How not to improve the performance of Government institutions: Trouble at the Archives

It is imperative for the National Archives to reinvent itself to meet the new demands. Strategic planning is required 

Wednesday, 23 December 2020 

As a student of public policy and regulation, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to closely observe the workings of different kinds of State organisations. In this article I intend to discuss the challenges of improving the performance of a Government department. 

Two decades ago, I was entrusted with the task of establishing a regulatory agency in greenfield conditions. The very concept of regulation was new. A World Bank credit and funds from license fees coming directly into the Telecom Regulatory Commission’s (TRC’s) Fund permitted operational flexibility. The Commission had the freedom to recruit and restructure, though salaries were capped. 

In early 2018, I invited to serve as Board Chair of the ICT Agency, a special-purpose vehicle established in 2003 that was in crisis, with its budget slashed. This was a brownfield experience. Mistakes had been made and critical relationships damaged. Finances were a mess and restructuring required. ICTA was overly dependent on funds channelled through the line ministry, which placed it at the mercy of obstructive officials. Money that had been duly budgeted and properly disbursed was delayed or denied. 

Almost two years ago, I was appointed to the statutory Advisory Council of the National Archives. This was the closest I had come to observe the workings of a conventional Government department. This was beyond brownfield. It was wasteland.

At the TRC, I conducted interviews and gave appointment letters so quickly that once, when a Minister called me about an applicant, I asked him whether he wanted to speak to the individual who had already assumed duties. This was also the case at ICTA (where I received no such phone calls).

But not so at the Department of National Archives. Vacancies at the executive levels of the Department have not been filled for years. The approved cadre is 291, of which close to half the positions were vacant the last time I asked. Even after interviews had been conducted in line with all procedures, director appointments were stalled for months at the Ministry. 

Having vacancies is not a bad thing, per se, especially when the Right to Information Act and digitisation of Government documents have created the imperative for the National Archives to reinvent itself to meet the new demands. Strategic planning is required. Few resources other than the Advisory Council appear to be available to assist in facing the new challenges. 

The workforce must be modernised in line with strategic objectives. But redefining job descriptions appears to be extraordinarily complex and time-consuming because they require external approvals from above. And with executive level positions vacant and major construction projects underway, these essential tasks constitute a massive burden on the newly-appointed Director General.

The Director General has been doing an excellent job, managing a major refurbishment of the building that was literally falling down and leveraging international interest in Sri Lanka’s archives that go back to 1640 CE.

A young and highly qualified academic who had turned down a permanent senior lecturer position at the Open University to take the job, the current Director General has been under attack from various quarters, mostly those wanting to prevent legal records of viharagam and dewalagam from being produced in courts.

Inquiry committees have absolved her of the alleged actions of “selling the heritage of the country to foreigners”. The illogicality of the allegations has been explained in the popular press. But the hounds are baying at her heels with increased fury emboldened by recent Constitutional developments that weaken the independence of Government servants. 

I agreed to serve on the Advisory Council because of the Director General’s genuine commitment to digitisation and overall modernisation. The essential reforms, including transferring decaying paper records to digital formats and sustainably preserving and making accessible the material that is increasingly produced in digital forms, requires the energy and imagination of a young leader. Having entered Government service laterally at age 44, I felt obligated to assist another lateral entrant committed to dragging a 19th Century institution into the 21st Century. 

Having come under attack from the beneficiaries of the dysfunctional and corrupt telecom monopoly when I was introducing independent regulation to this country, I was not surprised by the resistance she was experiencing. But the difference was that I was not being pulled down and sacrificed by my Minister and my Ministry Secretary. I was held accountable but as long as I was procedurally correct and had good reasons for my actions, they had my back. 

The Director General of National Archives appears to have only the support of most of her staff and some of the users of the services provided by the Archives. I want to add mine. If a public servant of her calibre and commitment is pushed out unlawfully and without due process, it will set back the cause of making State organisations efficient and responsive. Parochial interests will be served at the cost of the national interest.