Sri Lanka needs only 15 Ministers: Veritae counters President’s 30 !

Despite President Ranil Wickramasinghe’s intention to continue his cabinet with 30 ministers The Veritae research independent research institution stresses that Sri Lanka needs only 15 ministries to run the government successfully.

This figure was recommended by Verité Research in a white paper setting out the design of a rational structure of government.

The Verité Research white paper titled “A Rational Method for Cabinet Formation in Sri Lanka’, issued in 2020, set out the following 15 ministries as providing an optimal rational structure for government.

Verité Research arrived at the total of 15 ministries by applying the best principles of designing an efficient and effective structure of government.

The analysis by Verité Research found that the present approach to setting up cabinet portfolios impedes the ability of the government to be efficient and effective. The irrationality in the construction of government arises from two critical problems: (1) fragmentation – where related subjects are split across different ministries and (2) misalignment – where unrelated subjects are grouped together under a single ministry.

In the past, these two problems created delays in decision-making and implementation, reduced government accountability and ability to function, and increased costs. Therefore, the White Paper notes that fixing these problems with not only an optimally designed number of ministries, but also with the proper assignment of subjects, functions, and institutions to each of the ministries is the key to having a government that functions effectively and efficiently.

To solve this problem, Verité Research has developed a complete mapping of all the Sri Lankan government functions, laws, and institutions that are required to be in a gazette forming a new cabinet, to fit within the optimally designed structure of 15 ministries listed above.