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Plain sailing this time for ‘Elephant’ Rajahs
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The boisterous ‘elephant’ Rajahs might have been offloaded by the national airline’s captain who was rightly concerned about the safety of the flight from Colombo to London and the convenience of the other passengers.
But in London where the elephant herd cannot be corralled what with their donations to dear Cameron’s party, the Rajahs once more boarded a Sri Lankan Airlines aircraft. But this time at the airline’s makeshift office at the World Travel Market held last week.
In walked the Big Rajah with six or seven others in tow. Watching this, Sri Lankan tour agents from Colombo and London, sarcastically recalled Marlon Brando in ‘The Godfather’. They had a closed door pow-wow with the Big Chief just like that, while Sri Lankan travel agents who had asked for a meeting with Chief Sitting Bull last year were given short shrift then.
“The other day they took over the entire business class. Now they seem to have taken over the whole airline,” said one referring to the fact the elephant is likely to take over the GSA of SriLankan Airlines in Britain with a retired Sri Lankan Airlines staffer who the Emirates had once demoted, due to take over as the head honcho of the GSA. No wonder they were all celebrating.
But some of those who were at the WTM said several of the eight Sri Lankan travel agents boycotted the Chairman’s cocktail and dinner at the Grange Hotel. Some attended because they wanted to have a few words with the Chairman about the manner in which the airline is run.
The Chairman, however, it appears was not particularly interested in their woes. He is supposed to have said he has bigger problems.
So what was he doing in London then attending WTM, asked some. Maybe he came to apologise to the Big Rajahs for the behaviour of a recalcitrant airline captain who taught those uncultured bozos that money cannot always move mountains or even aircraft.
Wigneswaran tightlipped in Chennai
Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran on his first visit to Chennai on Friday was a guarded person. He is due to deliver a speech today at an event organised by an Indian Non-Governmental Organisation in Chennai.
As Mr. Wigneswaran arrived at the Chennai International Airport on Friday, about 80 journalists were waiting for him. They posed questions to him, but could not get a response from the Chief Minister who walked away saying ‘no comments.’ The Chief Minister’s aversion to the media even in Sri Lanka is no secret.
Most of the Indian journalists were interested to know his response to the case where five Indians were convicted by the Colombo High Court on charges of smuggling drugs to Sri Lanka.
Mr. Wigneswaran had also informed the President’s Office in Colombo that he was travelling on a ‘non-political visit’ to India and therefore was keeping to his word.
ID bonanza for Defence Ministry company
The change of designation from “Project Consultant” to “Project Manager” will help Lanka Logistics and Technologies Ltd., to receive a 1.5 per cent of the value of the Citizens Registration, Issuance of Electronic National Identity Cards and Establishment of National Persons Registry for Electronic Data Storage project.
The company comes under the purview of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.
A Presidential Steering Committee was appointed to oversee the reformulation and implementation of the project. This Committee approved the change of roles for the Lanka Logistics. Thereafter a Rate Deciding Committee recommended the payment of 1.5 per cent of the main contract value from the inception of the project in September 2013.
Heavy guard for PM in Andhra
Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne was on pilgrimage to the revered Tirupathy temple in Andhra Pradesh this week.
A 300-strong riot police squad was deployed to provide security to Premier Jayaratne.
UN Human Rights Chief in war of words with Govt.
United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein on Friday criticised the continuing attacks by the Sri Lankan Government on “the integrity of the UN Human Rights Office’s ongoing investigation into alleged grave human rights violations and abuses in Sri Lanka, and condemned the intimidation of human rights defenders and individuals who may wish to cooperate with the investigation.”
A statement issued by UN Human Rights Chief’s office in Geneva on Friday says:
“This continuing campaign of distortion and disinformation about the investigation, as well as the insidious attempts to prevent possible bona fide witnesses from submitting information to the investigating team, is an affront to the United Nations Human Rights Council which mandated the investigation.
“The Government of Sri Lanka has refused point blank to cooperate with the investigation despite being explicitly requested by the Human Rights Council to do so.
“Such a refusal does not, however, undermine the integrity of an investigation set up by the Council — instead it raises concerns about the integrity of the government in question. Why would governments with nothing to hide go to such extraordinary lengths to sabotage an impartial international investigation?
“The Government’s attempts to deter and intimidate individuals from submitting evidence to a UN investigation team is unacceptable conduct for any Member State of the United Nations which has committed to uphold the UN Charter,” the High Commissioner said.
“Since the end of the conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka has continued to obstruct any independent investigation despite the persistent, compelling and widespread allegations that possible serious international crimes were committed by both sides during the conflict in Sri Lanka.
“The High Commissioner noted that Sri Lankan civil society organizations and human rights defenders have continued to be subjected to surveillance, harassment and other forms of intimidation.
“A wall of fear has been created that has undoubtedly served to deter people from submitting evidence.
“The High Commissioner rejected this week’s false and unsubstantiated accusations by the Sri Lankan Government that the conduct of the investigation has been ‘unprofessional’ and that its approach is ‘selective and biased.’”
“He also rejected as ‘absurd’ the accusation that the investigation was somehow compromised by the arrest of a man who was allegedly in possession of blank signed forms that would then be fraudulently filled in and submitted to the investigation……”
In a letter to Prince al-Hussain, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ravinatha Aryasinha declared that “you have chosen to cast aspersions and denigrate a democratically elected Government. In fact, some countries have, on extremely cogent grounds, rejected mandates of the Council previously in much stronger ways, and have not been censured in the manner as in this instance. This undoubtedly confirms the double standards being applied. This type of action on your part would regrettably constrain constructive engagement which the Government of Sri Lanka has consistently sought to pursue.”
Political accountant in Lanka’s US mission
Sri Lanka’s Washington DC Embassy, packed with political appointees, is getting one more — this time an additional accountant.
The man who is being posted after he retired from State service has already become the talking point in External Affairs Ministry circles.
One witty career type, a vanishing breed these days, remarked that the latest posting may be to count how many Senators and members of the House of Representatives are against Sri Lanka.
PB’s Budget analysis ten per cent
The Ministry of Finance this week invited the public to a post-budget forum by Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera. Nelum Pokuna was packed to the brim. Mr. Jayasundera spoke for one hour and 30 minutes, dedicating much time and praise to Mahinda Rajapaksa. He mentioned the President multiple times, prompting many of those present to comment afterwards that his speech sounded like an endorsement of his campaign for re-election. There was, in the end, little analysis of the 2015 budget.
Mr. Jayasundera said he had spent a lifetime in the public service contributing towards drafting budgets. Today, he is in the highest position of helping the Finance Minister with this task. “I learned this job from around the time I was a child,” he said. “Those days, there were no debates like this. We didn’t go around the country. I think there are still some Treasury officials who haven’t gone beyond Fort.”
“There was no debate with divisional secretaries, Govi Jana Seva officials, provincial councils and ministries,” he said. “Even ministries came to us. We sent around a circular saying this is how we are making the estimates. The accountant decides to increase the allowance by 10 per cent. Ten percent was the flavour of the day. Everything was 10 per cent. Inflation was 10 per cent, exchange rate fluctuation was 10 per cent, it was all 10 per cent. Even if you took a bribe it was 10 per cent!”
And here we had thought that “Mr. Ten Percent” was only a figment of Jamis Banda’s imagination.