State authorities are today stumbling over themselves to point fingers at each other, and to call for investigations following the suspected bludgeoning to death of a 15-year-old boy in a juvenile detention centre in Kalmunai recently. 

In typical Sri Lankan governance style, the “responsible authorities” are now planning to carry out a series of investigations and take “measures” to prevent such from happening again. Such knee-jerk reactions to public outcries about failure to ensure “duty of care” are a typical smokescreen used by many state agencies to cover up their shortcomings in governance.

While all the investigations and ensuring “measures are being taken” are all well and good, the question in the minds of many taxpayers is why did they wait until now? Were they not monitoring such establishments for compliance? And were they not ensuring that the personnel assigned to such institutions were well-trained and equipped for the task?

Yesterday, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) urged the “relevant authorities” to follow the strict procedures and proper training when recruiting wardens and helpers for juvenile detention centres and childcare homes. But why did the NCPA wait until there was a tragedy to remind the “relevant authorities” of this fundamental fact? Shouldn’t they have been checking on the standards of such institutions routinely?

The NCPA has stated that they are monitoring the ongoing investigations into the incident and that the Provincial Probation officers have already been advised to conduct an internal investigation in parallel to the investigations carried out by the Police. Nevertheless, isn’t the NCPA and the mechanism at the Ministry-in-charge of child welfare, supposed to be the trip-wire to detect anomalies in the child welfare system? Meanwhile, State Minister of Women and Childcare Geetha Kumarasinghe on Monday told Parliament that the particular female warden of the detention centre had not received any vocational training.  Apparently, the warden in question, who the Police later arrested had passed the relevant examinations but had not received any vocational training relevant to the task. Then, why was she employed in that role? How did the NCPA and the Ministry miss that shortcoming? That is a lapse on the part of the Government. Filling key vacancies with trained and properly vetted persons is the role of the State, mainly of the Ministry-in-charge and the agency responsible, in this case the NCPA. What action will the Government take against the Ministry and NCPA to ensure such lapses do not happen again? Where is the accountability of the state mechanism? The Government must answer.

The Police on Monday (4) arrested a warden of a juvenile detention centre in Kalmunai for the alleged assault on a 15-year-old to death. During the post-mortem examination, the Judicial Medical Officer in Kalmunai had given an open verdict. Accordingly, the Kalmunai Police following an investigation arrested the 28-year-old female warden, who had handed herself over to the Police. The suspect was presented to the Kalmunai Magistrate’s Court on Monday and remanded till 18 December. But the damage has been done. A child, placed in the care of the State, is dead – Allegedly beaten to death. Arresting and prosecuting the immediate offender is not a full measure of justice. It is only expediency at work. Blaming the untrained, possibly ill-equipped and unsuitable person who was hired by the State, considered “qualified” by written tests and was put in charge of children’s welfare, is not the only party to blame in this incident. The matter is much more complicated.

To begin with, the child welfare sector is woefully under-funded and under-resourced. Many of the policies used for child welfare and corrections remain out-dated and proven to be ineffective. Further, those responsible, who had the duty to check for compliance, and closely monitor such institutions have failed in their task. There needs to be a collective shake up of the entire system. And someone, other than the offender who allegedly bludgeoned a child to death, needs to take responsibility for the shortcomings of the State in this matter.  If you want to effect change, start from the top.