Public servants not there to execute wrong orders given by politicians – Justice Minister
A training workshop conducted by the Parliamentary Division of the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry for research officers, secretaries and key writers of the members of Parliament was held yesterday (20) at the Colombo District Secretariat and the guest speech was made by the Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Affairs, President’s Counsel, Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.
This workshop was held with the aim of delivering the public service expected from the Members of Parliament efficiently and effectively to the masses.
Delivering his speech the Minister said that Public servants are not there to execute wrong orders given by politicians; public officials should take correct decisions and public representatives, political parties, officials should take correct decisions on behalf of the people whom they are serving.
The Justice Minister said:Local and Provincial Councillors build roads, switch on street lights, visit funeral homes or attend weddings. People in this country think that MPs are there to do those jobs. It came down to that level from the time of J. R. Jayewardene’s rule as President. From that time onwards decentralised money was given to MPs.
Members of Parliament were at the national level. At that time, people thought that the MPs were speaking on behalf of them, representing them, standing up for them and making laws. The MPs who were on the national level were brought down.Now the parliamentarians and local councillors alike are building roads. MPs like to take decentralized money and to build roads. This system destroyed the country. Parliament did not make decisions for the country.
Parliament took decisions to protect the parties on behalf of the leaders. The country was destroyed. The rulers had to leave the country and run. Struggles ensued. These things happened because of the fault of both politicians and the people.
No matter how many decrees and laws are brought forth, democracy cannot be protected. Trust is necessary to protect democracy. Everyone needs to be made aware to protect the trust. If trust is not preserved, civilization will collapse. If civilization collapses, our lives will not be safe. That is the worst thing that can happen to a country. Legislature should work to build trust. Most of the accusations are against the legislature.
The headlines in today’s newspapers are about corruption and fraud. There has been a drug fraud in the Health Ministry. There are allegations that what was imported was another drug called immunoglobulin. They are also given to patients as insulin. Then who has committed this crime? People are fed up with this system of finding out whether it was done by Government officials or politicians.
“This system should be corrected. When I take over the ministries, I tell the Secretary to do the right thing, and whenever the right thing is done, I will protect those people. Don’t do something wrong because I gave orders. If the order I gave is illegal, tell me. Even if the order I gave is wrong, do not execute it and tell me later. I have told our officers that I will not save anyone. So officials should do the right thing. I stand for officers who do the right thing.” The Minister also stated that if a wrong order is given, it is the responsibility of the officers to explain the legal situation.
The Minister said that as the tasks that should be performed by MPs who are people’s representatives are often performed by the member’s staff instead by the MPs, the importance of acting in such a way as to dispel the negative public opinion about public service and provide more service to the public, how to carry out the duties in the Parliament, what are the parliamentary committees and what should be their functions, the constitution, how to prepare the constitution and what should be contained in the constitution.
The post Public servants not there to execute wrong orders given by politicians – Justice Minister appeared first on DailyNews.