President Maithripala Sirisena’s brother, Kumarasinghe Sirisena, has been appointed as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom. It has now been revealed that cabinet members of the United National Party, including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, advised the President not to proceed with the move since it would reflect badly on the head of the government. However, President Sirisena was intent on appointing his brother as the Telecom Chairman.
Perhaps, the President had fair reasons to proceed with the appointment. Kumarasinghe Sirisena, who was the General Manager of State Timber Corporation until December last year, was removed from his post when Sirisena announced his decision to contest the presidential election as the Common Candidate of the opposition. On the other hand, Kumarasinghe Sirisena had more than enough experience at the senior management level of the state sector.
He has also worked as a Board Director at Land Reclamation & Development Company Ltd. In addition to that, Kumarasingha Sirisena is working as Financial Consultant at Araliya Group of Companies (Pvt) Ltd, a company owned by his sibling Dudley Sirisena.
When Maithripala Sirisena was the Leader of the House in 2005, Kumarasinghe Sirisena was his Coordinating Secretary. He had also served as a board director of organizations such as Mahaweli Engineering Services Ltd, State Development & Construction Corporation.
Kumarasinghe holds Bachelor of Science (Public Administration Management) and B.Sc (Management) degrees from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Accountancy and Financial Management from the same university.
However, the United National Party, the biggest stakeholder of the government, is not entirely pleased with the decision. They are of the view that President Sirisena should have waited, at least until the end of the 100 day programme.
“Probably it is the right move. Being the President’s sibling alone should not disqualify an official from accepting a government position. But, this is certainly not the right time. You should not play into the hands of the opposition,” a Cabinet Minister representing the United National party told The Sunday Leader on Friday morning.
Husbands and wives in top government posts
What needs to be highlighted is the ‘husbands and wives’ who hold positions as Secretaries of ministries under President Sirisena’s government. For instance, while Saman Ekanayake works as the Secretary to the Prime Minister, his wife, D.K.R. Ekanayake has been appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Social Services, Welfare and Livestock Development. J.B. Sugathadasa has been appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Food Security and his wife, N.D. Sugathadasa has been appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Youth Affairs. L.P. Jayampathi was appointed by the President as the Secretary of the Ministry of Ports and Naval Service while his wife D.S. Malkanthi serves as the Secretary of the State Ministry of Arts and Cultural Affairs.
Being the spouse of a Ministry Secretary is not (or should not be) a qualification or a disqualification for anyone when receiving a top government post. However, in the light of the policy of ‘good governance’, the government should also be mindful of the possible conflicts of interests and far-reaching consequences deriving from such appointments.
Another controversial move made by the new government was to appoint popular film maker Somaratne Dissanayake as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. Dissanayake was actively campaigning for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa during election campaigns in 2005 and in 2010 while being a vociferous critique of the opposition. He fell out with the government in protest of the National Film Corporation’s decision to prohibit film makers from printing more than 35 copies of one film. When the presidential election was announced in November, 2014, he aligned himself with Common Candidate of the opposition Maithripala Sirisena who was supported by a considerable number of artistes.
State media appointments
It was widely believed among political circles that Dissanayake was appointed due to the influence of Athuraliye Rathana Thera and Jathika Hela Urumaya who played a key role in President Sirisena’s election campaign. The film maker, who even supported the ‘Pivithuru Hetak’ organization formed by Athuraliye Rathana Thera, shares a close friendship with the Buddhist monk who is also a JHU Parliamentarian.
The appointments of ITN and Lake House Chairmen came nearly one and a half weeks after the appointment of the SLRC Chairman. The first and unanimous choice for both positions was Krishantha Prasad Cooray, who is a well-known person among the journalistic fraternity. Cooray was the founding CEO of Rivira Media Corporation, the publishing company of ‘Rivira’ and ‘The Nation’ newspapers. He is a Working Committee member of the United National Party, in addition to his role as its Media Director and a political strategist. When approached for the two key state media positions, Cooray politely turned down the offer.
The next choice for the post of ITN Chairman was Prof. Dhammika Ganganath Dissanayake who was previously the Chairman of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and a Media Advisor to UNP National Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. Kavan Ratnayaka, the elder brother of former UNP Parliamentarian Sagala Ratnayaka, was appointed as the Chairman of Lake House, replacing Bandula Padmakumara.
He was the Chief Corporate Officer of Cargills PLC and the Chief Corporate Officer of Dialog Axiata. Before that Ratnayaka was the Chief Executive Officer of Dialog Broadband Networks. Kavan Ratnayaka was also the Country General Manager of IBM from 1998 to 2007. An old boy of Royal College Colombo, he holds a Bachelor of Science (physics) from the University of California.
Courtesy:The Sunday Leader