Review
Milestones in a public service career by Dharmasena Wijesinghe (2008)

Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health in the Attlee government and more famously, the founder of the National Health Service in Britain, was once asked whether he had read the autobiography of his Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. He said "I never read autobiographies. I like my fiction straight".

In recent years, there has been a spate of memoirs and autobiographies mainly by former public servants in Sri Lanka. They are considered and honest accounts of their experiences. Bevan’s remarks, however, have a resonance when reading these personal accounts, as the authors depend largely on memory of events long ago. Wijesinghe’s memoirs are filled with humour and lighter moments, among the more serious issues he deals with. The mundane and the curious episodes he describes are amusing and entertaining, and a reflection of the times we live in. The volume has no trace of rancour or bitterness. What is most interesting about this volume is that it offers valuable raw material and first-hand experience for a future scholar of twentieth century public administration in this country.

Wijesinghe’s fascinating career over forty years, took him from the periphery of district administration to the centres of policy making in Colombo. He accumulated a vast and varied experience along the way. From Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services to Secretary of the Local Government Service Commission to the post of Government Agent to Chairmanships of the Tea Board and the Coconut Board, to senior posts in the Ministry of Health, and to the post of Secretary of a Ministry, and finally as Cabinet Secretary for nearly ten years, he has been engaged in a broad spectrum of key tasks in a changing public service in the latter half of the 20th century.

He started his career when there was an independent Public Service Commission, when officials had some protection from the attentions of politicians. In mid-career, he entered an era when the public service was relegated to a secondary place in Sri Lankan public life, to the detriment of detached and impartial systems of governance. This change over time is reflected clearly in the story that the author unfolds, through many revealing incidents and anecdotes. The quality of the public service and its reputation in the public eye have diminished appreciably under the new arrangements since 1972. The independent and impartial voice and advice which administrators had in earlier days has been gradually lost.

The author has many insights to offer on the relationship between senior public servants and politicians – MPs and ministers. While a few ministers appear to be inclined to listen to the views of public servants, others appear to be more concerned of having public servants around them who are at their beck and call. There is no evidence that ministers seek the advice of senior officials on key policy issues. Policies appear to be determined on the basis of powerful interests and lobby groups, without any significant analytical inputs into their relevance and effectiveness. The role of the senior administrator as an advisor on policy matters appears to have weakened considerably.

Wijesinghe’s transfer from the post of Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Rural Industrial Development and once again from the chairmanship of the Tea Board, suddenly and without an inkling of the reasons therefor, illustrate the manner in which senior public servants were treated in the political milieu of the time. There is the story of the MP for Amparai, (the many stories about him make him almost a Dickensian figure) and his assertion of authority as the dominant figure of the district and the diminution of the role of the Government Agent. Even miniscule administrative decisions, like the allocation of a block of crown land, are made by the politician to suit his whim and fancy, and the safeguards afforded to the public through objective decision making processes to which public servants adhere, have been continually eroded.

There is another corollary to the relationship of politicians and public servants. There are public servants who have made use of their political masters to gain various advantages, whether it be relating to roles in the ministry or department, or obtaining scholarships and employment abroad. The volume has several instances on record. What this phenomenon explicitly illustrates is that it is not only the politicians who have contributed to the decline in the stature of public service. Public servants themselves have sought the assistance of politicians for their own career advancement and for other benefits. No norms or rules or any kind of restraint appear to deter this kind of behavior. Public Servants spend a considerable amount of time cultivating relationships with the political personalities of the day.

The author has some fascinating vignettes on district administration, in Hambantota and Amparai. In Hambantota, he had the task of implementing the Paddy Lands Act which ensured the rights of tenant cultivators. The Magistrate in Hambantota at the time, gave a judgement which completely nullified the purposes of the Act. The author attributes it to at least partly to the less than sympathetic attitude of the judge concerned, coming as he was from the landowning aristocracy. The author coming from a rural background had much empathy with the Paddy Lands Act as is clearly evident from what he writes. This incident raises the wider issue of the social construction of experience among top officials.

In the United Kingdom, there have been studies of Oxbridge and upper middle class biases in public policy making in areas such as education and health, and even in foreign policy. It should be fascinating to examine this aspect more deeply with changing public service attitudes in Sri Lanka. The author’s experiences as Government Agent of Amparai, offer many lessons for effective governance in multi-ethnic regions and districts. It is also a fine description of the complexities of district administration, bringing together political, economic, social and cultural dimensions which are so closely intertwined at the level of districts and villages and towns.

Public administration in developing countries, and Sri Lanka is no exception, is increasingly influenced by international norms set by UN bodies and others, and by the policies advocated by them. In the Ministry of Health, the influence of bodies such as UNICEF and WHO appear to be considerable. There is also the issue of technical assistance offered both by multilateral and bilateral donors to public institutions. The author appears to be one of those public servants who have availed of the opportunities for travel and for studies abroad, in a purposive manner, to enlarge his own skills and experience, as he describes in the volume. This is indeed an encouraging testimony to the value of this kind of technical assistance. Attending a conference or seminar can be a distinctive learning experience. A more considered approach to obtaining technical assistance can make a positive contribution to the improvement of public service standards. This is a relatively neglected aspect in Sri Lanka.

Human resource management is a critical area in the private sector, and in the public sector of many developing and developed countries. Reading this volume, the impression obtained is that there is hardly any attention to this aspect of governance. Effective management of human resources can make a notable contribution to advancing economic and social development, and improving the lives of ordinary people. In Sri Lanka, today, there is a belief that administration is a subject which requires no training and can be pursued by any individual, particularly if that individual has powerful political and social connections. Key institutions are led by people without any relevant experience.

The Wijesinghe volume has many illustrations of this kind. In the last six decades since independence, the public service has undergone many changes, and the context in which it performs has radically altered. There are new systems of provincial administration; the influx of outsiders into senior levels of administration has become almost a flood; the numbers of ministers and Secretaries have increased exponentially; the whole process of systems of accountability within ministries and departments has changed; and the subtle and intricate relationship between politicians and administrators has undergone a sea change. Is it not time to have either a commission or a committee to inquire into the many and diverse aspects of Sri Lanka’s public service with the aim of developing new structures and new procedures to suit changing times, while ensuring that systems of governance are for the public welfare?

 The author is a former member of the SLAS