How a Cabinet ceases to be effective as it grows
by R.M.B Senanayake-
March 8, 2015, 7:02 pm "Our ministers do not take the responsibility for the financial management of their ministries. If they do, they should resign when some fraud or malpractice is exposed in parliament as in Britain."
There is much discussion about the size of the Cabinet. Should it be 20, 30, 40 or even more? Are there any objective criteria in this regard? It is helpful to ask what the role of a minister is. A minister according to the British- American tradition of governance is to involve himself in policy making in the ministry he is in charge of. The detailed supervision of the Department is the function of the Head of the Department under the general supervision of the Permanent Secretary. We got rid of the concept of a Permanent Secretary and now each new government appoints complete outsiders as secretaries to ministries. They may lack administrative experience which, despite all that is taught in our local universities about management, can be best learnt only on the job.
