Sugath Kulatunga

I am fortunate that I started my career in the public service in the Department of Agriculture the major government department most close to the lives of the ordinary people. Following the example of my colleague Garvin Karunaratne I wish to relate my experience in the Department, pointing out the difference in the commitment and work ethics of public officers then and now.

I cut my teeth as an Administrative Officer of the Department in a new cadre introduced by Minister Philip Gunawardane to relieve the technical officers of the Department from nontechnical functions. They reveled in these administrative functions as that gave them a sense of power over subordinates. The job of the Administrative Officer was the management of the functions of financial, personnel, logistics(supplies) all rolled into one. My induction to the Service in late 1958 at Polonnaruwa was not auspicious as we had suffered one of the worst floods of December 1958 where all irrigation tanks breached. The next disaster which hit us was the communal riots which in fact started in Polonnaruwa. I experienced my first let-down by the Department when the Directors did not approve my plan to evacuate Tamil families to safety when threatened by marauding mobs. The result was the ruthless killing of 13 Tamils in the Polonnaruwa farm. The tragic events in Polonnaruwa was also a result of the political rivalry between Philip and C.P de Silva. Amidst all the setback we restored production in the farms and initiated the ambitious Thamankaduwa Livestock Development Project. My good work resulted in pushing me from frying pan into the fire and being handpicked by the Minister for the Kantale Sugar Plantations the key development project of the Ministry.

 Kantale Sugar Plantation was tasked to establish a new sugar plantation in a jungle tract. It involved jungle clearing of about 6000 acres,in the first stage and laying out the fields and irrigation canals and planting the cane. Subsequently the Plantation also had to cut and deliver the cane to the factory. To undertake all these there was only a General Manager, A Research Officer, and an Administrative Officer and a Mechanical Superintendent stationed in the Plantations. There was a labor force of over 2000 workers, which increased to over 3000 during the time of harvesting. The mechanical side of land clearing was the responsibility of a team of Russian technicians led by a Mechanical Engineer who had 10 assistants and 60 tractors with tree dozers and other implements. In the present context a project of that magnitude would have a large team of Project Managers provided with all facilities.  We lived under primitive conditions without electricity and clean water which was delivered from the irrigation canal In barrels in a cart. The harsh conditions did not deter us from our responsibilities.

After of the first harvest of cane I was transferred to Head Office and attached to the Animal Husbandry Division and designated as Administrative Officer Development. My task involved substantial and demanding responsibilities in the implementation of the Animal Husbandry Development Program of the Agriculture Development Plan of Philip Gunawardane. In the Animal Husbandry Division, we had a very young team of Veterinary Surgeons led by an indomitable Deputy Director. We had a plan, a strategy, and an action program with clear targets. We worked as a team and were committed to achieve the ambitious targets which became our personalized goals.

When Philip Gunawardane banned overnight the import of eggs our immediate challenge was to make the country self-sufficient in eggs. In this, the first task was to import parent stock to build a quality flock. This was the time where all imports had to be done through Crown Agents. They refused to airfreight us day old chicks, as at that time, without direct flights and many transfers from one carrier to another the mortality rate of chicks was very high and insurance cover was not available. We did not give up but with difficulty involving several visits to Colombo convinced the Treasury to permit us to take the risk and import the chicks ourselves without insurance cover. Treasury agreed when we undertook that at every transit point, we would have competent personnel to ensure the safety of the chicks. The effort was a success.  By this means we were able to build a substantial flock of parent stock.  We also increased the incubator capacity by over 20-fold. The Department also promoted small scale deep litter systems and arranged with the Peoples Bank to provide project finance. Within one year the country became self-sufficient in eggs and poultry meat and also generated a substantial number of productive employment. It was a well-coordinated campaign among a number of organizations with the belief that if there is a will all obstacles can be overcome.

We undertook a crash program and succeeded. But today we have continued to import eggs from India to control the unfair price of eggs in the market where both the production and marketing is controlled by big players. If we had given 20 chicks each to selected Aswesuma beneficiaries with a loan to start a small deep litter project we would have alleviated the problem of shortage and price of eggs.  

The next challenge which was to make the country self-sufficient in dairy products in the long tern. It was known that with artificial insemination of every new generation a quality herd comparable to the semen donors could be established in 5 generations or around 25 years. We already had quality herds of Ayrshire and Frisian breeds at Ambawela and Bopattalawa farms. A Jersey herd was established at Ambawela by importing heifers from New Zeeland. There was a herd of Murrah buffalo at Ridiyagama. While an intensive AI program was being implemented island wide, we faced a problem of a mother herd for the Thamankaduwa Livestock Development Project. Tenders were called for the supply of heifers, but the effort failed. A young team of two veterinary surgeons and I (the Administrative Officer Development (AOD) volunteered to travel round the country and buy the animals paying spot cash. A major problem encountered was at this time there were no Banks in the outstations and the money required had to be drawn from the Head Office. The Chief Accountant took the risk of approving me carrying substantial sums of money and travel around the country. The local veterinary surgeons organized the cattle fairs which attracted good response as the cattle owners were to get spot cash. The team travelled to remote places in the Eastern Province and the deep South and bought over 2000 heifers on a live weight basis which was very economical.

I mentioned this episode as this was a test of trust that existed at that time between higher authorities and junior officers. I am certain that today no staff officers would take the risk of travelling to remote areas and most time staying overnight carrying large amounts of cash without any security and buying cattle outside the normal procedure. We could have manipulated the figures and pocketed a tidy sum of funds. The only record of the transactions was kept by me in a CR book. There were no detailed instructions and or supervision, only trust.

In contrast to the slow but steady action of those days, today the politicians have infiltrated the decision-making process and resort to instant solutions with instant profit to themselves. A good example was the import of milk cows from Australia which was a total disaster. Even with the bitter experience of the first import there was a second attempt to import cows which did not take place due to public outcry.

We had the same problem when a Tender to import goats from India for the goat development project in Kotukacchhiya failed. On a visit to the Veterinary Office on Kew Road I found a herd of imported goats quarantined in the adjoining Municipal Quarantine station. There were around 250 male and female Jamnapari goats in good condition in the compound. I immediately requisitioned the whole lot and paid the importer a fair liveweight price. He was delighted and we launched the goat project.  I obtained covering approval on what I had done from the Permanent Secretary Srikantha only after the transaction was completed. I had the confidence of dealing with the Secretary direct and there were no objections but compliments from him or the Director of Agriculture. However, when I had to face the interview board for promotion to the then Class of the SLAS the Board chaired by the Secretary to the Treasury did not question me on my past record although they had my personal file with them but asked me about foreign exchange budget of which I was not familiar and gave me poor marks.

Before 1972 there was no political interference in administration. The rot of political interference commencd with the 1972 Constitution, where the Independent Public Service Commission of the1947 Constitution was abolished and the public service was taken over entirely by the Political Executive. Article 55 of the1972 stipulated that the Cabinet of Ministers shall provide for and determine all matters of policy relating to public officers, including policy relating to appointments, promotions, transfers, disciplinary control and dismissal. With this change public servants resorted to patronage of politicians to better their prospects in the service. This led to the collusion between politicians mainly the members of parliament resulting in the abuse of power and corruption. The 1978 Constitution merely repeated this provision.

To my utter surprise and disappointment, I came across the decadence in even the new recruits of the Administrative Service. In 1974 at the Academy of Administration I had the challenging task of coordinating the induction training of SLAS recruits. The 1974 batch was one of the large intakes of 67 cadets to the SLAS and the training program was the most comprehensive. It was a 6-month in-house training, a six-month attachment and a further six months of classroom studies ending with the examination of Diploma in Management. It was envisaged that after the 18-month program there will be no more examinations an SLAS officer had to undergo.

By about the fourth month a few of them had made a submission to the Prime Minister that they were keen to serve the country as early as possible and instead of attachments they should be posted to substantive posts. They had pointed out that there are many vacancies in the cadre of Divisional Secretaries where they could provide a useful service to the people. The populist Prime Minister who was impressed with their enthusiasm to serve the people agreed with them and ordered the Induction Training to be reduced to 12 months. The PM was not impressed with the need for professionalization of the service.

I disbelieved this convoluted logic and asked for an explanation from a few of the trainees who preferred the 18 month training ending in a Diploma  What I heard was alarming. They divulged in confidence that the persons who wanted to go to the field were keen on making quick money. One trainee said that some of them have already identified field positions where they could make money jointly with political patrons who would ensure their posting to these lucrative positions. Some of these trainees had even calculated the number of permits, licenses and approvals which were opportunities to make money. Fortunately, this clique was a tiny minority. But we were releasing a virulent virus into the public service.