Lal Kantha’s outburst and where things went wrong

This phenomenon is not new. In 2016, during the Yahapalana government, the then Special Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama had stated that a large majority of public servants do not work at least four hours of their eight-hour duty

It is an irony that Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation Minister, K. D. Lal Kantha, calling the public sector in this country a den of thieves, after the National People’s Power government gave the employees of the public sector a thumping salary increment last month. 
It is similarly ironic that Minister Lal Kantha is lashing out at the public sector within less than a month after the majority of the employees of the state sector voted for the NPP candidates at the May 6 local government elections. It is also interesting to note that no public sector trade union leader had protested against the outburst by the minister, who is also a trade union leader. 
He was making this remark while addressing a gathering at a ceremony to mark the launch of 500 Highland franchise outlets.
Earlier in December, Lal Kantha made a similar onslaught on the public sector for its lethargy in carrying out its duties, along with corruption in the sector. While accusing bureaucrats of obstructing the Government from taking the country forward, he warned then, “The next tsunami will happen against the corrupt bureaucracy of this country”. Vindicating his frustration, Minister of Industries, Sunil Handunnetti, also during an event in the same month, said that the “state officials, who are accustomed to work according to the corrupt policies and practices of former governments, are not prepared yet to get rid of those old practices”.
During a discussion with the heads of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, Sri Lanka Customs, and Airport and Aviation Services in January, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake also highlighted the need to eliminate negative perceptions surrounding Sri Lanka Customs and underscored the urgency of implementing strict disciplinary and legal action to restore public confidence. Again, last month, while participating in the launch of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan 2025–2029 at the BMICH, he also warned that if officials continue to resist change, the government will proceed to remove and replace them after May.
All these statements indicate the difficulty the government has faced in what they called the “system change.” Once Lal Kantha pointed out this situation, he sarcastically said that everybody wants to change the system but nobody wants to change themselves. 
One may view these remarks by the leaders of this government as an attempt to cover up their inability or lack of capacity or amateurishness, yet we have to admit that the lethargy and corruption in the public sector is a fact. It is because of their experience of this status of affairs, most people, especially those from rural areas, always tend to find somebody with connections to get things done at public sector offices. 
This phenomenon is not new. In 2016, during the Yahapalana government, the then Special Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama had stated that a large majority of public servants do not work at least four hours of their eight-hour duty. In December 2019, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, during a discussion with the officials of the Ministry of Public Transport held at the Presidential Secretariat, stressed that inefficiency in the State sector has resulted in frustration among the public towards every previous government and it should come to an end during his tenure. On September 17, 2020, he reiterated this point, saying his understanding was that the main problem in the country was that nobody carries out his or her duty properly. 
Lal Kantha as a trade union leader and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna as a party that had the capacity to mobilise at least a major part of the working class in the country have to take the larger portion of the blame for this state of affairs. They must question their own conscience if they or any other trade union leader have ever taken action to create awareness of obligations and responsibilities in the members of their trade unions, especially in a moral or ethical context. 
We fondly recall how they mobilised the railway workers to reconstruct the southern railway line that had been destroyed by the 2004 tsunami, within 52 days. But, in general, they failed or ignored that obligation and people have to bear the brunt of it now.

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