Frank
views
Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa called a meeting of state-run
media institution heads and senior management officials to brief
them and also get a feedback on how they were handling the propagation
of the “Mahinda Chintanaya”. A teledrama star turned
Director at the Rupavahini Corporation did not mince his words when
he was given the turn to speak. He said people had kept faith with
the President’s “Chintanaya” and had voted him
into power but what most heads of state-run media did as soon as
they assumed office was to import new vehicles for their personal
use or get the latest mobile phones without giving priority to the
real issues.
He
also referred to the recently concluded seminar on Public Enterprises:
Performance, Governance and Best Practices; Strategies for Success'
organized by the Ministry of Skills Development and Public Enterprise
Reforms and the Public Enterprise Reform Commission (PERC) for public
officials held at the BMICH. He said most of the officials had made
an exit soon after lunch leaving very few for the afternoon session.
“Is it with this kind of public servant that we are planning
to take the Mahinda Chintanaya forward?” he quivered. Of course
there was no response to his allegations expect for the Ministry
Secretary thanking the man for expressing his views.
More
bad news
More bad news for the Rupavahini. The organisation which was number
one in the country in news and current affairs programmes has lost
its place to a private TV operator. This prompted the management
to call a meeting of its clerical staff last week to explain the
problem but insiders wonder how the clerical staff can bring about
changes in TV ratings and say only the management can take steps
to improve the standards of programmes shown by the SLRC.
Corruption
as some see it
Although some people are willing to accept there is a lot of inefficacy
and corruption in the public service, some just seem to want to
live in denial. While taking part in a adjournment debate on corruption
in the public service, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva referred
to some of the institutions mentioned in an article in The Sunday
Times of March 5 saying it was unfair to highlight only some institutions
such as the Office of the President, the Supreme Court and Parliament
and also that the matters referred to were minor matters such as
costs of tyres or mobile phones. He also said such reports would
demoralise public officials such as those in the Elections Department
who were doing a good job. Maybe by his standards, stealing a little
public money must be fine as long as it’s kept brushed under
the carpet. It’s eventually these small amounts that add to
the millions that go waste in the state sector. Also if it only
takes a newspaper report exposing corruption to demoralise those
working in the state sector, till now their morale should have been
sky high given the fact that successive governments have allowed
corruption and inefficacy to go unchecked for so long.
SB
as a visitor
Former UNP MP S.B. Dissanayake came to Parliament last week even
though he longer has his Parliamentary seat. He came to attend a
UNP Group meeting and entered the Parliament building after obtaining
a visitor’s pass as a guest of MP Ravi Karunanayake.
Time
allocation a problem
The allocation of talk time for Opposition MPs is becoming a problem.
Chief Opposition Whip Joseph Michael Perera said that Minister Rohitha
Bogollagama who is in the Government continues to be a member of
the UNP and hence has to be given time from the Opposition side.
He wanted the Speaker to give a ruling on the issue soon. MP Ravi
Karunanayke too raised a similar issue. He said the JVP too was
a partner in the Government and JVP MPs too were taking the time
of the Opposition to speak on debates and wanted this to be changed.”
You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds,” were
his words.
No
danger
A sudden crackling sound towards the end of sittings on Wednesday
from the ceiling of the Parliamentary Chamber where hangs a massive
lamp (Dolos Maha Pahana) casued a stir among the security personnel
here. The engineering officials were quickly summoned to the gallery
to inspect what had happened. After sittings ended, a thorough check
was done and it was decided that the lamp was firmly in place and
there was no danger of it collapsing.
Behind
the rest
And finally, men in the Police Department say they were getting
their official calendars only in mid-March. Now we know why things
are moving so slowly in the Department. They work a couple of months
behind the rest of the country.
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