The boss, young and youthful, was anxious for a second term and made his request known. The political masters had no qualms about it. In the absence of a formidable successor, the job was going to be his for at least another year. That should have been smooth sailing.
But the boss dropped a bombshell at a conference with his own top brass last week. He announced he was throwing in the towel. Enough is enough and I don’t want to clash with all and sundry, he explained.
If that was bad news to the boys (some who were there disagree). There was also good news from the boss. He said that some contemplated, changes due soon, would trigger off a string of promotions. When that happens, they would all move one rank high. That will mean at least four big wigs in the system, each with their own domain.
But why this sudden change of mind by the boss? Some say it is the telling off given by the political hero. He is said to have asked boss to pack his bags and leave. If that was hurtful enough, there was more to come. The political hero had boasted in his circle that for one day he was the boss.
The political hero would like to be boss of every outfit under his domain. That is another thing altogether. But the remark, they say, has hurt the young boss who has come up through regular channels, not leap frogging from one low post to a higher one.
Yet others say, verbal duels with colleagues over debacles and disasters is the main cause.
The hunt for a successor is now on. The lack of an easy choice prompted the biggest boss of all to remark if we cannot find one in that place, we will appoint someone from another trade.
Seems like bringing in a butcher to do the work of a surgeon. Who knows!!
Hardly had the ink dried on the newspaper reports of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s state visit to South Korea comes the news that the country’s national airline Korean Air has suspended all its cargo flights to Colombo.
These flights operated until last week with Boeing 747s touching down in Colombo to pick up cargo loads of garments destined for Los Angeles.
The Korean move, insiders say, is based on security considerations and comes after LTTE guerrillas hurled grenades at a building where Korean workers involved in a telecom cable laying project, were living in Trincomalee.
The Korean work force has since arrived in Colombo and the Korean Embassy on Monday appealed to the Foreign Ministry to ensure the security of their citizens.
The grenade attack, which security officials claim, was to frighten the Korean workers came when President Kumaratunga was in the South Korean capital of Seoul campaigning for increased foreign investment and economic assistance.
Korean Air no longer operates commerical flight via Colombo but its cargo operations was big business for the garments industry.
Intelligence circles are buzzing with reports that in the days preceding the attack of the Mullaitivu military base, Tiger guerrillas landed a shipload of weapons. They are trying to confirm the report and what the cargo contained.
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