Role of public servant during conflict applauded

The historical horrors of the ethnic conflict was reminisced, by a veteran, retired civil service officer in portraying the yeoman service rendered by the public officials in the North and East of Sri Lanka. 

Lionel Fernando, a reputed public servant and a former secretary to several ministries and a diplomat, was making the keynote speech at the launch of reports outlining the Dashboard and Video Documentary of the Electronic Citizens Report Card (eCRC) on Secondary Education and Local Government Services Delivery in the districts of Batticaloa, Mullaitivu and Monaragala compiled by the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) in collaboration with the European Union and the ACTED.

The launch was held at the BMICH, Colombo on Tuesday and the discussion that ensued was on the theme ‘Give a space to the voice of the people’ (Purawesi Handata Edak).

Mr. Fernando went back to the years of 1993 during the height of the war and reminisced the state of the apathy of a village called ‘Sathurukondaan’ in the Batticaloa District where there was only women in that village in their 20s, 30s and 40s as beautiful as the name of the village ‘Sathurukondaan’.  All men were dead either due to the military or the LTTE, he said, while misery and poverty was overwhelmed with absolutely no source of income. 

He visited the village and observed that there was no income at all. No funding, he said, could be granted, “because you cannot prove that your man or the husband is dead due to either the forces or the LTTE. No death certificate”. The unbelievable apathy encountered by these destitute women rendered Mr. Fernando helpless and disturbed.

As a responsible public servant he was grappling with his thoughts to find a way out to help the helpless.  He called the district judge (DJ) of the area and said he would be visiting him but the kind DJ volunteered to visit Mr. Fernando.  

He called all the women without husbands in the village and asked them to bring with them the elderly living with them and in front of the DJ documented the details of the old people. With these documented details he submitted a report to the Social Services Department and within three months some kind of allowance was received by these destitute women. 

He narrated this story to applaud the dutiful force of the public servant in helping the poor in absolutely difficult circumstances and how they provided space to the voice of the people in even impossible situations.  

Since December 2015, ACTED and the CEPA have been working closely with civil society organisations to strengthen their ability to collaborate with government authorities to improve the quality and accessibility of public services in the three selected districts.

In summing up the whole theme of ‘Purawesi Handata Idak: a space for the voice of the people, Dr. Udan Fernando, Executive Director, CEPA said that their work over the last three years in these three districts that culminated into this eventwhich is aptly framed as the voice of the people.

On the contrary, he said in Sri Lanka they allow too much voice for the politicians and set the stage for them to speak while the people passively listen to any nonsense they utter. “We mute ourselves. We need to change this lopsided sorry situation and assert ourselves as people or citizens and let our voice be heard loudly and clearly,” he added. (QP)