When The Best Man For The Job Is Not Allowed To Do His Job
By Ajita Kadirgamar –June 8, 2016
Ajita Kadirgamar
Wildlife enthusiasts, conservationists, environmentalists and plain right thinking Sri Lankans (they may be a minority, but they do exist) are up in arms at the news that Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya who was appointed Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) on March 30, 2016 has tendered his resignation.
After a 23 year career with the World Bank culminating as the Lead Environmental Specialist, South Asia, focusing on Environment, Water Resources and Climate (which included managing the organisation’s wildlife projects as well), Pilapitiya’s appointment as Director General, was a godsend in the minds of citizens who truly have the country’s interests at heart.
For a man who had taken an early retirement to study the social behaviour of elephants, and is passionate about these creatures and the island’s wildlife and environment in general, the position of Director General DWC is a fortuitous, yet tailor made job.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe no doubt saw in Pilapitiya a professional with internationally accepted credentials, combined with an impressive academic background and subject knowledge. And one assumes that when the PM offered him the post, he intended for Pilapitiya to do his job as a professional, using his expertise and best judgment in each and every situation he encountered.
Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya
Surely he did not think this man would be a stooge? That he would bow to pressure from incompetent, unqualified and often corrupt administrators? That he would conveniently look the other way as elephants continue to be abused, sold into captivity, tortured and mistreated in temples and processions? That he would condone the judgment of a magistrate ruling in favor of illegal elephant enslavers?
“At present, 17 elephants and tuskers are in the custody of the wildlife conservation department, while the persons who had kept them without licenses are remanded. The Colombo court has issued an injunction against a magisterial order to handover these elephants to the owners in order for their participation in pageants. Dr. Pilapitiya said at the meeting in response that he disapproved of the magisterial decision, noting that elephants are a world heritage and could not be reared as domestic pets.” (Sri Lanka Mirror June 2, 2016)
Also, how could anyone expect Pilapitiya, an environmental expert with a PhD on Solid Waste Management, to be in favour of dumping garbage on the perimeter of a wildlife sanctuary! “My position is still the same as it was then, when I told them that a garbage landfill near the buffer zone of the Wilpattu National Park was a specific ‘No, no’,” says Dr. Pilapitiya, adding that “just because I am the DG of Wildlife Conservation now, does not make way for what was ‘unsuitable’ to become ‘suitable’.” (Sunday Times, April 3, 2016)
