Profit Making State Organizations Going Bankrupt

It was with much mirth that we read in the newspapers of current cabinet ministers and those who held such portfolios earlier slandering each other about the misdeeds in respect of the almost bankrupt status of public organizations and corporations for which all of them should take the blame.

Earlier the private enterprises were run very efficiently and also the new state corporations that were established were run similarly by very competent and efficient top management of such institutions. For example, when the passenger transport system run efficiently by some owners such as the South Western Bus Company was nationalized with all the buses and the employees taken over, it was run much better than during the company days with Mr. Vere de Mel, a former Civil Servant at the helm of the CTB with a team of very competent government servants on secondment.

After some years things began to change. The ministers under whose purview these organizations came considered them to be the ideal places to give employment to their henchmen and lackeys. They started filling various positions from top to bottom with their supporters over-staffing these institutions and making them nonviable. Once profit making concerns became loss makers and some were on the verge of bankruptcy.

The Ceylon Transport Board which was supposed to have an average of ten employees per bus now had double that number or more, and in addition most of the depots were not meeting the revenue targets assigned to them by the head office. As a result, this largest passenger transport organization in Asia was running at a loss. The CTB went down the pallang likes the CTB bus which went down the Dowa precipice close to Bandarawela killing more than half the passengers on board many decades ago.

A similar fate befell the Ports Authority when a Member of Parliament from the Eastern Province was appointed as the minister in charge of the Ports. He packed the ports, not only Colombo but also Oluvil which had not even been built and was only in the pipeline! The numbers were so large that many of the employees did not even have a place to sit. Of course they were paid a monthly salary summa and also given the lunch packet at the subsidized rate! One can just imagine the financial state of the Authority thereafter.

Many of the other corporations such as the Steel Croporation in Oruwila, Paper Corporation in Valaichennai, the Sugar Corporation in Kantale, Milk Board in Narahenpita, etc. all suffered the same fate due to complete mismanagement with incompetent persons being put in charge by the subject ministers to help their kith and kin without any consideration of the institution. SriLankan Airline is the best example of a State organization going almost bankrupt due to the appointment of close relatives of ruling politicians or their henchmen. They not only mismanaged but also misused the airline to their advantage with one person one ordering himself flown to Singapore on an unscheduled flight at the airline’s cost. The next Chairman who was drawing an exorbitant salary of millions, and also obtained a large amount of money as compensation and vanished Down under.

All these state corporations were running at a profit with almost all of them having a monopoly of their product at the beginning with very competent persons at the helm who were only interested in seeing their institution running at a profit without misusing any of the facilities. Two very good persons that come to my mind are Mr. Vere de Mel, the first Chairman of CTB and Mr. MJ Perera, the Chairman at the inception of the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB).

Recently it was found that a large stock of paddy stored in a warehouse of the PMB in Aralaganwila in 2015 had been lying there till this year and was found unfit for human consumption. This type of thing would never have happened during the time of a person like Mr. MJ Perera.

When will Sri Lanka get the benefit of seeing competent persons at the helm of the state corporations like the gentlemen mentioned above? Or will we ever get them as long as we have corrupt politicians ruling the country?

HM Nissanka Warakaulle