In what appears to be a response to the people’s demands that the Government must be mindful of and limit its own expenses before imposing austerity measures on the people, the Cabinet of Ministers has granted approval for an initiative that will look into the expenses of 10 Ministries for which a large amount of financial resources have been allotted through the Budget.

Under this initiative proposed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies, 10 committees would be appointed to carry out a systematic review of these 10 Ministries, and those committees will be chaired by a senior official of the Treasury. These 10 Ministries are namely the Ministries of Transport and Highways; Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, and Local Government; Education; Health; Agriculture; Plantation Industries; Defence; Public Security; Irrigation; and Urban Development and Housing.

At a time of a great economic crisis caused, among other reasons, by the imprudent financial management of successive governments, this move is a necessary one. In fact, given the magnitude of waste and embezzlement of public funds, which has been exposed from time to time through various initiatives such as audit reports and the proceedings of the Committee on Public Enterprises, these committees should have been established before. 

This initiative should look into the excessive and unnecessary expenses of Ministries as well as the factors that have led to these expenses and determine which officers or decisions allowed such expenses to occur. In addition, it is important to review the utilisation of non-financial resources such as vehicles and other equipment, as the injudicious use of such resources has a direct impact on the necessity of financial resources. In addition, reviewing the priorities and objectives of these Ministries is crucial, because they too have a direct impact on expenses. Although it may not come under the remit of these committees, there is also a national need to require Ministries and public institutions to reuse, repair, and recycle resources whenever possible, and perhaps these committees could pay attention to that aspect as well.

If the Government genuinely aims to review and reduce the expenses of Ministries through the establishment of these committees, the said areas should be looked into. However, the country is yet to find out how genuine these plans are, and whether this is just another distraction to show the country that the Government heeds the people’s demand that public sector expenses are also monitored and controlled. The proposed initiative should not be an attempt to justify the expenses of these Ministries. Instead, it should be the beginning of seeing excessive and unjustifiable expenses for what they are and rectifying them.

What decides whether this initiative is genuine and is not a distraction is what follows these committees’ investigations. Instead of allowing the findings and recommendations of these committees to be forgotten as has happened to many committees that were appointed before for various purposes, all practical, reasonable, and necessary recommendations of these committees should be implemented without delay.