Ministers, ministries and vehicles

by Chula Goonasekera

(October 21, Peradeniya-Kandy, Sri Lanka Guardian) Recently, the Minister of Health compared his ministry to a motor vehicle and said that ‘he is accelerating and the speedometer was also indicating the speed, but the vehicle was not moving". The vehicle he alluded to was his own ministry of which he was the driver.

There is a lot of meaning to this statement. It can be used as a simple example to understand the role of the politicians, his or her professional relationships and institutional performance in real life. If the politician is the driver, the professionals or the officers of the ministry and infrastructure are the vehicle. In simple terms, however good the driver is, the vehicle may never win a race, if the vehicle machinery is not in good working condition, meaning, serviced, replaced with best and most reliable parts and is linked in a compatible manner, professionally crafted and fuelled. Isn’t our service staff and infrastructure of a ministry a bit like that? Should not they be serviced (in house training), fuelled (adequately paid), compatibly linked (working relationships in good harmony) and failing parts replaced (poor performers fired and new ones hired), professionally crafted (appropriate recruitment criteria to the jobs) and absent parts replaced (vacancies filled), and oil and fuel leaks sealed (corruption stopped) to have a ministry that will win its targets?

Given this scenario, is it not surprising that the vehicle, i.e. the Ministry of Health, is not performing? The machinery is not maintained in good condition. They are not serviced (no in-house training), poorly fuelled ( poorly paid), badly linked (poor working harmony), almost never replaced (old, worn out parts at work) and manned by low quality spares ( meaning recruited from politicians’ lists etc and not by merit or quality or ability) and battered by persistent oil leaks (corruption).

Minister of health will now understand what he needs to do to get his vehicle (Ministry of Health) moving. He also needs to re-set the speedometer. Currently it is over-reading due to overinflated publicity (doing things for the camera that is far from reality or truth) and malfunctioning data feedback systems (officers returning falsified, ill tested data). Consider adding a rev counter (staff appraisal) to double check.

On the other hand, the reverse is also true. However good the vehicle is, there will be no win in a race if the driver is inadequately skilled, bad or drunken or unacquainted with his vehicle. The same is true with a ministry with a poorly skilled minister. A minister not winning a race would blame the machine performance, weather and even spectators just like a losing racing driver. A badly driven vehicle will also crash, causing enormous damage to the vehicle itself and others, similar to a badly managed ministry. The sufferers in this would be the public. The driver may also succumb. Such a ministry is now in the limelight constantly. Is it not?

Thus, it is the President’s duty to appoint adequately skilled drivers (ministers) to the ministries and monitor their performance. It is the duty of the minister to keep the ministry in good condition by servicing, replacing worn/poorly performing parts with good quality ones and fuel adequately and as a driver, steer safely. Unless we stick to this principle, as a country, not only will we never win our race but also put ourselves into the risk of accidents that might cause enormous public damage and suffering.

Isn’t our Minister of Health very clever?