Odds & Ends

‘Yanawa - isey yanna’!

PK the Foreign Ministry top notch official has gone to MR the Prez., and asked for approval to go to Washington saying he has been invited to the National Prayer Breakfast hosted by President Bush. MR has been told that he is the only Foreign Secretary who has been invited by the US Administration for this event and that this affords him an opportunity to meet with important policy makers in Washington and bring about a positive understanding of GOSL.

He had worked with our man in Washington, a recently-converted anti-CFA wallah to obtain an invitation from the US Administration. Having done all that, to justify his visit, he sought meetings with any US official that our Embassy in DC could get hold of. Since his idea was also to visit NY, he also started seeking meetings with 'friendly' UN officials in New York.

In all, this was not a well-planned official visit, but one which was done to justify the travel which is essentially of a private nature. When MR was told of this by another official, he was unhappy. Coinciding with this, unfortunately Akashi's statement on aid cut to SL also came, making matters even worse. In the absence of Bogols, who was blamed by MR on the basis of a whisper by two officials holding secretarial duties, PK took a call to Akashi and claimed that Akashi was misquoted, in the vain hope that it would pacify MR.

But sadly only minutes before he reported Akashi's response to MR expecting plaudits, someone from Geneva had called MR and blamed PK for not giving attention to foreign policy issues and for undermining his work in Geneva. MR had reportedly told PK 'Yanawa i-sey yanna' which PK had interpreted as a green light for his visit to DC and NY!!!

It’s not to ask why – it’s just to do

Recently, the Minister of the Ministry known to deal with the country's Foreign Policy, had the services of the Transport Officer of that Ministry terminated with immediate effect. The Officer, who had held that post for a considerable period of time making him one of the longest serving staff members of the ministry, and having served all Ministers of that ministry up to now, was asked to vacate his office and leave the Ministry immediately without giving any reason for his dismissal.

The Officer was a much respected staffer from the Sri Lanka Navy attending to one of the more complex tasks in that Ministry which include the coordination of foreign VIP movements throughout Sri Lanka. Before leaving the Ministry for the last time, when the officer politely asked for the reason why he was being asked to retire immediately, without even being given the opportunity to bid farewell to colleagues, he had been told that it was by "Special Ministerial Order." It has now come to light that the reason for the "Ministerial Order" was due to an "Order" to the Minister from the 'Ministerial Household' due to the Officer questioning the re-tiring of a brand new BMW SUV Jeep owned by the Ministry but run by a member of the Ministerial Household. The evidence of the set of very expensive tires linked to the issue of the retirement of a respected officer of the country's military can be seen in the Transport Office in the Ministry.

The entire drama unfolded at a time when the Secretary of that Ministry, who is naturally the administrative head of the government institution, retired to a cooler climate overseas. Now officers of that ministry shiver whenever they hear of any Secretarial movement overseas!!!

Presidential dash

President Mahinda Rajapaksa suddenly took wing to Singapore on Friday on an unannounced visit making the rumour mill work overtime. But he is expected to return as suddenly as he left over this weekend. With no official announcements given on such visits, the rumour mill is bound to work overtime.

Lucky media man

Another lucky media man is now tipped to be made the Information Counsellor in Washington DC. He is most qualified for the post with a Masters from an Ivy League university there. He might now need to Master a little diplomacy though. Good luck to him.

Cleaning pavements hits Govt. coffers.

The decision by the authorities to clean up pavements of all unauthorized structures has left many of the state lotteries reeling. The biggest luck by chance operator, the National Lotteries Board is said to be suffering a drop in sales of more than 20 per cent. It is mainly due to their street corner loudspeaker blaring sales outlets in busy urban areas being swept away in this drive. While the bulk of the public must be relieved by this exercise as their ears are finally getting a rest after many years, the state coffers are in for a major hit. The biggest lottery in the country Mahajana Sampatha which had been averaging about 2.5 million sales of its tickets per a draw is said to be down to about 1.8 million already.

Ammo shortage overcome

The recent shortage of ammo for big guns of the Army all along the front is finally said to be over with fresh supplies being delivered from alternate suppliers. The fault for the shortage is said to be the Czechs, who have suddenly become finicky after having no qualms in the past about selling weapons to us. The reason is said to be the increasing pressure from the EU since becoming one of its members in 2004.