Agriculture Minister K.D. Lal Kantha admitted that he and others who once led street protests demanding public sector jobs must also shoulder responsibility for Sri Lanka’s current crisis, acknowledging that the state is now burdened by a bloated and underutilised workforce.
Speaking at an event held at the Mahailluppallama Seed Research Institute to hand over seed processing and drying machines received under a European Union initiative via the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Minister reflected candidly on the long-term impact of political decisions driven by public pressure.
“Even we went to the streets demanding government jobs for graduates. Now we must ask: what did those protests achieve? A government is not meant to be an employment agency. We helped create this mindset. We too are responsible for the systemic failures that have brought the country to this point,” he said.
Highlighting the administrative inefficiencies resulting from mass public sector recruitment, the Minister revealed that many divisional secretariats are overstaffed, with little or no work available for new recruits.
“There are offices where employees are asked to come in only once a week, just to sign in and go home. Divisional secretaries say it’s cheaper for them to stay home than to waste electricity on a fan or light,” he remarked.
Minister Lal Kantha warned graduates against relying solely on state employment.
“30,000 need to be recruited for government service this year. But we would like to tell graduates to not to keep looking at government jobs,” he added.
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