By M D P DISSANAYAKE (FCMA-UK, CPA-Aust), CGMA, PhD)

The President Gotabaya team has been on the job since September  last year, with a new Parliament.  Their tasks, activities, funding and target time lines have been  gazetted and explained at length.

BEST AND WORST PERFORMERS:

From the public eye, apart from the President and Prime Minister, the Health Minister Mrs Pavithra Devi Wanniarchchi handled an extremely difficult role, continued her functions without a break, co-ordinating  highly qualified medical professional, without entering into arguments.  She is a role model, a well qualified lawyer, who was humble to listen and learn with educated personnel in their specialised profession, without causing destructive conflicts. Quite a unique Lady when compared with some Loose Cannons in the Cabinet ( at least 3 of them)  who  simply provide headlines to media on issues outside their assigned responsibilities.  She has proved her credentials as an Effective Leader to fit into much higher ministerial roles in the near future.

HALF-YEARLY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION:

The President need to review the  results of the tasks performed by all cabinet and non-cabinet ministers.  Matters should not be allowed for the individual ministers or groups/camps to behave in the same way as they did behave in the past.   On the overall performances of the previous Mahinda Cabinet, the positive results were produced by none other than Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, with his brothers Gotabaya and Basil.  .  The lack of direct involvement of Mr Basil Rajapakse is impeding the progress, whilst the absence of  Effective Managers in the Cabinet causing heavy workload for the President, a handful of  indisciplined  cabinet ministers are creating mayhem  at the top. 

With the exception of Mrs Pavithra Devi, there are no other cabinet ministers with runs on the board, although  there appears to be no lack of Cheer Leaders!  

The Performance Evaluation and recommendations should best be handled by a team of independent Management Consultants, to eliminate complaints of  political bias.  The fees to be paid to the Management Consultants will be an investment, the experts will  identify strengths and weaknesses of the team in making their recommendations.

GUTTER POLITICS:

Many coalition governments worldwide failed to deliver their commitments to the public due to gutter politics of minor parties.  There is untested wisdom that minor parties played a pivotal role in bringing the governments into power.  The most recent cases in Sri Lanka, involving (a) dual citizenship, (b) ECT agreement with India, (c) SLPP leadership etc. were few examples. Their next direct conflict will arise when new draft constitution is released.  Basically, minor parties are eager to increase their vote base, hence they attempt to portray that they are king-makers.   Some of the issues, such as SLPP Leadership is none of their business.  Appointing a minor party leader/Minister as Media Spokesperson for Cabinet was a mistake and need to be corrected,

LEADERSHIP:

The public is somewhat disappointed with the President Gotabaya as well.  He has been over cautious thus far, he need to come out of the Shell and deliver the service the public is demanding.  Not everyone will like the President, but he must Lead and the public will throw their support for changing Gutter Politics.

The Prime Minister of Singapore has established four guidelines to evaluate the performances of Ministers.  They are:

a.      Abrupt ministerial change

b.      A good minister is pro-active and entrepreneurial

c.      Not every minister is equal and they know it

d.      Ministers answer for mistakes but it should be kept in perspective

e.      Not all ministers will succeed

f.        Exists have to be handled with dignity and decorum

In outlining above guidelines, the PM Lee said: There is a doctrine, it is a collective responsibility; all ministers are party to this. And all ministers are held to account ultimately when we go to the next General Election and the public is the final judge of the government’s record.”

(Ref.Mothership.sg)

The Coalition Governments are here to stay, world-wide. Managing each partner is a task of the Leader. The Leader must  support each partner Logistically and Financially to achieve the desired results. The Leader at frequent intervals must demand Results from each partner in the coalition,

Whilst retaining those who bring Constructive Conflicts to the table, the Leader must cut deadwood consisting of groups creating Destructive Conflicts,  at the first available opportunity.