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Maintaining national policies across govts.

12 Oct 2022

Reiterating a sentiment that has been heard for many years, President Ranil Wickremesinghe noted earlier this week that the country needs a national policy that does not change with every government that comes to power. He also invited everyone to commit to building the country in line with one national policy, setting aside party differences.  At a time when the country has started acknowledging that one of the key root causes of the ongoing economic crisis is unstable, short-sighted, and ineffective national policies, the President’s remarks are timely and more relatable to the people than before. However, thus far, the President has not shown signs of being a leader that is willing to bring in long-term, effective, and stable policies. The President missed a good opportunity to create an environment that could have brought in such beneficial national policies by failing to establish a National Government and distancing the democratic elements of the Opposition through the autocratic manner in which he has treated protestors. It is not too late for action if the President is serious about forming stable national policies. However, those efforts have to be genuine and well-planned. The main quality of a national policy, as the President noted, is stability and consistency, which Sri Lanka has lacked for decades, except perhaps in the sectors of health and education, which have remained essentially free and accessible for decades through diverse Governments. The economy is one sector that has long lacked stable and consistent national policies. National policies should be formulated in a way that makes it difficult for different governments to alter them based solely on their political or personal agendas. Most importantly, various stakeholders, especially the general public, should have a say in what these national policies are and how they should be changed. However, a national policy simply being consistent is inadequate – it should also be effective, forward looking and democratic. When a policy is consistent, but not much else, it does not support good governance or improve the people’s quality of life. On the contrary, it continues to harm the country and mock the law, despite government changes aimed at remedying such detrimental situations. One such national policy that was brought about in the recent past was the former government’s decision to adopt an organic agriculture policy, which played a decisive but detrimental role in the downfall of the country’s agriculture sector. Even though it did not continue for years, the former Government tried to keep the policy in place as long as it could. As for policies that are unofficial but have been sustained for decades, successive governments always had an unofficial policy of playing a lethargic and forgiving role when it comes to probing allegations of corruption against previous governments.  In this context, bringing in national policies that are actually useful and not detrimental is crucial. However, once a national policy is introduced, changing it may be challenging, as policies are connected with a plethora of functions of the public and private sectors, the law, and the people’s lives, as was seen in the case of the organic agriculture policy. Therefore, getting it right at the very inception is crucial. Last but not least, as much as national policies need to be stable, they have to be updated in a timely manner. Sri Lanka has many policies and practices based on those policies, especially when it comes to the public sector’s affairs, that have not been updated to match modern-day developments. One good example is service-seekers being required to submit physical applications to obtain various services from the public sector, which is changing quite slowly.  It is the President who has the ultimate power to put the said sentiments about the need for national policies into action, and therefore, he should walk the talk. He has said what should be done – now, he should do what needs to be done.


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