Public sector ...

The government is in the process of recruiting 20,000 unemployed graduates to the State sector, which is expected to conclude this month. Grand plans have also been announced to recruit all unemployed graduates by 2019.

There are about 57,000 unemployed graduates registered with the government (end of 2016), who would be prioritised when recruiting for State sector vacancies.

President Maithripala Sirisena recently appointed a special Salaries Commission to study discrepancies of public sector wages and to formulate a national policy due to demands raised by trade unions.

The Committee is likely to recommend a salary hike for the public sector in the upcoming budget.

“The government is not a company; we are a rule-based organisation and we are accountable to Parliament and to the public eventually. So when the government expands, bureaucracy gets enlarged and the outcome you expect is going to be very difficult to be achieved,” Dr. Samaratunga pointed out.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has also partly blamed bureaucracy for delaying government’s reform agenda, and hindering the country’s economic growth.

Dr. Samaratunga emphasised that Sri Lanka’s public sector is in dire need of remodelling to become a dynamic bureaucracy to support the 21st century private sector.

He said that bureaucracy is entrenched with 1950’s-1970’s thinking where the young bureaucrats have to wait decades to reach the top level of the ladder.

“The young and able decision makers should come to the hierarchy of the bureaucracy fairly quick— of course with adequate amount of training and learning— and not at the end of their 50’s or 60’s. Perhaps they should come to the top level when they reach 40-45 years, that has to be developed nationally,” he said.

Participating in another session at the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2018, the State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne also stressed that the public sector is in dire need of reforms and highlighted that public sector reforms have to be the top priority of the next President of Sri Lanka.