relative or an intermediary to approach the
government institutions. Some have openly said that they had to pay money to get urgent
requirements such as a National Identity Card or a Birth Certificate. This is very common
practice in the plantation areas. In Dehiatta Kandiya we met a person who alleged that he had
made a payment to a person at the Human Rights Commission Office to get his son bail from
the Court but it nothing had happened. Another person said that the Grama Niladaris are very
cunning and that they manage to get something from them in return for a speedy service. One
person commented that the majority of the police personnel don’t know how to talk to people
politely. They don’t see any difference between the bad people and good people when dealing
with the people who come to their police stations.

Many have said that they visit the government institutions without proper knowledge about the
services available or the procedures to be followed at the offices. Some said that they make
visits to the offices whenever they need a service without checking whether there is a fixed time
for them to visit these offices for the particular service. They said that very few government
institutions provide information material for people to understand the nature of the services
available and the procedures to be followed by the public to receive their services. Therefore the
statement we received from many people that “it is better to go early in the morning to get the
work done” explained this two sided dimension relating to service delivery. .

6.5 EFFICIENCY OF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

Although the questionnaire does not pose questions to directly measure efficiency of GIs, the
survey included a separate question in the semi structured questionnaire regarding efficiency of
GIs in service delivery. However, the way respondents appreciate the GIs` performance in
delivering service is available. This sub-section is a very brief description of the respondents`
experience and assessments of the levels of efficiency of the GIs in the sample. One key
indicator of the levels of efficiency is the time taken/needed to accomplish a given task.

58 | P a g e
 Average number of time taken to provide services
type of service
Rehabilitation Fund or
Compensation 5
Fertilizer Subsidy 3
Certificate from the GN 3
Police Report 4
Electricity (new connection & repair)
4
Water Supply 3
Samurdhi Loan 1
Obtaining birth certificate (If the
perfected application is submitted) 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Number of days

According to respondents, GIs in the survey take an average number of visits ranging between
one and five to accomplish a requested service. This number varies according to the different
locations and services requested. For example, as shown in the above chart registration of a
death with the G.N in Kalmunai coastal area takes longer time than other locations in the survey.

Table 4 shows the peoples’ perceptions and attitudes about the government institutions in their
respective areas. In the questionnaire we named 12 government institutions which deal with the
ordinary people and asked them to comment whether they are efficient, inefficient, corrupt or
bias for power according to their own experience. Although everyone in the sample did not
answer the questions as they have not visited the institutions named in the questionnaire the
percentages have been prepared for the total number of people who participated in the sample
(160). It is observed that a large number of people (41%) identifies hospital as the most efficient
among the GIs followed by the G.N. Office (26%), Samurdhi (16%) and Agrarian Service Centre
(9%). According to the survey, a vast majority of people (78%) see Police as the most
inefficient, corrupt (28%) and bias for powerful people (28%). The next in line for inefficient
GIs are the D.S. office (37%) and the Grama Niladhari (33%). An interesting revelation is all the
institutions except the Land Department were identified by a section of the sample as efficient

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due to their personal experience. The chart appearing after table- 4 offers a comparative
assessment.

Table 4: THE PEOPLE’S PERCEPTION ABOUT THE SERVICES OFFERED IN THE GOVERNMENT
OFFICES – All AREAS (Number of people 160)

Institution Attitude (out of 160 respondents)

Efficient % Inefficient % Corrupt % Bias for %

Power

Kachcheriya 10 6.2 15 9.3 03 1.8 05 3.1

D.S office 11 6.8 60 37.5 31 19.3 28 17.5

G.N 42 26.2 54 33.7 41 25.6 33 20.6

M.O.H office 08 5.0 15 9.3 02 1.2 03 1.8

Hospital 67 41.8 11 6.8 03 1.8 04 2.5

Police 06 3.7 117 78.0 46 28.7 46 28.7

Samurdhi Bank/Office 27 16.8 12 7.5 09 5.6 08 5.0

Ag. Service Centre 15 9.3 08 5.0 06 3.7 07 4.3

Ceylon Electricity Board 10 6.2 10 6.2 06 3.7 05 3.1

Water Board 10 6.2 02 1.2 06 3.7 05 3.1

Land Department ---- ---- 05 3.1 12 7.4 11 6.8

60 | P a g e
 90
78
80
70
60
50 41.8
37.5 Efficient
40 33.7
28.7 Inefficient
30
corrupt
20
BiasFpower
10
0

The overall picture emerging out of this tabulation is presented below. It is prepared on the an
average basis and prepared for each category. Accordingly the overall percentages for these
identifications are 36% Inefficient; 20% Corrupt; 18% Bias for powerful people and 24%
Efficient.

Peoples' attitudes towards public service

institutions
18% 25%
Efficient
20% Inefficient
37% Corrupt
BiasF power

The people generally accept that the officers in the GIs are not treating everyone equally. A large
number of people accept the fact that the officers tend to treat the powerful people well and they

61 | P a g e
seek undue advantages from the ordinary masses. Hence the public service in Sri Lanka is weak
in adherence to the rule of law principle.

The people state that they always have to find a third party to get their service done on time.
The officers in Kachcheri, DS Offices are blamed for their disregard to the community and their
lethargic approach to work. Some also stated that the officers sometimes find something wrong,
send them home and postpone the work for another day.

Some have pointed out that if the government introduces an impartial complaint machinery and
redress mechanism the public would have a better prospect of getting their work done. The
biggest complaints were against the Grama Niladharis who have been identified as persons who
are interested in taking anything as a bribe. Furthermore, they are not available in their offices
on a said time, though they have fixed one or two days as office days to attend to the needs of the
people. Similarly, the police department does not covey positive feelings among the villagers.
The police are infamous among the people for their rude behavior and lack of compassion
towards the people.

We have presented separate tables below in order to provide the regional variations for these
components. The charts were prepared using the number of people and not the percentages.
These tables show that the GIs have different ratings in the different areas. This may be
attributed to the fact that the importance of the institutions differ according to the level of
development (urban/rural/estate) and the availability of special institutions to provide services in
some localities (Estate and Mahaweli areas).

Table 5 - THE PEOPLE’S PERCEPTION ABOUT THE PUBLIC SERVICE BY AREA - Kalmunai Coastal

Institution Attitude (out of 60 respondents)

Efficient % Inefficient % Corrupt % Bias for Power %

Kachcheriya 25 7.0 4 10 5 2 5 3

D.S office 9 6.0 42 28 15 17 7 25

G.N 12 15 23 23 27 24 8 21

M.O.H office 8 5.0 15 10 2 1 2 2

62 | P a g e
 Hospital 48 32 9 6 3 2 4 2.5

Police 6 4 18 65 35 30 15 30

Samurdhi Bank/Office 20 13 6 4 8 5.5 6 4

Ag. Service Centre 10 7 5 3 6 4 3 2

Ceylon Electricity Board 7 4.5 10 7 5 3.5 4 2.5

Water Board 10 7 2 1 6 4 5 3

Land Department - 5 10 7 8 5.5

People`s perception about govt.institutions-Kalmunai coastal

60 48
Nu.of people

50 42
40 35
30 24 2327
15 15 18 15 20
20 9 7 12 8 8 9 4 6 6 86
10 10 10
56 3 7 5 4 2 65
10
5 8
10 45 5 22 3 0
0

Authority
G.N

Hospital

Police
Kachcheriya

D.S office

Electricity
Bank/Office

Board
Water
M.O.H office

Department
Ag. Service
Samurdhi

Ceylon

Land
Board

Labour
Centre

Institution

Efficient Inefficient Corrupt Bias4power

It is clear from the above chart that among the eleven identified GIs in this area only the hospital
comes topsin efficiency with a significant number of people (80%) consider it as the most
efficient GI followed by Kachcheriya(40%)and Samurdhi(34%).Furthermore, Kachcheriya is
the only institution which scores very low in all other three indicators. On the other hand, the
D.S. offices (with 70% of respondents) and the Grama Niladhari offices (39%) and the Police
(18%) are identified as the most inefficient GIs in the area. Similarly, the Police is deemed as the
most corrupt (59%) as well as the most biased for powerful people among all eleven GIs.
Another interesting observation is that no single respondent identified the Land Authority with
63 | P a g e
efficiency, although they identified it to a lesser extent with other three indicators. Furthermore,
out of eleven GIs five such as the D.S., the G.N., the Police, the C.E.B and the M.O.H. offices
score higher in the inefficiency bar than in efficiency one. Also, people tend to associate the
Police and the G.N. Offices more with corruption than the other three indicators.

Table 6 -THE PEOPLE’S PERCEPTION ABOUT THE PUBLIC SERVICES BY AREA

Nuwara Eliya (Tamil)

Institution Attitude (out of 30 respondents)

Efficient % Inefficient % Corrupt % Bias for %

Power

Kachcheriya 09 30 12 40 08 27 01 3

D.S office 03 10 01 3.0 01 3 01 3

G.N 09 30 6 20 3 10 1 3

Dept. Education 02 7.0 01 3.0 - - - -

Hospital 05 17 03 10 - - - -

Police - - - - 03 10 - -

Samurdhi Bank/Office 02 7.0 12 40 03 10 - -

Agri. Loan 03 10 - - - - - -

Ceylon Electricity Board - - 03 10 - - - -

Water Board - - 01 3 - - - -

Land Authority - - - - 03 10 - -

Labour Department 01 3.0 03 10 04 13 02 7

School 03 10 - - - - - -

Registrar office 02 7.0 - - - - - -

Foreign employment 01 3.0 - - - - - -

People`s perception about govts.Institution in Nuwara

Eliya(Tamil)

64 | P a g e
14
12
10 efficient
8 inefficient
6 corruption
 People`s perception about govt. institutions-Nuwaraeliya Tamil
Foreign
employment 1
Registrar
office 2
School
3
Labour 2
Department 1 3 4
Land 3
Authority
Water Board 1
Ceylon
3 Institution Bias4power
institution

Electricity
Institution Corrupt
Agri. Loan
3 Institution Inefficient
Samurdhi 3
Bank/Office 2 12 Institution Efficient
Police 3

Hospital 3 5
Dept.
Education 1 2
1 3
G.N 6 9
11
D.S office 1 3
1 8
Kachcheriya 12
9
0 5 10 15
nu.of people

Among the fifteen identified GIs in Nuwara Eliya (Tamil speaking area), the G.N and
Kachcheriya are considered as the most efficient GIs by 30% people while another 20% and 40%
of them consider the G.N and Kachcheriya inefficient respectively. Similarly, another 40%
associate Samurdhi Bank & office with inefficiency and as for the corrupt GIs, Kachcheriya
comes topswith 27% followed by the Labour department with 13%. The perception of the
respondents with regard to the GIs biased for power, two of them (7% ) identify the labour
department while one(3.5%) consider the G.N, the D.S. Office and Kachcheriya in that category.
Moreover, out of fifteen GIs five such as Kachcheriya, Samurdhi, C.E.B, the Water Board and
the Labour Dept. are considered to be more inefficient compared to the score received by the
other three indicators from the people.

65 | P a g e
Table 7 - THE PEOPLE’S PERCEPTION ABOUT THE SERVICES OFFERED IN THE GOVERNMENT
OFFICES - Nuwara Eliya - Kala Pura and Shanthi Pura Villages (Sinhala)

Institution Attitude (out of 30 respondents)

Efficient % Inefficien % Corrupt % Bias for %

t Power

Kachcheriya 01 4 12 40 01 4 02 7

D.S office - 05 17 - - 03 10

Agrarian Service Centre 04 13 02 7 -- - 02 7

Samurdhi Bank/Office 02 7 04 13 01 4 02 7

Land Department - - 04 13 01 4 03 10

Foreign employment bureau 01 4 01 4 - - - -

G.N 09 10 6 30 02 7 1 4

Municipal council 04 13 - - - - - -

School 01 4 - - - - - -

Hospital 11 37 -- - - - - -

People` s perception about govts.Institution in Nuwara

Eliya(Sinhala)

14

12

10
efficient
8
inefficient
6 corruption
bias of power
4

0
ic nde N
Re al c ri ya
S

em mu e

ur
iya

er ncil

rt . t y
nd ym i
De ut h t
La pol rt h
.

.A en
D.

ri e S ff ic
m Ke G

bo
pa ori
er

gi ou

la
o
ch

a
ch

st
ip
ka

a
an
in

n
vij
ko

Fo

66 | P a g e
 People`s perception about GIs-Nuwaraeliya S inhala
Nu.of people
14
12
12 11

10 9 Efficient

8 7 Inefficient
6 Corrupt
6 5
4 4 B4Power
4 3 3 3 3 3 3
22 2 2
2 1 1 1 1 11 1 1
0 0
0
ce ce .N l l l
riy
a
fi ya en
t u ci oo ita
of ra ffi rea G un h sp
he nd /O rtm u o Sc o
hc .S e nk a tb l c H
ac D K
Ba ep en ipa
K na i D m ic

Institution
ija nd oy
dh pl un
ov ur La m M
G m e
Sa n
ig
o re
F

The above chart shows that among the eleven identified GIs by all thirty respondents in Nuwara
Eliya Sinhala division, around 37% of them consider the hospital as the most efficient GI in their
area followed by the G.N. Office with 30%. Meanwhile another 40% consider Kachcheriya as
the most inefficient GI among the total of eleven GIs followed by the G.N offices (30%) in the
area. Similarly, it is obvious that just less than 7% people see the G.N and the Agrarian Service
Centre as the most corrupt GI among all eleven GIs in the area. Out of a total of eleven GIs three
such as Kachcheriya, the Agrarian Service Centre and the D.S. Office comes top in inefficiency
than in the other three indicators. Another striking observation emerging from this chart is that
people in the area tend to consider GIs such as School, the Municipal council and the hospital as
purely efficient. Furthemorer, not a single respondent consider the Land Dept. an efficient GI.

67 | P a g e
Table 8 - THE PEOPLE’S PERCEPTION ABOUT THE SERVICES OFFERED IN THE GOVERNMENT
OFFICES- Dehiatta Kandya

Attitude (out of 40 respondents)

Institution Efficient % Inefficient % Corrupt % Bias for %

Power

Mahaweli Area Office 03 15.0 06 20.0 ---- ---- ---- ----

(Kottasha Office)

Mahaweli Office in the 09 12.5 02 15.0 ---- ---- ---- ----

settlement (Colony Office)

D.S. Office 02 5.0 13 32.5 06 15.0 18 45.0

G.N. 08 20.0 04 10.0 03 7.5 1 2.5

School 02 7.5 ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Hospital 08 20.0 02 2.5 ---- ---- ---- ----

Samurdhi Bank/Office 05 12.5 02 ---- ---- ---- 1 ----

Ceylon Electricity Board 03 7.5 03 7.5 01 2.5 01 2.5

Police ---- ---- 25 62.5 05 12.5 05 12.5

Colombo – Health Ministry ---- ---- 03 12.5 ---- ---- 01 2.5

Kachcheriya ---- ---- ---- ---- 01 3.0 01 3.0

Agrarian Service Centre 01 2.5 01 2.5 ---- ---- 02 5.0

Foreign Employment Bureau 01 2.5 ---- ---- ----- ---- 01 2.5

68 | P a g e
 30
25
25

20 18

15 13 E fficient
Inefficient
10 8 8 8
6 6 6 C orrupt
5 5
4 55
5 3 3 33 3 pwr bias
2 2
1 1 11 1 1 1 11
0
ff ff ff ff l l i y e ol a r
li O ol O S O N O h o o pita rd h ric it olic C riy i S e
s u t t e
e
a w Ma
C D G S c Ho a m E le
c P is
in c h c
h ar
S M A gr
M
Ka

The above chart shows that in Dehiatta Kandiya area only hospitals and G.N offices top in
efficiency with a sizeable number of people (20%) considering them in that way among the total
of twelve GIs. On the other hand, as the chart demonstrates, the Police as well as the D.S. Office
are identified as the most inefficient GIs by 63% and 33% respondents respectively. Further,
another 20% of them consider the Mahaweli Office in that way. Another notable finding is that
out of a total 40 respondents 18 (45%) consider the D.S office as the GI highly biased for power.
Similarly, in the corruption index, again the D.S office and the Police top with 15% and 13%
respectively. It is noteworthy that out of a total 40 respondents, not a single one identifies the
Police, the Health Ministry and Kachcheriya with efficiency. Moreover, 8% of them identify
Samurdhi and the school with efficiency amongst the four indicators allocated to them. Another
interesting point is among the total twelve GIs in the area five GIs (Mahaweli Area Office, the
Mahaweli Colony Office, the D.S Office, the Police and the Health Ministry) score higher in the
inefficiency bar than in the efficiency bar.

Tables 9 to 12 that appear below are useful in understanding the utility value of having offices in
the remote areas by the central government departments. In the questionnaire we have asked the
people to name the GIs they have visited in the last six months. Also we asked them to comment

69 | P a g e
on what were the reasons that they identified for the non delivery of service or delay in
delivering the service.

It is observed that 96% of the Tamil people in the estate sector have visited Kachcheriya
(District Secretariat Office). Next in line are Samurdhi Office (46%) and the the Labour
Department (33%). Samurdhi relief was not taken by the people in the estate sector sometime
back. The large number of visits to the Samurdhi Office shows that the people in the estate
sector are looking for government relief. The large number of visits to the labour department is
understandable as most of these people are working as labourers in the plantations. However,
the table shows that the people in the plantations are not regular recipients of public services. No
one stated that they had visited the GN office during the last six months. This can be attributed to
their employment in the estate plantations where the workers are channeling their service
requirements through the Estate Superintendent’s office or the plantation sector Trade Union
Offices. In contrast the people from the Sinhala villages in the Nuwara Eliya District have
visited the G.N. (100%), the Hospital (93%), Kachcheriya (53%), Samurdhi Office (46%), and
the Agrarian Service Centre (43%).

Interestingly in Dehiatta Kandiya the two offices belonging to the Local Administration, namely
Kachcheriya (2.5%) and DS Office (1%) are the least visited GIs by the people. The most
number of people visited the Water Board (100%), the Hospital (100%), the Veterinary Office
(85%) and the Department of Labour (92%). It is interesting to inquire about the large number
of visits to the labour department by the people living in an agricultural area like Dehiatta
Kandiya.

The information gathered in Kalmunia area show that a large number of people visited the DS
Office (81%), the GN (78%), the Hospital (75%), the MOH Office (61%), Samurdhi (58%), the
Cooperative Shop (58%), the Agrarian Service Centre (58%), the Police (48%), the Water Board
(41%) and Kachcheriya (33%) for services. Compared with other localities the people in
Kalmunai area have more requirements with the GIs. This shows that the people living in urban
areas have more service requirements with the GIs than the people living in rural areas or the
estate sector. These regional variations are given in the tables and charts presented below.

70 | P a g e
Table 9 - Number of people who visited main government institutions in Nuwara Eliya (Tamil)

Institutions Nu. of people visited Percentage

Kachcheriya 29 96.0

D.S 08 26.6

Samurdhi 14 46.0

G.N 06 20.0

Hospital 09 30.0

School 03 10.0

Dept. Labour 10 33.3

Police 04 13.3

Nu.of.people visited main govet.institution in

Nuwara Eliya(Tamil)
35
30
25
20
15 Nu.of.people
10 visit.
5
0
a .S hi .N al ol ur e
eriy D urt G spit cho abo olic
ch m o S t .l p
ch Sa H p
Ka De

Table 10 - Number of people who visited the main government institutions during the year (Dehiatta
Kandya)

Institutions No of people visited Percentage

71 | P a g e
Kachcheriya 01 2.5

D.S 04 1.0

Samurdhi 26 65.0

Water Board 40 100.0

Hospital 40 100.0

Dept. Agriculture 11 27.5

Dept. Labour 37 92.5

Veterinary Office 34 85.0

Nu of people visited main govt.institutions in

Dehiatakandiaya

Veterinary Office 34
in
Dept. Labour 37
st
it Dept. Agriculture 11
u
Hospital 40
ti
o Water Board 40
n
Samurdhi 26
s
D.S 4
Kachcheriya 1

0 10 20 30 40 50
Nu.of people

Table 11 - Number of people who visited main government institutions in Kalmunai coastal.

No Institution Num. of Percentage

people

1 Hospital 45 75.0

2 Post office 08 13.3

72 | P a g e
3 D.S. Office 49 81.6

4 Agrarian Service Centre 35 58.3

5 Water Board 25 41.6

6 Samurdhi Bank 35 58.3

7 Kachcheriya 20 33.3

8 Bank 10 16.6

9 Cooperative shop 35 58.3

10 M.O.H Office 37 61.6

11 Veterinary Office 09 15.0

12 Fisheries Cooperation Office 08 13.3

13 Police 29 48.3

14 G.N. Office 47 78.3

Number of people who visited main government institution in Kalmunai coastal

Num. of people

60

50 49
45 47
40
37
35 35 35
30 29
25 institutions
20 20

10 8 10 9 8
0
l e e r a k p e n e e
p ita ffic fic tre ard ank ri y a n ho f ic e f fic tio li c f fic
s t o f n o B h e B s f
o y o pra o
.o e B e P .o
Ho os . S ri.c ter dhi chc ti v O .H ar oo .N
P D a r a
r M. rin .c G
Ag W mu Ka e h
p te fis
Sa oo Ve
C

73 | P a g e
Table 12 - Number of People who visited main government institution in – Nuwara Eliya (Sinhala)

No Institution Num. of Percentage

people

1 Hospital 28 93.3

2 Post Office 02 6.6

3 D.S. Office 02 6.6

4 Agrarian Service Center 13 43.3

5 Urban Council 05 16.6

6 Samurdhi Bank 14 46.6

7 Kachcheriya 16 53.3

8 School 12 40.0

14 G.N. Office 30 100

74 | P a g e
 Num. of people visited main got.institution in Nuwara
Eliya(Sinhala)
35
30
30 28

25
20 16
13 14
15 12
10
5
5 2 2
0
e ol e
tal fic
e
fic ya cil an
k
iy
a
f ic
spi f o f ra un B er cho of
Ho s to S. nd co hi ch S .
Po D. a ke
ba n u rd a ch G.
N
n
ija Ur Sa
m K
v
Ko

7 – CONCLUSION - EFFICIENT, EFECTIVE AND RESPONSIVE GOVERNANCE

7.1 INTRODUCTION
The previous chapters have provided discussions on the issues relating to the public
administration which is the executive arm that helps the government to implement laws, policies
and programmes. Further, these discussions have identified “rule of law” and “rights of citizens”
as essential requisites to be incorporated into the actions of public servants. Therefore, not only
the competence but also the commitment of the public administration is crucial in the
improvement of quality of the service provided by the public service.

Another important dimension identified in these discussions is the linkages between the State
and the public administrations. When involving the delivery of services the public service
personnel have to represent the state and enforce its power on the people. There are certain
services that are instrumental in enforcing the authority of state on people. This particular aspect

75 | P a g e
compels the administrators to follow the procedural and regulatory frameworks that have been
prepared to implement law and order in society. Nevertheless the public administrators cannot
ignore the two important principles named above, namely, the rule of law and the rights of
citizens. These two principles are interdependent and intertwined. The synthesis of these two is
very crucial for good governance.

The present chapter focuses on citizens’ rights. However, the focus is not the civil, political,
social and economic rights but the citizens’ right to efficient, effective, equitable and responsive
governance. These aspects have an important place in the administrative discussions. These
terms may have different meanings to the economist, the sociologist and the managers in the
private sector. In the discipline of public administration they are measured in terms of the public
administrators’ ability to synthesize the principles of rule of law and citizens’ rights. This paper
provides administrative definitions to these terms, namely, efficiency, effectiveness, equity and
responsiveness and, discusses how they become the rights of citizens. The intention is to
facilitate an informed civil society dialogue on these aspects in order to understand the space
available outside the proper sphere of constitutional changes in the improvement of quality of
life as well as the unity and diversity of our society.

7.2 DEFINITIONS
Efficiency, Effectiveness and Equity (Three Es) are the central organizing concepts of public
administration institutions in the modern democratic states. All of them are equally important
public service values and the citizens can expect the administration to decide matters in
accordance with them. If these values are entrenched in the processes and structures of the
public administration and the people working in the organization are really committed to these
values the system would produce the “Responsive Governance”.

First, we shall explore the three value outcomes: Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity as rights of
citizens. Then we can properly think about these three outcomes and develop our perspective in
line with the discussions we already had on the system of public administration.

76 | P a g e
Bent Christensen, Professor of Law, University of Copenhagen, noted that efficiency is used in at
least three different meanings in the academic literature (Bent Christensen, “Efficiency and Rule
of Law in Public Administration”, Paper presented at the Twenty-sixth Meeting of Scandinavian
Lawyers, Helsinki, August, 1972, pp.55-56).
“First the word is use to indicate the degree of goal achievement. By this definition
administration or a particular administrative activity is efficient if it achieves the
specified aim. Second the most general use of the world, which is rooted in the thought
process of managerial economics, where production is customarily called efficient if it
leads to the greatest possible return measured in money. The third definition sees
administrative activity similar to industrial production. The administration involved in
manufacturing certain goods and services. Thus efficiency has to be measured in terms of
the goods and services produced.”

To economists, efficiency is a relationship between ends and means. Accordingly we call a

situation inefficient when we are claiming that we could achieve the desired ends with less
means or that the means employed could produce more of the ends desired. The economic
efficiency mainly concerns the monetary values in the means applied and the ends achieved. In
the classical administrative literature this view was widely accepted and the administrative
organization was seen as a technical mechanism for achieving desired goals. This view, namely,
equating efficiency with a rational consideration of the organization of the administration was
later criticized as it provided a poor guide to public administration because it ignores values
other than money. Critics of economic efficiency contend that the public administration cannot
always stick to the monetary values as it gives priority to the peoples’ satisfaction, public
security and the fulfillment of social goals. It is the term equity that takes a deeper view on these
non-monetary values involved in the public administration.

Equity refers in the public administration to fairness in terms of social groupings that are
suffering from inherent social and economic inequalities. As such the task of public
administration is not just delivering public goods and services in a fair and reasonable manner
but also to address separately the needs of the weakest sections in society such as the poor,
marginalized communities, people with disabilities, elderly, children and women. Then the
77 | P a g e
service providers should treat the customers differently and try to address their different needs
differently. Formal equity means you give people the opportunity and leave it up to them to
make the most of it. Therefore, offering free education in government schools mean everyone
has the same chance of a decent education and it is then up to each student to make the most of
it. Further, equity principle makes the public administrators responsible for making people feel
better by not taking up a great deal of time to deliver the services and avoiding steps that build
complicated work-place arrangements. The most important aspect is to address the social justice
issues through the services delivered. For instance it is now recognized that the welfare policies
employed to re-arrange income distribution and achieve some re-distribution are essential in
establishing equity in society. Therefore equity is a cost and it must be addressed through
efficient management of resources.

In dictionaries the term effective is applied to that “which has the power to, or which actually
does, produce an effect”. Effectual is used especially in the processes which produces the
desired effect. Thus the effective public service must be economical and efficient in its use of
tax payer funds. That means the public sector must be an on- merit employer with a focus on
outcomes rather than its own cumbersome internal processes protecting the well being of
underperforming lethargic bureaucrats. But it’s also true that an effective public service is one
which responds well, and in a timely way, to the demands of the people. Under democratic
governance one of the criterions of measuring the effectiveness of public service is applying the
principle of political responsiveness. It refers to the need of responding to the political demands
of the day by the public administration with policies, programmes and processes that are low in
administrative cost, well targeted, fair and transparent. Since the public sector enjoys a
monopoly over state power, it is only the public sector that can enforce legal contracts aimed at
the fulfilling of demands of citizens channeled through politics. If any such demand to be
fulfilled by the private and non-profit sectors it is the public sector that has to enter into legal
contracts with them on these specific subjects. Therefore the quality of public sectors
management becomes a very important dimension of overall effectiveness of democratic
governance. This overall effectiveness of public sector includes the competence of public sector
managers and the quality of service delivery. They determine the level of equality or inequality
in society. If the service is provided only to the rich and powerful it would naturally result in
78 | P a g e
better income opportunities for the powerful. The result would be the same when the public
sector is not efficient in getting things done. If the public service is provided evenly it will help
to improve income distribution and as a result marginalized groups have a greater chance of
coming out of the poverty trap.

7.3 EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS AND EQUITY AS NATIONAL GOALS

As we noted above these three Es guarantee economical use of resources belonging to the people
and justifiable distribution of outputs to be produced by the use of these resources. That makes
the government not only less costly for the people but also an instrument of removing social
disparities in society. Such a government first uses their resources and money economically;
second it provides equal choices and just opportunities for its citizenry.

The less costly government encourages the people to use their capital and entrepreneurial skills
to become the driving force of economic development. This in turn strengthens the civil society,
the real force in making the state and government stronger. The existence of a strong civil
society promotes equal freedom, dignity and rights among the members of society. In that way
the society and the state becomes a closely knitted entity guaranteeing good governance in which
people enjoy real freedom. The government which provides equal choices and just opportunities
for its citizenry establishes practice of a fair treatment. It makes sure -women have the same
chance of economic security as men -no one lives in poverty -no one suffers from social
disabilities in their old age -children from both rich and poor families have the same basic start in
life.

The role of the public sector is to ensure that they meet all these requirements as employers as
well as policy implementers. Thus efficiency and equity become national goals. The
administrators have to deal with the fundamental right to opportunity of all our citizens. Then
they have to deal with the management of differences between genders, races, capacities, even
classes. It is true that public administration which is efficient and follows equity principle in their
every day practice becomes a catalyst in enabling us to attain other national interest goals such as
economic growth, low unemployment, reduced poverty and improved competitiveness. In this
sense these three Es promote national security as it strengths human security. Therefore they are

79 | P a g e
essential to the survival of democracy. As such efficient, effective and equitable governance is a
national goal that would help the citizens to enjoy their rights in a democratic system.

7.4 RESPONSIVE GOVERNANCE

The ongoing discussion points to the fact that public administration of a country by association
with the above three values would strengthen the state security and serve national interests
better. If the administration of the country is efficient in producing outputs in terms of the
monetary as well as non-monetary values and guarantees fairness to the marginalized groups the
country has a well established practice of rule of law.

In business, to be “responsive” to the customer is the responsible thing to do. In politics the
governing institutions of the state to be responsive to the citizens as the rationalization of state is
based on the sovereignty of people. In politics responsiveness is defined as affirmative decision-
making by the policymakers and administrators to fulfill the demands of the citizens. The
democratic theory identifies “responsible government” as a government that respects mass
opinion in the making of policy decisions. This has influenced the democratic societies to
produce governance frameworks that make the government receptive to the demands of the
people and maintain high standards in the use of public resources. The term responsiveness in
governance also referrs to the ability of the policy makers or the public administrators to respond
quickly and affirmatively to the needs of the people. In this regard as noted above rule of law
and rights of citizens are the two important aspects to be reckoned with by the policy makers and
the administrators. Hence responsive governance is a government which is keen on maintaining
efficient, effective and equitable governance through its legislative, executive and administrative
decisions respecting rule of law.

In this respect the policy makers or politicians have more responsibility than the administrators
as they are the representatives of people who hold the ultimate responsibility of deciding public
policies. The politicians play a crucial role in transmitting the public opinion and demands of the
people into policy making. Therefore the politician should participate in the public affairs to
discuss the issue and demands of the people and communicate these demands to the places where
policies are formulated. They are also responsible for establishing rule of law and ensuring the
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rights of people. Some countries have special mechanisms to recall the politicians who are not
following the principles of responsive governance. A certain number of electors can demand a
by-election to check the popularity of those politicians. Another mechanism is allowing a certain
number of electors to submit a draft legislative bill to the national Parliament for ratification.
These measures highlight the importance of setting legal obligations for the politicians who have
been elected to the governing institutions established at all levels of governance. This is an
imperative to establish responsive governance as “responsiveness” and is not a spontaneous and
automatic outcome.

As noted above the political leaders alone cannot establish responsive governance. The
existence of an efficient and effective public administration is a pre-requisite to achieve this in
society. The establishment of merit based recruitment, training, placement and remuneration
policies are important in producing efficient administrative system. Since the second half of the
19th century political interference was identified as a danger to the merit based personnel
administration system. Hence politicization of bureaucracy has long been recognized as an
anathema to the responsive governance. If the merit system is abused by political or societal
vested interests the ultimate outcome would be the declining of the quality of service delivery.
This will open the floodgates of politicization, making it a normal thing in the life of public
servants. Since the public administration system is the final delivery point of the policy process
it is the public administrators which show the level of responsiveness existing in the governing
process. If the public service is corrupt; lethargic; inefficient; or biased for power when
delivering services, no one can say that the rule of law is respected in the governing process.

7.5 HUMAN RIGHTS AND RESPONSIVE GOVERNANCE

The effective, efficient and responsive governance is now recognized as a universal human right.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued in 1948 claimed that “everyone has the right
to take part in the government of his/her country, directly or through freely chosen
representatives and …equal access to public service in his/her country” (Article 21). This has
become a directive for the states and community of states when they proclaimed themselves as
the duty bearers of the universal human rights by signing of two major human rights treaties.

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The International Covenants of Civil and Political Rights recognized that the citizens of a
country have a right to participate in the government directly as well as indirectly. This right
includes the right to franchise, the right to have free and fair election and participate in the affairs
of government etc. These political rights clearly recognize the citizens’ right to take part in the
government of their country. The reasons for requiring such participation have been explained in
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It explicitly recognizes that
everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living, featuring the right to food, shelter,
health care, social security and education. Although most of the countries in the world have
allowed the private sector to become providers of most of these social and economic
requirements the ultimate responsibility of guaranteeing the enjoyment of these rights by
everyone is always a government’s responsibility. Hence citizens expect the government and the
administrators to be non-partisan. They want participation for all citizens in government
policies, programmes and projects. They want to have a share in governance. To enable them to
do that, they need to ensure easy access to information. They want effective delegation and
decentralization of decision-making powers and resources to local bodies. “Citizens demand that
the state must respect the education for all principle. Community and civil society leaders, on
the other hand, want a more accountable and transparent system and culture of good governance
rather than government” (adopted from Commonwealth Foundation, Citizens and Governance:
Civil Society in the New Millennium – National Summary Report from India, 05 October, 2000).
As such under responsive governance we must expect from the State:

• To respect rule of law and basic human rights

• To guarantee efficient and effective public service

• To deliver basic services to all citizens

• To organize the education, health care and social security for everyone

• To help the poor and marginalized groups to enjoy human rights

• To promote economic development and livelihoods

• To protect life, property and rights of citizens

• To ensure participatory and democratic governance

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The public service and the administration system must organize with a clear vision to support the
state and society to achieve full realization of each of these components to have a good society.

7.6 CONCLUSION
The chapter presented definitions for efficiency, effectiveness and equity in order to understand
what responsive governance is in the context of democratic governance. It is argued that since
the public administration is responsible for assisting the state to achieve social objectives its
performance should be evaluated in terms of non-monetary values while adherence to the
modern public management methods such as value for money, operational and personal
performance evaluations. Although the modern new public management promotes features such
as user pay, privatizing and contracting out public provisions the public administration cannot
ignore the large number of poor, minority, and marginalized people who do not have any other
protection other than the state.

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 International Code of Conduct for Public Officials
(An International Code of Conduct for Public Officials promulgated by the United Nations through a
General Assembly Resolution No:51/59 adopted on 12 December 1996)

I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. A public office, as defined by national law, is a position of trust, implying a duty to

act in the public interest. Therefore, the ultimate loyalty of public officials shall be to
the public interests of their country as expressed through the democratic institutions
of government.

2. Public officials shall ensure that they perform their duties and functions efficiently,
effectively and with integrity, in accordance with laws or administrative policies.
They shall at all times seek to ensure that public resources for which they are
responsible are administered in the most effective and efficient manner.

3. Public officials shall be attentive, fair and impartial in the performance of their
functions and, in particular, in their relations with the public. They shall at no time
afford any undue preferential treatment to any group or individual or improperly
discriminate against any group or individual, or otherwise abuse the power and
authority vested in them.

II. CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND DISQUALIFICATION

4. Public officials shall not use their official authority for the improper advancement of
their own or their family's personal or financial interest. They shall not engage in
any transaction, acquire any position or function or have any financial, commercial
or other comparable interest that is incompatible with their office, functions and
duties or the discharge thereof.

5. Public officials, to the extent required by their position, shall, in accordance with
laws or administrative policies, declare business, commercial and financial interests
or activities undertaken for financial gain that may raise a possible conflict of
interest. In situations of possible or perceived conflict of interest between the duties
and private interests of public officials, they shall comply with the measures
established to reduce or eliminate such conflict of interest.

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6. Public officials shall at no time improperly use public moneys, property, services or
information that is acquired in the performance of, or as a result of, their official
duties for activities not related to their official work.

7. Public officials shall comply with measures established by law or by administrative

policies in order that after leaving their official positions they will not take improper
advantage of their previous office.

III. DISCLOSURE OF ASSETS

8. Public officials shall, in accord with their position and as permitted or required by
law and administrative policies, comply with requirements to declare or to disclose
personal assets and liabilities, as well as, if possible, those of their spouses and/or
dependants.

IV. ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS OR OTHER FAVOURS

9. Public officials shall not solicit or receive directly or indirectly any gift or other
favour that may influence the exercise of their functions, the performance of their
duties or their judgement.

V. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

10. Matters of a confidential nature in the possession of public officials shall be kept
confidential unless national legislation, the performance of duty or the needs of
justice strictly require otherwise. Such restrictions shall also apply after separation
from service.

VI. POLITICAL ACTIVITY

11.The political or other activity of public officials outside the scope of their office shall,
in accordance with laws and administrative policies, not be such as to impair public
confidence in the impartial performance of their functions and duties.

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 The Principles of Public Life
(Adopted by the Government of the United Kingdom)

Selflessness
Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so
in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.

Integrity
Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside
individuals or organizations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties.

Objectivity
In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or
recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on
merit.

Accountability
Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit
themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

Openness
Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take.

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They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest
clearly demands.

Honesty
Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to
take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

Leadership
Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

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