When selecting the next Cabinet, President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be giving top consideration to efficiency, past track record and honesty, while the number of Cabinet ministers will be restricted to between 35 and 40, a highly placed source said.
He added that the rationale behind this thinking is the need for fast tracking the economic development of the country, which is high in the agenda in the President’s second term.
Political experience and seniority of the members, though not the sole consideration, will also be taken into consideration when selecting the Cabinet.
He said that in the high level discussions, which the President has had in this regard, a question that has arisen is the practicality in achieving a high level of efficiency and best results when too many subjects are assigned to one Cabinet minister.
Current system of having non-Cabinet ministers will be scrapped. However, he pointed out that efficiency targets could be achieved by appointing a deputy minister for each subject thereby ensuring more active participation of the deputy ministers in the development activities.
Meanwhile, political observers pointed out that the promise to restrict the cabinet to 35 members could easily be implemented in the event the government gets a two third majority in Parliament with no necessity to accommodate those who crossover in the Cabinet.
However, they said that contrary to the recent experiences in Sri Lanka, the next Cabinet is likely to be more of a task oriented entity than a talking shop.
Currently, Sri Lanka has 51 Cabinet ministers and 39 non-Cabinet ministers, which is generally believed to be too excessive by any standards as most other countries, including those which are larger in size and with bigger population, manage with smaller Cabinets.
By Courtesy of www.nation.lk
14th March, 2010.
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