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New support staff for SL missions abroad to aid expat workers
A fresh recruitment drive for some 100-plus Labour attaches and support staff for the country’s overseas missions is to be launched tomorrow, a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Employment said yesterday.
Screening of the new cadre, drawn mainly from the Labour & Foreign Employment Ministry and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLFEB), will be by a special committee appointed by Foreign Employment Minister, Thalatha Athukorale, Foreign Employment Secretary G.S. Vithanage told the Sunday Times.
“There will be zero political appointees and outsiders to these positions, except in exceptionally special cases where the individual or individuals are highly experienced in this field, and have required qualifications,”he said.
“The move to recruit the new cadre from within these ministries is mainly to ensure that a proper and professional service could be rendered to Lanka’s expatriate workers, who make up the single largest foreign exchange earner for the country, after the Apparel and Tourist industries,”Mr Vithanage said.
“The administration was also looking into a large number of complaints against the present personnel, mainly regarding the neglect of their duties among other irregularities,”he added.
He added that, some 100-plus Labour attaches and support staff currently serving in the country’s overseas missions, have been ordered to return home with immediate effect, in a major revamp of the sector inside the Foreign Employment Ministry.
“The Labour attaches and related support staff, most of them a mixed bag of political appointees, ordinary clerks and in some cases, spouses of top officials of the previous regime, have been given time till the first week of April to return to the country,” he said.
He said that investigations have revealed that the bulk of this number have exceeded the stipulated two-year period ignoring standard procedure, and therefore, the External Affairs Ministry has been advised to act accordingly towards this end.
“A majority of those recalled are currently stationed in West Asian capitals where there is a large concentration of Sri Lankan expatriate workers, but notice has also been issued to officials in South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere,” Mr. Vithanage said.
Meanwhile, the Industry also welcomed the moves to change, saying it would definitely improve relations between the worker, recruiter and the employer in the receiving country.Association for the Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) President, Faizer Maickeen told the Sunday Times that many of the labour attaches mainly in the West Asian sector were ignorant of their proper official obligations and at the end of the day it went on to hurt the industry and its image both at home and abroad.
“In the past we have repeatedly urged the authorities to have a re-think on these personnel, but there was always a zero response, mainly owing to political interference,” Mr. Maickeen said.
He added that the heads of missions in most embassies had little or no control over the junior staff, and if this position is to remain then they too should be recalled.
He added that the new administration was moving in the right direction and assured that ALFEA was ready to support its efforts right down to the wire, for the betterment of the Industry.