SRI LANKA RECONCILIATION EFFORT SLAMMED ON WAR ANNIVERSARY

Amal Jayasinghe.-18/05/2016

(Sri Lanka has agreed to investigate wartime atrocities committed during its 37-year civil war with Tamil rebels (AFP Photo/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi)

Sri Lanka for the first time included minority Tamils in ceremonies Wednesday marking the anniversary of the end of its civil war, but a leading think-tank said moves towards reconciliation and accountability had stalled.

Tamils living in the northern part of the island which saw most of the violence held public commemorations for the first time since the end in 2009 of the decades-long conflict, after the lifting of draconian restrictions imposed under then-president Mahinda Rajapakse.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who replaced him in January 2015, has also abandoned a controversial annual military “victory” parade in the capital for a more sombre remembrance ceremony set to include the minority Tamils.

But the International Crisis Group said his pledges to bring about accountability and post-war reconciliation between the Tamils and the Sinhalese majority remained largely unfulfilled.

“The enormity of the crimes, especially in the final weeks of the war, makes them impossible to ignore but hard for the military and most (majority) Sinhalese to acknowledge or accept responsibility for,” the ICG said in a new report.

It called on Colombo to set a timeline for training judges, lawyers and investigators for special war crimes courts and for passing legislation to establish responsibility for war crimes.

The government must also end military involvement in running hotels and shops and vacate occupied private land in former war zones, it said.

Government forces killed the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009 after a brutal military crackdown, and declared an end to the 37-year conflict which claimed at least 100,000 lives.

The Tamils, who under Rajapakse were barred even from holding private ceremonies of remembrance in their own homes, were for the first time allowed to light candles near the spot where he died to commemorate their war dead.

“There were low-key ceremonies in many areas of the north and the east,” an official in the northern Mullaittivu region, where the final stand-off took place, said by telephone.

– No longer pariah –

Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said the government had scrapped the military parade to show its commitment to healing ethnic wounds.

“We are having a cultural show instead of the military victory parade that was practised in the past six years,” Hettiarachchi said.

“This is to establish reconciliation among all races.”

Previous parades celebrated the victory of the largely Sinhalese military over the minority Tamils, who were banned from remembering their dead as commemoration of fallen rebels was thought anti-state.

Sirisena has adopted a far more conciliatory tone than Rajapakse.

The government has agreed to a UN call to set up a special court to investigate wartime atrocities, but has rejected pressure for foreign judges to be involved.

It has secured international support for ethnic peace, while high-profile visits by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State John Kerry last year effectively ended Sri Lanka’s pariah status.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which fought for independence for Sri Lanka’s main ethnic minority, were known for their suicide bombings.

At the height of their power, the rebels ran a de facto separate state comprising a third of the Indian Ocean island’s territory.

Under Rajapakse’s orders, the army defeated the Tigers in a no-holds-barred military campaign that attracted international censure.

The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Mendez, said recently that atrocities continued after the end of the conflict.

On a visit to Sri Lanka earlier this month he cited “credible evidence” of forced disappearances of Tamils and detainees being sexually tortured since 2009.

The independent Sri Lanka Campaign, a rights group, said there had been an “undeniable” improvement in the country since the change in government, but more needed to be done.

In war-affected regions, “a combination of ongoing militarisation and impunity mean that a climate of intimidation and fear persists”, it said.
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Massive fraud committed at children’s home in Koggala

May 18, 2016

Somwathi Saparamadu Children’s Home in Harumalgoda, Koggala was started as a children’s home for tsunami orphans. It was started by well respected hotelier S. D. Saparamadu and his wife Rupa Saparamadu, daughter of the great author Martin Wickremesinghe who also hailed from Koggala. Mr. & Mrs. Saparamadu, together with a group of Dutch donors collected millions of Euro and built a children’s home which was held as a shining example of how a charity should be managed. The Somawathi Nivasa has received many accolades both in Sri Lanka and in Holland and today houses more than 150 children.

Unfortunately, Somawathi Nivasa is now embroiled in a financial scandal running into hundreds of millions of rupees. The Criminal Investigation Division of the Sri Lanka Police (CID) has been provided with evidence of this massive fraud but has been dragging their feet due to political interference and bribery. Despite the delaying tactics of the CID, they have produced evidence to the Nugegoda Magistrate Court that exposes a systematic fraud that runs into many millions.

The Saparamadu Family owned a large piece of land in Harumalgoda where they were building a home for the elderly. When the tsunami happened in December 2004, they joined up with a Dutch lady named Marja van Leeuwen who had formed a charity named ‘Stichting Weeshuis Sri Lanka’ to help children orphaned by the tsunami. Together, they changed the objective of the project into an orphanage and formed the Somawathi Saparamadu Children’s Home in memory of Mr. S. D. Saparamadu’s late mother. Mrs. Van Leeuwen raised millions of Euro and got many European professionals to volunteer at the children’s home.  Many large corporations in the Netherlands donated significant sums of money and some of the biggest corporate bigwigs in Holland sat in the advisory board of Stichting Weeshuis Sri Lanka. Mrs. Van Leeuwen was later awarded a knighthood by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for her work done in Sri Lanka.

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Looking for the Human factor in this “Rainbow Revolution”

KUSAL PERERA-on 05/19/2016

Featured image courtesy Washington Post

Two things trouble and pain me. The Mullivaikkal “remembrance” on 18 May, of the dead and missing people due to war, whose families are still agitating to know the “truth” and want justice and now in the South, reports coming in on the same day of the displaced, the dead and the 03 buried villages due to what would be called a “natural disaster”; unprecedented rains, earth slips and floods. I tend to believe, over many decades we invented and invited these earth slips and floods – though not the heavy downpour. That disaster is “manmade”, no different to the war we went through. Numbers may differ between North and South, but both have left us with tragic deaths, displaced and helpless families wanting permanent and reasonable answers.

Are we serious and do we intend finding permanent, sustainable and civilised answers to these issues after the 2015 January change dubbed a “Rainbow revolution”? Maybe people want to. Maybe there are collectives of concerned citizens who want to have decent answers. Yes, there are. No society is wholly dumb; but what denies them answers ? We are in a vicious trap. In a “Catch22” situation that needs to be effectively unlocked. Here, I am trying to comb the heaped chaos in search of decent and permanent answers.

The “war”, call it separatist, terrorist, liberation or patriotic. I said it was manmade and therefore I still believe we could have avoided it. If not at the earliest times when it was being hatched, then while it was developing into a brutal, protracted war. But we, nay, the political leaders were not willing to. So it is with all the floods and earth slips. All environmental disasters are created by political arrogance. We should and can avoid them, but our political leaders don’t. And we keep electing them, election after election. We call it “democracy”.

Elections are a part of democratic life in abstract form. But the elections that we go through are not. Today, elections don’t give people a choice any more to have their own collective representation. Not after we were left in a free market economy called “neo liberalism”. It’s not the fault of the electoral system per se. It is not because of the Proportional Representation (PR) system and its preference vote that President Jayawardne left us with to elect MPs. If the PR system and its preferential vote is the culprit in ruining democratic elections, in establishing a wholly devalued parliament, then the Indian electoral system cannot elect this Lok Sabha that sits today. In India they still live with our old, “first past the post” electoral system. Yet Indian politics is wholly corrupt. In the present Lok Sabha, across all political parties 186 MPs have criminal charges filed in Courts out of the elected 541 MPs. That’s an increase from 158 in the previous Lok Sabha. We both now live in free and open market economies and they can’t exist without corruption and crime.

Are we any better? At only 1.6 per cent of the Indian population in terms of size, we are comparatively far worse. Despite all the hype about “transparency”, about “accountability” in this “Yahapalanaya” (good governance) rule brought about on January 2015, what is the Parliament made of? Who are the Cabinet ministers that run the country? It is the same old men and women from the two main political parties, that people have to vote for. That’s what the political parties offer for people to select from. Some in the Cabinet of Ministers have strings of allegations on corrupt dealings. They feel so powerful, they don’t even answer summons from the Bribery Commission. Ministers accuse each other over mega corrupt deals. Even those discarded by the people at the last elections are brought in and are placed as powerful Ministers. And then the corrupt tells media they are cleaning up governance by punishing the corrupt.

The environment is also at the ruthless battering end. Talking of transparency, why didn’t this “Yahapalanaya” rule make public the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Colombo Port City project for scrutiny? That was a project they vehemently opposed for many reasons, including heavy corruption while campaigning against the Rajapaksa regime. A project, fishermen and their organisations especially North of Colombo, more concentrated in and around Negambo, who backed this “January 08 Change” still oppose the Colombo Port City project as environmentally hazardous. They are totally ignored by the very government they elected to have answers for their issues.

Why is this “Yahapalanaya” government headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe still covering up for the Governor of the Central Bank who is accused of a double scam? Why is President Sirisena happy keeping his brother as the Chairman of SLT, also accused of corruption? Why is he appointing suspect characters as his party electoral organisers?

This is not just about personalities in politics. It is about the economic order that we are living through. Since 1978 when we were pushed into a free market economy, the business community (we don’t have a developed “capitalist class”) tied up firm with political power. Most if not all investor openings were decided through political affiliations, where the State was a necessary facilitator in making profits. For their own advantage, these business entities and individuals bought over powerful politicians, moved into politics and in the process have bought over political parties.

Elections despite what the system is, leave main political parties dependent on big money. From where do candidates nominated by these political parties, and the political parties themselves, get their bag-loads of money that they lavishly spend on election campaigns? It is openly said, one candidate in Colombo spent over 200 million rupees at the last elections in August 2015. Most others would have spent at least half that sum. Where did that money come from? Certainly, they are not funded by the ordinary men and women who run around campaigning. It’s big money spent by big businesses and often its “black” money earned from politically patronised “deals” in a free market economy. That is the reason why small political parties cannot run in these elections except in handing over nominations. Businesses don’t have any use for small political parties, other than to call elections democratic in a multi party system. Do the elected then feel obliged to represent the people who elects them? The system is such, it’s money that makes people vote, whatever the choice. Huge hoardings and billboards, large convoys of vehicles, meaningless but colourful advertising and money to transport people for rallies decide the people’s choice in consumerised elections. Having elections thus is only a “democratic ritual” and not a functional democratic process in electing a parliament representative of people. Democracy now is not about Citizens electing their representatives, but about consumers trading their votes for a market to be governed by “big and black money”.

In market economies run by big business, finding answers to our crying needs is not their business. Environment and reconciliation bring no immediate profits to them. This unrestricted free market is all about today’s profits and not about tomorrow’s decency in life. Colombo Port City is decided on profits defined as “development”. Fishermen who are dependent on marine resources and make a living out of it is no important human factor in that “development”. The poor and the under-served in Colombo don’t count in the Megapolis project. They have to be moved out for the rich to have their casinos, recreational centres, jogging paths, hotels and shopping malls, condominiums and car parks. Families living in Panama for generations over have to be moved out for hotel complexes to be built for tourists who come for surfing. This development is all about investments and profits.

In this economy, the Tamil people never had a good day. In July 1983 their businesses, their property, their hard earned livelihoods were all flattened and burned. They had to leave and where they had to flee for safety, cannot be called their “historical land”. It was a Sinhala State sponsored take-over of a Colombo-centric growing market. Muslim businesses that crept into the crevice left by Tamils leaving, were under heavy pressure. They were insulted, threatened and attacked, again with Sinhala State sponsorship.

Yet it is their vote, the Muslim and predominantly Tamil vote, that helped the Sinhala South to have Rajapaksa ousted. But what have the Tamil people in the North and the Vanni gained by giving their vote for the January 08 change? Reconciliation is being reduced to economic factors. They are called upon to give up justice and democracy for livelihood projects. The military will have to stay, the probes on crimes committed during war will have to be stalled, a political solution can be discussed again, in lieu of   “rupees and cents living”. The helpless, war devastated Tamil life can be exploited. The USAID funded Colombo big business entities to start apparel factories that employ poor and helpless women in the Vanni and the East at below minimum wage and without any opportunity for collective bargaining. Factory management have the advantage of the military presence in maintaining a silent labour force, often abused in very many ways. Elected provincial councils in North and East have no say in any of these business projects decided and approved by the Colombo based BOI under the central government. After all it is big business that funded the election run to power.

This free market economy ironically is run on the strength of Sinhala sentiments. It needs such racist power to control its militarised State. India is seeing it too. The State backed and hyped Hindutva psyche allows suppression in the universities, in the mountains with natural resources and in Adhivasi lands. So is it here. The Sinhala South takes pride thinking they dominate national politics and control the economy. They celebrated war victory on the streets, lit fire crackers, cooked and ate “kiribath” and wrapped the national flag around their waists turning it into a Sinhala flag. But they are also as marginalised as the Tamils are. Among them there’s rampant poverty. Over 21 per cent of the children under 05 years of age are malnourished in Sinhala villages. Sinhala villagers have no real livelihood and cannot economically hold a family together. Young mothers leave to Middle East as housemaids, despite all the publicity about nailing and torturing. Rape of women and sexual abuse of children goes on the increase in villages where hard drugs make good money.

Their environment is being eaten into and neglected. A 24 hour rain floods them, displaced them and buried them in whole villages. In return they get full page coverage in media and calls for flood relief. Ministers promise quick relief and compensation. They will only have early warnings to leave their homes when the next rains come. People displaced due to the Meeriyabedda landslide were also promised quick relief and compensation in October 2014. They are families still living as displaced in temporary shelter.

There is something awfully wrong in how we see this “January 08” change. We don’t see the missing “human” factor in this “change”. Reforms called for, a new Constitution, the RTI Bill, a new electoral system, will they have “people” included in “development” that’s offered ? Will all that allow demilitarisation of society and provide for a new State sans ethnic dominance? Will they give the poor a chance to live a decent, cultured life? We need to look beyond “reforms” for human decency and dignity for all. For Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people to have a shared life in development that would improve their quality of life in their own local areas. We need an alternate development model for such progress.

Sri Lanka mudslide: Army fears 134 missing are dead

The area is prone to landslides and villagers were advised to leave before it hit--Prema Adikari (right) came to her brother's village when she heard the news--A huge section of the mountainside broke away, covering villages below

Rescuers are using sticks and their bare hands to dig through mud, as bad conditions hamper attempts to bring heavy equipment into the area--Residents of other areas are still being evacuated, amid fears of further landslides or flooding

19 May 2016

Sri Lankan teams searching for scores of people missing after a landslide fear there may be no more survivors.

So far troops have rescued 150 people from the worst-hit site in central Kegalle district, but hopes are fading for another 134 still unaccounted for.

No more people were found overnight, dead or alive - on Wednesday 14 bodies were pulled from the mud.

Five more bodies were found at the site of another mudslide in the district, bringing the death toll there to 10.

Landslides and flooding caused by days of torrential rain have hit many parts of the country, killing at least 43 people in total, according to official figures. Nearly 350,000 people have been displaced.

In the worst-hit area, Aranayake district, three villages were buried after a huge section of hillside sheared away in the rain on Tuesday.

Bad weather is hampering the army's efforts to reach possible survivors.

"I fear the missing 134 could be dead at this point," Maj Gen Sudantha Ranasinghe, the officer in charge, told BBC Sinhala. "But we will continue our operation to recover the bodies to give families some peace."

Risk of further landslides - Azzam Ameen, BBC Sinhala, Aranayake

We started to climb up to the disaster site with troops who were going back on Thursday morning to continue to search for survivors. However they suspended their mission and evacuated the area along with us and some villagers who had returned.

Rain was beating down on the collapsed mountain again, creating a risk of further landslides.

We had to take shelter in a tiny schoolroom on higher ground. Villagers we spoke to were losing hope of finding any more survivors.

We waded through mud and silt to reach the foot of the mountain where most of the devastation has taken place. Army units have identified several places where people may have been buried in the landslide.

In one of the villages, Pallebage, local resident PG Sekara said: "The army keeps going up the mountain, but they're not going to find anything. To find survivors they will have to dig about 40 feet now."

Prema Adikari said she feared she had lost her brother and his family.

"My brother's house is completely destroyed. They were inside when the mudslide started. His 15-year-old daughter and his wife were also in the house," she told BBC Sinhala.

"When it rains, the canal waters nearby get so loud - they had not heard the neighbours warning. Only one member of the family remains, my nephew, who had gone to the shops nearby when the landslide struck. At least we want to see their bodies."

At Bulathkohupitiya, the site of the second, smaller landslide in Kegalle district, six people are still reported missing.

Sri Lanka's monsoon rains often bring floods but officials say these are the worst for several years.

Many displaced people have moved to shelters, and officials have appealed for water, dry food rations and sanitary items. Low-lying coastal areas have also been hit.

In southern India the authorities are on alert as the rains move up the country's east coast.

At least 280 people died in a month of heavy rains and floods in the city of Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu state last year. The rains, the heaviest there in a century, were blamed on climate change although city officials were also criticised for being unprepared.

Other parts of India have been suffering a severe drought in recent weeks.
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Conspiracy of Wijedasa , Pilapitiya, Pamila, Poojitha, Hettiarachi to save Elephant rogue judge Thilina Gamage exposed..! Justice made a mockery..!

(Lanka-e-News -20.may.2016, 7.20AM) While the attention of the people is focused on  the present catastrophic situation following  the natural disaster  ravaging the country , and the impending Wesak celebrations , the inside information division of Lanka e news is in receipt of a most rudely shocking report of a wicked conspiracy to make a mockery of justice and usurping  the legal foundations of the country thereby subverting  the very  course of justice in broad daylight by  the combined efforts of minister of justice Wijedasa Rajapakse , the Colombo chief magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya, Judicial service commission (JSC) assist. Secretary Pamila Rathnayake , defense secretary Karunaratne Hettiarachi , IGP Poojitha Jayasundara and magistrate Thilina Gamage . 

This conspiracy came to light day befre yesterday (18) in  the Colombo chief magistrate court , and its aim was to save Thilina Gamage (magistrate) the Elephant rogue from being arrested .

Herein is the report  on the verdict illegally delivered by Pilapitiya without  Attorney General department’s representation which broke  all ignominious records on this planet..!

While the case of the Elephant rogues was  scheduled to be heard at a future date ,Gihan Pilapitiya the chief magistrate advanced the date of this case in much the same way as street urchin   jumping over the forbidden railway crossing ,  because Pilapitiya wanted to hear it yesterday (18) itself . The most irksome and unlawful feature of this hearing was , this case was taken up without even the knowledge of the AG’s department , that is  in the absence of the prosecution (AG’s department) ! This  constituted a most cruel conspiracy and  a travesty of justice .While  Dileep Peiris the crown counsel representing the  AG’s department had gone to Anuradhapura yesterday for another case , Pilapitiya jumped over the forbidden railway crossing like street urchin , to hear this case yesterday.

Believe it or not ! even after the CID  that  conducted the investigations making a request to Pilapitiya  to postpone the case as the AG department was  not represented yesterday , Pilapitiya unheeding the request, took up the case for hearing. Such a controversial hearing   and such a  deplorable and despicable  conduct of a judge had never been witnessed before  in the sacrosanct courts. The  controversial decision taken too  in the absence of the AG ‘s department representation never  ever had taken place in the whole planet ! Yet that was the most reprehensible scenario witnessed in fact yesterday to the rude shock of  all present in the chief magistrate court , Colombo with the chief magistrate  himself at the epicenter !

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Delhi Court Summons SriLankan Airlines Management For Sexual Harassment Case

May 19, 2016

Authorities of the SriLankan Airlines management have been summoned to appear in the court of New Delhi India on the 13th of July 2016 for the alleged internal sexual harassment of one of its Indian national female employees.

The incident dating back to 2011 is where an Indian national female employee of the national carrier alleged that her SriLankan Airlines Regional Manager had sexually harassed her.

Her lawyer went on to file papers in court stating that she was then transferred to the airline’s office in Kochi after serving twelve long years with the airline.

However upon further complaining to the SriLankan Airline’s authorities she was informed that an internal investigation would take place. Subsequently there was neither an investigation nor a verdict into the matter.

She was dismissed subsequently.

Filing papers against the airline once again for not taking action against the regional Indian Head, the victims lawyer Ajay Verma succeeded in his attempt to have the case tried in Delhi.

The Delhi court Judge Pankaj Sharma who viewed her case found sufficient information to summon the authorities of the airline. The court document stated “ Upon going through the entire material on record, this court is if considered view that prima facie sufficient grounds exists to proceed against accused for offence under section 26 of the sexual harassment of women in the work place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013. Accused be summoned for the aforesaid offense subject to filing of PF/RC on 13/07/2016.

Currently there are three cases running concurrently due to this incident with one of the cases being a criminal charge.

Names of all parties have been withheld to protect their identities at this stage.

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Govt. declines to divulge FCID details

2016-05-20

The government yesterday declined to divulge details such as names, professional and educational qualifications and experience of police officers serving in the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to Parliament because of an ongoing court case. 

Joint Opposition MP Udaya Gammanpila had placed a question on the Order Paper seeking such details. Yet, Chief Government Whip and Minister Gayantha Karunatilake said it would be subjudice to answer it because of the court case. 

Mr. Gammanpila disputed it and said only the legality of the FCID had been challenged, but there was no case against those serving there. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera) 

MR Imported 43 Vehicles sans import duty

by Skandha Gunasekara-2016-05-20

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had imported 43 vehicles during the latter's tenure as the President without paying taxes Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told Parliament yesterday.

Minister Karunanayake said the vehicles purchased during the tenure of the former President had not even been properly registered. "It was said the Presidential Secretariat had a fleet of 1,500 vehicles. After we came to power we could find only 220 of those vehicles.

There is no trace as to what happened to the rest of the vehicles," he said.

The minister said so responding to a comment by National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa who had said that the government, which spent Rs 600 million to purchase two vehicles for the Prime Minister, allocated only Rs 150 million for disaster relief.
The minister, refuting this allegation, said it was misleading and wrong. "The actual cost of the two vehicles was Rs 154 million. The balance of Rs 458 million is the tax payment, and this amount will go to the Treasury as tax revenue. The two vehicles that have been ordered are less costlier than the bullet-proof vehicles imported by former President Rajapaksa. MP Weerawansa, who sought the help of the Prime Minister to go on a foreign trip while having two passports in his possession, has no moral right to say things like this" he said.

The minister added that Interpol should question former President Rajapaksa and former Minister G. L. Peiris to reveal the information about their meeting with Udayanga Weeratunga. "The Bribery Commission also has a role to play in this connection. We have now given the commission more human resources and equipment which should be used in a more productive manner," he added.
He added that the present government has ensured financial discipline in all of its activities. He said many countries that did not support Sri Lanka financially over the past years, have now come forward to help us due to their confidence in the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government.

Citing Japan as an example, the minister said Japan had recently agreed to provide USD 3500 million for development related expenses at a very low interest rate of 0.05 per cent. "Over the past 10 years, Japan has granted Sri Lanka only USD million 350. During the former government, Sri Lanka could only obtain commercial loans at higher interest rates from countries such as China. Now,as a policy, we have minimized the option of obtaining commercial loans," he added.

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.

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President and P.M. disdainfully reject Cabinet paper tabled by corrupt ministers to replace CID and FCID chiefs

(Lanka-e-News -19.May.2016, 10.30AM) The paper submitted to the Cabinet by two corrupt ministers of the government of good governance to transfer two most honest and reputed police  officers – Director of CID Ravi Wijeratne and FCID chief Ravi Waidyalankara who are at the helm of the investigations into the murders of innocent persons, cheating on public funds and the crimes committed by the  Blue brigand rogues during the nefarious decade of the Medamulana regime was frowned upon and rejected by the president , P.M , and  a majority in the Cabinet . 

It is a well and widely known fact that these two police officers have earned a reputation based on their unwavering integrity as rare officers who are discharging their duties duly honestly ,and cannot be swayed by outside political influences and powers. 

Though transfer of police officers is not the task  of the Cabinet , these two ministers ignoring this fact , and   in their desperation have presented this Cabinet paper. These two ministers of course are well noted for plundering public assets ruthlessly ably assisted by  their families who together with the ministers gobble up public funds. Minister Arjuna Ranatunge  has already incurred the displeasure and resentment  of all the employees of the Ports Authority. He is one against whom there are charges of accepting a bribe of Rs. 5 million supported with evidence (voice tape). During the period of the last government there was a huge hue and cry over it , but he is now with the government of good governance having crossed over.

These two ministers brought forward this Cabinet paper to displace  these two officers with ulterior motives. It is their aim to appoint two of their own police officers of their ilk so that they can achieve their own foul and evil designs. Sadly , this move has received the blessings of ‘Kujeetha Asundara’ better known as Police Kolama  (clownish histrionics). It is learnt Kujeetha is trying to replace these two officers with two of his ‘boys’. He had  while making  efforts to make this change had told the two ministers that  when he was being appointed , these two officers did not extend any support to him.

It is unfortunate this Kujeetha Asundara is so stupid  that he is unaware   nobody can interfere with   appointments made by the Constitutional Council , and therefore nobody can support him. What Kujeetha meant when he said he had ‘no  support’ was , no Bodhi pooja (religious offerings) were made on behalf of his appointment ; no coconuts were dashed at Devales; and no comments in his favor were made on  his face book page   by these two officers. Above all , they did not  wash dirty linen against his rivals, and did not backbite them to Kujeetha. These virtuous traits in the two reputed officers had irritated and irked Kujeetha.

No matter what , when these two notorious  ministers tabled this Cabinet paper , the Prime Minister and the president had told in one voice ,’please do not bring those here ,’ while a majority of the members of the Cabinet too have bitterly opposed the move. Consequently, the Cabinet paper had to be withdrawn most un-ceremonially .

Might we point out , the manner in which the investigations are being conducted  by Ravi Waidyalankara of the CID and FCID respectively, has received wide acclaim  and accolades, for the methods adopted and the intelligent approach followed are such these investigations can be taken up to international levels , a famous internationally recognized lawyer revealed when speaking to Lanka e news recently.  Their investigations are on par with those of the FBI of USA , he pinpointed.

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by     (2016-05-19 06:40:09)

A Strategic Management System For Sri Lanka’s Governance!

By Lionel Bopage –May 19, 2016

This refers to the weekly Cabinet news briefing by Sri Lanka’s Joint Cabinet Spokesman and Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne. In his briefing, reference has been made to certain Ministers sabotaging the anti-corruption drive, inefficiency and treachery etc. Please listen to the interview below:

This government has now been in power for about 18 months. However, it does not appear to have developed any strategic measures to handle or manage this pathetic situation! The government’s rhetoric alone does not help. The President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and some others have been to many talk shops and tours both locally and globally, but any strategic movement towards successful outcomes are yet to be seen by anybody.

A suggestion would be to, with professional help, develop a monthly updatable, simple Cabinet Scorecard for Sri Lanka. Though this is an old management tool, originally defined by Kaplan & Norton in the early 1990s, nowadays it has been developed and used by many agencies in the private sector, public sector and the not for profit sector and in many countries of the world! Originally, this tool was used only to measure financial performance, but in its modern format, it encourages people satisfaction measures; government business improvement measures and new measures needed for learning and growth, in addition to a few relevant high-level financial measures.

An updated Scoreboard would assist each Minister in running an efficient ministry. As updates will be made available for public scrutiny, such a tool, despite its deficiencies, will become useful and serve to motivate, implement and monitor progress each ministerial portfolio has achieved. This will help the people, President, the Prime Minister and others to keep track of what happens in the country as a whole, and will serve as a strategic management system to implement strategy at all levels of the government.

If the government continues to fail in its commitment of fulfilling its election commitments to the people of Sri Lanka, then it is time for civil society advocacy groups to develop such scorecards for each ministry. Such an exercise will undoubtedly serve as an educative tool for such groups to endorse or disendorse certain candidates based on their efficiency and performance. It will also help the ordinary Sri Lankans in their election decision-making process.

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Minister’s heart is with Wasana Mudalali’s calf elephant! 

May 19, 2016

A healthy minister of Sri Lanka who recently underwent bypass surgery in Singapore gave a call to the IGP before leaving for the surgical theatre and said, “Aney, Mr. IGP, in a little while I will undergo a bypass surgery. Before that I will have to make an appeal to you. Until I return after the bypass surgery, do not allow the calf elephant of Horana Wasana bakery Mudalali to be taken. I will tell my wife too, to look into that.”

He underwent surgery and after regaining consciousness, he asked his wife with difficulty, “Darling, did you find out as to what has happened to Wasana Mudalali’s calf elephant?” Promptly, the wife gave a call and inquired from  Wasana Mudalali about the calf elephant. He replied, “With the help of sir and madam, the calf elephant is doing well.” The minister’s wife went on further, “Sir regained consciousness only now. Immediately, he asked about the calf elephant. Mr. minister is loves calf elephants very much.”

Regaining his garrulousness following the surgery, the minister held a press conference a few days ago and berated the CID for not doing its job of catching thieves. Those in the police say that after his surgery, the minister has started making utterances from both ends.

Israel frees Palestinian journalist after 93-day hunger strike 

Mohammed al-Qiq started fasting soon after Israeli authorities said they detained him for 'terror activity', a charge he has denied

Mohammed al-Qiq hugs his son as he arrives in his village on Thursday (AFP)

Thursday 19 May 2016

A Palestinian journalist who was held by Israeli authorities without trial and went on hunger strike for more than three months has been freed.

After his release from prison in southern Israel's Negev desert, Mohammed al-Qiq arrived with his family at his home village of Dura, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, where he was met by well wishers.

"This victory proves that the occupation is fragile and its security equation is an imaginary one," he told journalists in Arabic.

"This victory today adds to the many victories of the Palestinian people that will go on, god willing, with greater resilience and consistency."

Qiq was arrested on 21 November by Israeli authorities who said he was detained for "terror activity" on behalf of Hamas, a charge he denied. He began his hunger strike a few days later. 

In February, he announced that he would end the strike after authorities said they would not extend his detention under the administrative detention system, which allows Israel to hold prisoners without trial for renewable six-month periods.

"It’s a big achievement not just for our family, but for all of the Palestinian people," Fayhaa Shalash, al-Qiq's wife, said when authorities announced their decision.

The 34-year-old, who works for Saudi television channel Al-Majd, had fasted for at least 93 days in protest at his "torture and ill treatment that he was subjected to during interrogation", according to Addameer, a Palestinian rights organisation.

He occasionally took minerals and vitamins, but mainly ingested only tap water. Family members said at one point during his strike, Qiq lost the ability to talk and was slipping in and out of consciousness.

His case was widely covered, and the UN expressed concern about his condition.

Gaza laborers suffer few rights, little pay

Gaza construction workers can barely scrape by after nearly a decade of Israeli blockade.Ashraf AmraAPA images

Isra Saleh el-Namey-19 May 2016

Hani Abu Talal is a man on a mission.

The 34-year-old laborer spends his days pounding the streets of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip for any new construction projects to which he might lend his body and time.

His is the lot of a day laborer. His luck lies in the hands of the rare on-site foreman with something to offer. His mission is near impossible. This is Gaza: it has the world’s highest unemployment rate.

“Landing a job happens only once in a blue moon,” Abu Talal said. “I just look for any chance to get some work and make some money.”

The odd day’s work also does not guarantee respite from grinding poverty. A father of five, Abu Talal says he is lucky if a full day’s hard physical labor earns him more than 30 shekels (just under $8).

“Construction is hard work,” Abu Talal told The Electronic Intifada. “But instead of being fairly paid, we are blackmailed; we are told that wages cannot be higher because of the lack of stability in the local economy.”

From time to time, Israel allows through a shipment of construction materials, causing a mini-spike in activity. But the wages remain the same, and Abu Talal worries that should a situation ever arise where construction enjoys a sustained boom, employers will simply keep wages low.

“If any worker dares to ask for an increase, he can be fired. So we continue to work without complaint. But that does not mean to leave us alone. We have rights. We need them respected.”

Wages besieged

What few shekels Abu Talal makes at the end of a day are barely sufficient to pay the owner of his local grocery store from where his family get their essentials. As for the future? There are no savings. There is only constant, nagging fear, he said, that one of his children should one day need urgent medical care.

Awad Baker is a contractor and one of those from whom Abu Talal would seek work. Most of his construction projects are in the central Gaza Strip, the same area where Abu Talal ekes out his living. He lays the blame for low wages and the lack of job opportunities squarely on the economic blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza since 2007.

“We have sustained so many losses due to the siege that we are all heavily in debt,” Baker told The Electronic Intifada. “These have to be repaid.”

Where construction materials are rare, they become more expensive. The balance is borne by labor. Contractors rely heavily on cheap, unskilled labor, which in turn affects quality. And the longer that continues, the less skilled the workers, said Baker.

After nearly 10 years under siege, Baker added, “our workers’ skills have plummeted to the extent that it affects the quality of our work. Our sector is devastated.”

The combination of the blockade and successive Israeli military assaults saw construction output in 2014, year of the last major Israeli offensive, fall by a staggering 83 percent, according to the World Bank.

Government failures

Economist Maher al-Tabaa, head of Gaza’s Chamber of Commerce, put it in stark terms: “When we have a very restricted number of jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers, wages decrease. The blockade has denied the local economy access to many jobs and options are limited for our workers.”

With this oversupply of labor, al-Tabaa said, workers are more likely to accept work that doesn’t pay a fair wage.

But Sami al-Amasi, head of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in Gaza, says the siege is not the only factor responsible for the desperate situation of local workers.

He also fingered the policies of the now defunct Palestinian unity government which, he said, early in its tenure in 2014, canceled training and employment programs that could have helped people back to work.

The unity government was formed after an agreement between Hamas and Fatah in June 2014, but was beset by mutual suspicions from the start. A year later, it resigned, and since then Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, has twice unilaterally reshuffled the cabinet. Though Hamas rejected both reshuffles, the government is still called a consensus government.

Temporary employment and professional training programs had in the past helped mitigate the unemployment crisis, al-Amasi said, and were intended to serve workers in all sectors, including construction.

Their cancellation, he said, marked not only a failure of policy — which continues under the present Palestinian Authority administration — but also showed a “disregard” for Gaza and its population.

Al-Amasi also said there had been a failure to implement existing laws on workers’ rights, citing legislation for a minimum monthly wage of 1,450 shekels (approximately $380).

Not just the money

Construction worker Adham Abdelrahman, 39, receives less than 800 shekels per month. He works a grueling 12-hour day on average. He also had no idea that the law set a minimum wage of almost twice the amount he earns.

“I have never been paid this much. What’s the point of laws if they are not implemented?”

He said he was skeptical that officials have his interests or rights at heart.

And pay is not the only issue facing construction workers. Safety regulations are rarely implemented, workers have no health insurance and they are unlikely to receive any compensation in case of on-site accidents.

Salem al-Bashiti, 44, suffered a workplace accident four years ago that left one arm partially paralyzed.

“I was lucky that my contractor was a kind man who helped me cover some of the costs of treatment. But I know many who were abandoned without even some words of consolation after their accidents,” he said.

He looks forward to a day, he said, when construction workers could enjoy not only rights enshrined in law and enforced on site, but more general recognition.

“We work hard to serve and build our country. We deserve to be honored and treated well,” he said.

Isra Saleh el-Namey is a journalist in Gaza.