Governor Holds The Whip-Hand In The North Says Wigneswaran

December 13, 2013

Bemoaning the impediments placed on his provincial administration, Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran says the Province’s Military Governor was calling all the shots despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing the Chief Minister the right to concur on major provincial appointments.

Wigneswaran

Presenting the Annual Financial Statement and Appropriation Statute to the Council for the year 2014 two days ago, Wigneswaran said no appointment is possible within the Province without the approval of the Governor. “From the Secretary to the Minor Employees, it is the Governor who holds the whip hand. Even though the law says the appointment of the Chief Secretary shall be by the President with the concurrence of the Chief Minister, the present Chief Secretary was not appointed in conformity with the Law. She did not consider it necessary to resign when the new Administration came in,” the Chief Minister said.

Wigneswaran said that in the Northern Province, it is a former Jaffna Commander of the Armed Forces who has now taken on the mantle of the Governor. “He naturally goes on unhindered as if the Army is administering the Northern Province. The officials of the Provincial Council therefore fear to cooperate with the Peoples’ Representatives. They shudder to think of the consequences of displeasing a former Northern Commander of the Army and the present Governor,” the Chief Minister explained.

He said the NPC has not been able to present a single statute the Council because his administration was lacking the required high level human resources and institutional arrangements. “It is by effluxion of time that our present cadre of senior officers got to where they are now. May be political patronage in the case of some cannot be over ruled. But we are unable to expect a high level of efficiency and proficiency in certain quarters. There is no system by which we can induct high level human resources,” Wigneswaran complained.

The former Supreme Court Judge said 20 odd years of Military Rule has trained provincial officers to act parrot like and to do things as they are told to do only. “But I do not criticize them. I feel aggrieved. There is a gap in the capacity for governance and development inside and outside the Administration,” Wigneswaran said.

He said there could be no reconciliation and regeneration in the Northern Province as long as the region was under military rule.

read the full speech here