| Several recently appointed Ministers have been openly critical of former colleagues in Parliament, saying the ex-Ministers have left jobs unattended to or incomplete, and that they are putting these half-done or poorly done jobs at the top of their own agendas.
One person who is wasting no time getting down to business is Maitripala Sirisena, the new Minister of Health. He has already sought the help of the Sri Lanka Air Force to airlift essential drugs from India in a bid to address the country’s serious drugs shortages.
The former Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has been widely criticised for failing to act, despite repeat reports of drug shortages at state hospitals.
Minister Sirisena told the Sunday Times that malpractice and corruption had been obstacles in the purchase of drugs and the calling of tenders for drugs supplies. He said the Ministry would draw up a plan to help reduce fraud and mismanagement.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Bandula Gunawardene, says his Ministry will be announcing shortly a mechanism for reducing malpractice in Grade 1 admission to schools. He said the Ministry was also looking at irregularities in the promotion of teachers and the appointment of school principals.
Petroleum Minister Susil Premajayantha says the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has been incurring huge losses of revenue, a problem that previous heads of the Ministry of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development had failed to address.
“The Ceylon Electricity Board owes massive sums to the Petroleum Corporation,” Minister Premajayantha said. “We are trying to check the ongoing losses at both institutions. The Ministry is also looking at a number of projects that have been left in mid-air,” he said.
The Sunday Times understands that the CEB owes the CPC more than Rs. 5 billion for fuel supplies.
Meanwhile, at this week’s Cabinet meeting, President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged his Ministers to avoid criticising the performances of former Ministers. |
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