Undiplomatic Practice of the Foreign Ministry – Observations of an old guard

My inquisitive mind forced me to look for reasons for the present sorry state of affairs of the place we loved so much many years ago. Many of the people whom I saw in the corridors wore grim look and did not display anything to impress me as “Diplomats.”

by A retired Foreign Service Officer

 

( April 30, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Recently, I had to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after nearly a decade to get a certificate of my daughter authenticated from the Consular Affairs Division. This note contains what I observed during my visit and comments on the state of affairs at the Foreign Ministry, today. Of course, the Consular Affairs Division, where many hundreds of people visit every day is somewhat similar to a cattle house. It is highly disorganized. Although a reasonable income for the government is generated, even toilet facilities have not been provided for the visitors. During the few hours there I found many people, who visited the place for various reasons have been very critical especially on the highly illogical way of handling the applications, attending to the people and responses given by the officers to some sensitive questions. During our time even though the Consular Division was at a corner of the Ministry, people were treated decently and nicely.

 

After spending few hours I walked through the main gate of the Ministry as my mind urged me to see the “old place.” Once again I have to use the word cattle house to describe the outer appearance of the Ministry. The building has not been maintained properly and it is in a shabby condition. The temporary rooms erected in the place have already destroyed the very beauty of this splendid historical building. No one has realized the historical value of it before making illogical changes and alterations. This itself is a testimony to the type of administration at the Ministry today.  On the onset, I felt something is missing. I soon realized that lack of interest in the people housed in this building is the reason for the dismal situation.

 

My inquisitive mind forced me to look for reasons for the present sorry state of affairs of the place we loved so much many years ago. Many of the people whom I saw in the corridors wore grim look and did not display anything to impress me as “Diplomats.” I recalled the days when those decent looking professional Diplomats like Jayanath Rajapakse, Rodney Wadergert, Bernard Thilakeratna, Author Basnayake, Manel Abeysekara were graciously walking on the corridors of the Ministry with an impressive look. You feel that they were a set of real professional Diplomats as soon as you see them. That was not because many of they are tall and handsome, but they were serious, serious about their work.

 

I have no word to describe the only place I was allowed to enter the Overseas Administration Division of the Ministry. It is full of ladies in fancy dresses and handy phones but the lack of professionalism. They were unable to provide the information I requested. Fortunately, I managed to obtain a copy of the booklet entitled “Diplomatic, Consular, and other Representatives Abroad.” Unfortunately, it proved to me how undiplomatic the Foreign Ministry is. The way details about the Missions are arranged is highly unprofessional and it proved the low quality of people manning the Ministry. It is a classic example for how poor the knowledge of the officers about the basics of Diplomacy. I am sure that they have read not even Satow’s Diplomatic practice but the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Practice too. Listing the officers in the Missions has not done according to their seniority. For example, a Second Secretary is placed above a Counsellor. You never call Ambassador-Designate, His Excellency or H.E. Yet, in front of such names, the title H.E. has been placed. I know Secretary too is ignorant about these matters.

 

I also had a chat with an officer whom I know for some time. His first complaint was divisions and grouping in the Ministry. According to him, groups have been formed according to ethnicity and loyalty to various individuals such as politicians. This has avoided the most important component togetherness or team sense among the officers. He also lamented about favoritism, lack of transparency in making appointments within Ministry and in the Missions. I was informed that period of service in abroad is not applicable to certain groups. Although the usual term of service abroad is three years, there are many serves over five years while some are in Colombo waiting for postings over three years. He asked me an interesting question, will Sri Lanka close down some of the Missions if some individuals identify themselves as “professionals” suddenly ceased to exist.

 

This question made me understand the core of the issue i.e. administrative lapses. As opposed to the period of the previous regime, today, it is my understanding that the Ministry is free of some undue political interference. Yet, administrators have not yet ready to exercise their powers in the new era. I may put this in a different context. The reality is the administrators are weak. This weakness has surfaced on different occasions, according to people I had an opportunity to talk. The recent incident was administrators’ inability to take proper action against one of the newly recruited Foreign Service officers, who submitted a forged university certificate. If a proper administration is in place in the Ministry, this person should be in jail, I was told. I was enlightened on similar cases where some officers were promoted although they have not fulfilled necessary requirements. I was caught by total surprise when I hear an officer is serving in the Ministry for over ten years without passing a single departmental efficiency bar examination. The officer talked to me tied up this incident with a favor granted to a top administrator of the Ministry by the brother of this lady officer in an operation.

 

Although my accidental tour in the Ministry is very interesting, I felt really, really sorry about the present situation. Now I can understand why the Prime Ministry is angry about the Foreign Service. I know that he has seen the veteran diplomats of our time. However, the poor junior officers are not the party responsible for this debacle; it is the top administration and the senior officers running the show. I personally believe that unless the political leadership displays any enthusiasm towards revamping the Foreign Ministry, it will not be able to expect any tangible result from this highly disorganized and poorly managed organization. I wonder what happened to some of the very bright officers who joined many years ago during our time. There had been a group of serious Diplomats but none of them can be seen today. More interestingly, the Minister has still unable to find a career officer to replace the present Secretary who has already passed her retirement age. This is a serious matter.