The point with media freedom, and the
new found freedom of the people to damn the govt. to hell and high water, means
that the average JOE now spends his time bemoaning the loss of hope. Hope he
had that with YAHAPALANAYA, the crooks would be brought to book. Not one of the
known crooks has yet been sentenced and doing time, a year and a half later.
Whatever excuse is given to the slow
pace of JUSTICE, that is just not good enough. NOT ONE, and we have forgotten
about SAJIN conveniently, why?
In these circumstances we cannot accept
any excuses, that the leadership has been otherwise engaged in “fighting fires”
like they literally had to do on the SALAWA AMMO DUMP!
It is simply that NO ONE IS IN CHARGE. I
don’t blame the PM and President for not doing the needful themselves, as their
job is to be seen amongst the people opening this and that, and giving this
speech and that. They have got their hands full, and now we have two leaders
doing the job one had in the past.
The link below refers to how ridiculous the present Govt has sunk to in satisfying people'e expectations at the time of the elections.
What I would like to see is that ALL
DECISIONS are acted upon by the next rung of leadership, with someone tasked
with reporting to the two bosses that all the work has been done. If it was a
private Conglomerate and these two are the Chairman and CEO respectively, there
will be CLEAR lines of communication, and responsibility, and the orders will
be acted upon smoothly, along prescribed lines, like in a Company’s handbook.
Remember ALL the worlds top 1000 companies are bigger than Sri Lanka’s GNP in
turnover, and have not had to go cap in hand begging for money.
Is the whole problem that our two bosses
have NO EXPERIENCE IN RUNNING A COMPANY, and so they are floundering in 2016
leadership. I suggest then that each appoint a retired CEO of a big
corporation, with some vision, to carry out their orders and report on
progress, and take action when nothing is forthcoming. This is akin to a PA.
Ideally, they should be young, but here as the leaders are not capable, and
cannot direct them properly, they need to be shown the art of management by
experienced professionals.
They MUST be “JAADIYATA MOODIYA” so they
act in concert and not against each other, so complement each other. This will
solve a lot of the problems, and as they are NOT politicians they can tell the
incompetent politicians that they will just have to tell the big boss that they
have failed!
In these instances the fossils like John
Ameratunga, and Gamini Jayawickrema Perera and a host of people past their
prime can realize they are actually harming the administration they have been
tasked to help, and pave the way for younger people to carryout their tasks
with more sense and common sense!
Tragically two very important
Ministries, Tourism and Sustainable Development and Wildlife, which are ALSO
complementary are hung to dry, due to the incompetence of the Ministers. So
National Policy does not get carried out. In one sense Tourism and Wildlife
have to work together with the CCF (central cultural fund) to improve the
Tourism product to a level, where we can attract high spending Nature and
Culture Tourists, of a high level, not just a passing interest. These two
categories are more inclined to accept a low carbon footprint, and therefore
hotels and resorts with less pressure on non-renewable resources, and together
employ a huge number of rural folk to service ALL the aspects of this product
to achieve the policy goals of minimum number, maximum value, maximum local
employment, a complete win win formula.
This alone is a US$5B foreign exchange
earner, with additional 200,000 employment opportunities, we are missing, due
to the incompetence at the top. I picked on one example but I can do the same
for each and every Ministry and give a National Policy Plan that can be
followed for National Upliftment.
We must get out of the fixation of
Finance that is dragging policy, as the whole taxation system is against the
Middle Class, whose burden has just increased. This WILL dampen consumer
demand, growth, and will be Counter-productive.
Instead of wasting time on this
no-confidence motion of the Finance Minister today, if only he had a system in
place to bring into the tax fold the 500,000 people without a tax file,
beginning with the 50,000 I can give him if he gives me a month, then ASSESORS
can just go to each and send an assessment within minutes of entering their
premises.
It is simple, start with the hardware
merchants. There are 5,000 who have assets worth Rs 500M in mainly their
property, and hardware stock, but don’t have a tax file, and have never paid
tax. Why have they NOT been taxed? How long will they get away with it. When
you have never been taxed, it is easy to become a billionaire.
Otherwise if
they have been taxed on their profits, they would NOT have these levels of assets,
as they would be acquired from post tax profits. This same argument goes for
the second hand car dealers sitting on a Billion rupees in stock of cars in
5,000 sales in the Country, but have never paid tax. If an assessor comes their
way, they are just paid off in cash. Rs200K in cash for someone earning Rs20K a
month is just too much inducement to look the other way. Why oh why is this NOT
being done?
In just two or three pages, I have shown
just a tit bit of how the Govt. can increase employment by 200,000, however
there is a shortage of qualified people! I have also shown how the Govt. can
collect about Rs100B revenue in one shot and increase annual Taxation Revenue
on Income or Profits Tax by at least Rs25B.
My allegation is that we have incompetent
people running this Country, so even a simple elementary scheme as outlined
above, cannot be implemented, due to the lack of will, and lack of common sense
and personal agendas of the powers. Many of the grievances against the Govt.
can be solved in minutes if these two pages of simple procedures are adopted.
Running a village called Sri Lanka is so
easy. The leaders have the power, they MUST just delegate it in the way I
recommend, and begin with the above procedures, and within 6 months results
will be there for all to see, and much of the problems of the Govt. will be
solved. The solution therefore is internal, not with the IMF grants and
facilities, why cant the leaders see that?
Another rule I will enforce through my
CEO, is that NO ONE can attend openings of anything and give speeches or go to
embassy cocktail parties. This takes 80% of the elected leaders’ time, instead
of running their Ministries and so their work gets step-motherly treatment.
Just imagine the time that will be
released to the 100 ministers to actually do some work, rather than waste time
attending events. If you don’t believe me, just look at the Diary of any
lawmaker, and you will scratch your head asking, “HOW CAN THIS MAN HAVE ANY
TIME TO DO ANY WORK?”
Look at any successful Country, and you
will see a disciplined and organized leader, who knows how to inspire and
delegate to the right people. We have enough competent people to delegate to,
give them a free hand to do their job, and NOT interfere in their decision
making. You have delegated responsibility to carry out the POLICIES, and they
are capable of fulfilling them WITHOUT political interference.
When word spreads that political interference
is being reduced, you can be sure the people with one voice will finally believe
that this Govt. means business. Things and attitudes will change overnight, and
the confidence that people will get that a level playing field has returned, you
will get immediate results.
Just look! The best and brightest leave,
because the worst incompetents get the jobs they apply for. If that changes we can
retain the people we desperately need, to carry out all our development activities
without fear or favor.
I am sorry to have to even give a common sense check list for the next few weeks. Its just that with all sorts of unnecessary matters occupying the lawmakers time they have not been able to spend any time actually thinking about what their job is, and how best to carry that out in the best PUBLIC INTEREST
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