Arjuna’s cat’s paw to Tourist Board!
May 19, 2016
Once the previous administration appointed to the Sri Lanka Tourist Board by the previous Rajapaksa regime stepped down, the ‘Yahapaalana’ government appointed a new general manager. A skilled administrator, he took many positive steps against irregularities of officials, but earned the wrath of the corrupt ones who considered the institution to be their property. Those corrupt officials got together and leveled false accusations against the GM and forced him to resign.
Thereafter, newspaper advertisements were published calling for applications to fill the position. A large number of applications were received and three of them, all veterans in advertising, were shortlisted.
Then comes ex-tourism minister Arjuna Ranatunga to the scene. This article describes how Arjuna’s hand acts to destroy not only the Port, but also the Tourism Board.
Although only three were chosen to be interviewed for the GM position, a new addition was made at the insistence of Arjuna. That is a female friend of his by the name Ruwani Dias Bandaranayake, who was a rejected applicant. At that time, she had been working as the CEO of the Ports Authority owned JTC (Pvt.) Ltd, where she had been facing stiff opposition from the workers. Therefore, Arjuna tried to use the opportunity to get her appointed to the CEO position of the Tourist Board, and exerted political pressure for that.
As a result of the political interference, the qualified were sidelined and Ruwani, who did not even have the minimum qualifications, was called for the interview and chosen for the position. Getting appointed in an improper manner, she even assumed duties by committing an irregularity.
That is – after saying that she would treat Tourism Board employees to Kiribath and tea at her personal expense, she bought the food from Mt. Lavinia Hotel and paid the bill from the Tourism Board. She had intimidated the financial division of the institution to pay the bill.
However, the main issue here is not any of these, but that she is yet to handover to the Tourist Board any of her certificates and other documents of qualification. The bio-data accompanying her application had cited her educational qualification as a law degree from London, but no such certifcate has been submitted so far. As she is yet to handover her certificates, the signing of her service agreement gets delayed. Salaries cannot be paid without a service agreement, but using her authority, she exerts pressure on the employees and gets her salary, reports say.
The director board of the institution has told her several times to sign the service agreement, but Ruwani is yet to make a response. If she has the qualifications, she should submit her certificates. If she has obtained the position by submitting false information of qualification, the administration of the Tourist Board should take disciplinary action against her.
