Dr Sudath Gunasekara

The news is given below

It will happen as per a request by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) which is the main party that backs President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The SLPP MPs who served as state ministers in the previous government met the president recently to discuss the appointment of state ministers of the new government.

The SLPP has asked for the appointment of 40 of them. However, the president is keen to appoint only 30.

According to informed sources, the appointment of state ministers will take place either next week or during the first week of September.

A SLPP MP who attended the meeting said his party discussed the appointment of heads of district development coordinating committees. (Kelum Bandara)”

My Comments on the above crazy descision

By Dr Sudath Gunasekara Mhanuwara, from the last capital of the 2500 year old Sinhale Kingdom

28.8.2022.

First of all, before I respond to this crazy decision of the President, I must, categorically remind him, as my good friend, that appointing more Ministers (to appease SLPP MPP) is not the priority number 1  problem the country is facing today. There are many more burning issues that should be urgently prioritized and solved before you appoint another set of Ministers, whether they are Cabinet or State, popularly known as blood suckers” or the Boring worms” (kandha panuwo) of the nation, if the nations taken as a tree. Therefore, as an experienced officer of the SLAS coming from the country side, I strongly advise him to first solve the far more serious problems, the country is facing today before he is also ousted by the revolting mobs in no time. [S1] 

Just to mention few of the more serious problems the country is facing today.

*Daily sky rocketing cost of living

*Mass hunger and starving due to shortage of food

* complete brake down of the mainstay of the agricultural sector the mainstay of the economy due the ban of chemical fertilizer and other inputs such as insecticides and pesticides and support services like a vibrant extension service and marketing etc.

*Shortage of medicine healthcare facilities

*Shortage of fuel and even kerosine that has hampered transport and every aspect of people’s day to day life

*Complete brake down in law and order and the failure to eradicate drugs and narcotic menace

*Excessive public expenditure arising from too many politicians, state officers, extravagance, wastage and pilferages

*Brake down in State enterprises due to overall poor and mismanagement, over staffing, (highest in the world:1 public servant for every 16 people) unbearable number of politicians (again highest in the world approximately 1 politician for every 3200 people) lack of strict administrative and financial management and careful business-oriented management and finally, political interference everywhere and in everything. 

*Corruption, bribery, overspending, extravagance and wastage in the entire public sector

*Absence of discipline all over the entire society

*Above all absence of a strong and people friendly government of patriotic land honest statemen as leaders, who know their motherland, its civilization and culture and absence of patriotism in the hearts and heads of all from the president to the beggar in the street coupled with the absence of national and spiritual leaders who can guide the politicians.

President has already agreed to appoint 30 State Ministers. 

According to the above news item the President has already agreed to appoint 30 State Ministers.  Since the 3o Cabinet Ministers already appointed are also   Ministers of the State, I don’t think you need to have another category of Ministers as State Ministers in addition to the 30 Cabinet Ministers already we have. Few people will know that there are already 48 people, who hold Cabinet rank status and enjoy all those privileges in the country. This includes the 9 Governors and 9 chief Ministers as they are also paid the same salary and given all the privileges of Cabinet Ministers. In addition, you also have another 36 provincial Council Ministers who are also called Ministers who enjoy more or less equal benefits if not more, for no work done at all. This adds up to a total of 84. If Ranil agrees to appoint another 40 Deputies or State ministers the total number of Ministers in the country will go up to 124.

I boldly say that none of these Ministers (with few rare exceptions in the whole history since 1948) has done his/her duty by the country, for the money tax payers spend on them and for the privileges they have enjoyed. That is why this country, the second richest country in per-capita in 1948 in asia has now become even worse than Ethiopia. As such why do we need all these pinpadikarayo whosyphon national resourceswithout any concern for the people or the country. Now that the Provincial councils have been not functioning nearly for 5 years without any brake down in governance, that alone justifies my call for the abolition of this system.

The concept of State Ministers in Sri Lanka

The concept of State Ministers was first introduced by JR Jayawardhana in 1977 to accommodate his chum Ananda Tissa De Alwis in the Cabinet as the Constitution has laid down the maximum number of Cabinet Ministers. Later starting from Premadasa all heads followed this practice and it was abused and misused to the maximum by Gotabhaya just to satisfy the vociferous backbenchers, eating in to the meager resources of  the country for which he had to pay a very high price by fleeing in the mid night from the country and resigning in asylum, now looking for a place for permanent political asylum on earth. Therefore, it is high time that Ranil Wickramasinha should also realize that his predicament would be even worse than that of Gotabhaya, if he also commits the same mistakes.

What the country needs today is a small Cabinet of new blood, who are honest, capable and efficient and who can deliver the services to the people.

What the country needs today is a small Cabinet of new blood, who are honest, capable and efficient and who can deliver the services for the people at these difficult times. President must also take care not to appoint those who have miserably failed in their jobs in the past.

He also has to be extra careful not to appoint his old friends discarded by the people. If you find it difficult to find the required talent from within you can get few suitable men and women from outside the Parliament through the so-called national list which has never served the purpose for which, it was set up, other than accommodating close friends of the party leaders for them to enjoy the luxuries of Parliamentary life for five years without facing the hassles of elections.

Meanwhile, if you can abolish the Provincial Councils also then you will have a Cabinet of 17 only. If you start with this bold decision without giving in to these crazy dirty politicians when you form the new Cabinet (it should not be a container any more) without appointing State Ministers just to appease another set of expensive creatures just to maintain the majority in Parliament. If you do that billions of rupees wasted at Provincial Council level to maintain a useless system for nothing will be saved as revenue for the central government

You will go down in history as a people’s President 

Mr. President since most of the MPP in Parliament and the people in the country are against you. The talk in the paddy field, village well or the spout or the village grocery stores or the street corner in towns and in the bus and train and in offices and factories is that you will allow asymmetric devolution to the North and East and might end up in signing the MMC and SOPA and betray and destroy this country and the Sinhala nation as your erstwhile uncle JR did by signing the Indo Sri Lanka Accord of 29 July 1987 as a revenge from the nation for not making him the leader of this country early in his life after Senanayakas were gone.

Therefore, this is the best time to introduce changes that benefit the people and that is not so and prove that you are a patriotic leader- stateman. Definitely you can do this if you change the current corrupt and dirty political culture that has plagued and destroyed the country, by adopting a completely different  people centered and people friendly approach of governance that is radically different from the politician centered corrupt and what is called The government by the politicians, for the politicians and of the politicians” model of government we have had in this country particularly since 1977 you will go down in history as a people’s President who resurrected a dead nation in the year 2022 of the Christian era.

If you do the right thing at the right time, you need not be scared of the SLPP who elected you as the President, or any other in the parliament as none will touch you, I repeat if you do the correct thing at the correct time”

In this backdrop, I lodge my strongest protest on behalf of all the starving and suffering people in my motherland on the above proposal to appoint 30 non- Cabinet Ministers at this critical moment. I also request the President not to appoint a single State Minister in the new Government.

Also, I strongly request him to limit the cabinet to a maximum of 17, as I have already requested him  in my first letter sent to him immediately after his appointment as the President as given below.

I also strongly condemn the silly and untimely requests made by the SLPP MPP as reported above as if they have forgotten why Gotabahya had to resign and even to leave the country. I put the blame for that unfortunate episode squarely on these so-called Ministers and the State Ministers of the Gotabhaya regime who took that poor man, a novice to politics, for a ride and paved the way for him to flee the country seeking political asylum in fear of even death, as a fable one finds in fairy tales.

I am confident that they want be able to play the fool with Ranil Wickramasinha the same way they did with Gota who was surrounded by kewatta advisors, who ruined his entire political career and still quarrel for portfolios.

Ranil will also have to face the same consequences of hiding in unknown lands  

On the other hand, if Ranil also gives in to these selfish requests together with them and his own acolytes, Ranil will also have to face the same consequences of hiding in unknown lands.

Therefore, Mr. President, as an elderly man first, I would like to request you not to give in for such pressures and to warn all these politicians suffering from Ministerial fever to get back to their senses before asking for ministries. You selfish politicians, first, think about the present economic situation in the country and the tens of thousands starving men, women and children and the future of at least your own children. If you have no brain to understand the sufferings of 22 million and the uncertain future of their children. I don’t think I need to elaborate any further.  

Stop appointing raw politicians as Chairmen of District Development[S2]  Coordinating committees

The present practice of appointing raw politicians as Chairmen of District Development Coordinating committees as the SLPP MPP requested should also be stopped forth with. I have found in many districts, in experienced Mpp who have entered for the first time also have been appointed as Chairmen of these Committees This has not only disgraced and demoralized the GAA the Heads of the Districts but also the entire district public service making district administration and development a bick mockery.  

Appointing ruling party politicians only make it utterly undemocratic. On the other hand, such inexperienced politicians fail in their jobs as they cannot win the regard and respect of the senior officers in the district

 Only GAA  as Heads of district Administration should be appointed as Chairmen of DACC and DCC

Only GAA should be appointed as Chairmen of DACC and DCC in order to make these Committees effective and successful in administration and development the government should get back to the 1965- 77 practice of appointing selected senior people who have wide experience not only in Divisional and District Administration but also at National level experience at least two years of Experience as heads of Departments then only the District Committee can sustain an effective job.

Mr. President, this is the biggest challenge you face in your life. But the whole nation will stand behind you and admire you forgetting all your past failures, if you implement the above plan.

 Message for the MPP who fight for Ministries

This is not the way you should behave, at a time when you people should be prepared to serve the people at your own expense even without a salary, at least for one year until the country’s situation come back to normal. Being politicians, you must first set an example for others. It is a shame you people behave irresponsibly like this when the people are starving and some dying on the road. If you continue to behave like this any further the day when the people will come and drag you out of the Parliament is not that far. 

Taking the present economic situation and social unrest into account, I make the following suggestions to the President and the Prime minister

1 Appoint only 17 Ministers selected from all the Political parties in the Parliament. Ministries should be allocated according to the ratio of each party has in the House. If the Party leaders are not willing to accept portfolios let them nominate their members to accept them.

All these Ministers should work without a salary for one year Their facilities should be reduced to the bare minimum. But each one should be given a target and their performance must be evaluated weekly

2. Don’t appoint a single State Minister as they have been square pegs in round holes.

All these Ministers should work without a salary for one year as stated above.

3 All the MPP should be appointed to 17 Committees under the Ministries and they have to actively take part in deliberating and implementing the programmes of the respective Ministries Attending Parliament and these Committees must be made compulsory.

Anyone who cannot fit in to this arrangement should immediately resign from his seat and go home and say good bye to politics.

The philosophy behind this proposal is sacrifice by all

The philosophy behind this proposal is sacrifice by all, from the President down to the beggar on the street, to take the country out of the present abyss in to which it has been put by none other than the policy makers and the so-called public servants who are responsible for their implementation. for which they alone are responsible.

Proposed Amaatya mandalaya in the new Government

1අග්‍රාමාත්ය, රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ශක,  බුද්ධසාශන හා සන්ස්කෘතික කටයුතු

2 මුදල් හා ක්‍රම සම්පාදන හා රජයේ වැඩ

3 ඉඩම්,  වාරිමාර්ග සහ පරිසර සන්රක්ශන

4 කෘෂිකර්මාන්ත, වැවිලිකර්මාන්ත සහ කුළුබඩු

5 කර්මාන්ත, බලශක්ති හා තාක්ශන 

6 අධ්‍යාපන සහ ක්‍රීඩා

7 අධිකරණ, නිතිය හා සාමය

8 සෞඛ්‍ය, ආයුර්වේද සහ සමාජසේවා

9 නිවාස, පලාත්පාලන හා ජලසම්පාදන

10 වෙළඳ හා නාවික කටයුතු

11 විදේශ සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර කටයුතු (මෙම ඇමති ධුරයට නිතරම පත්කළ යුත්තේ ශ්‍රි.ලන්.වි.සේ  විශිෂ්ඨතම නිලධාරියෙකි- ජාතික ළැයිස්තුවෙන්)

 12 ධීවර සහ සමුද්‍ර සම්පත් –

13 කම්කරු හා රැකිරක්ශා –

 14 ගමනාගමන, මහාමාර්ග හා ගුවන්සේවා 

 15 ප්‍රවෘර්ති, ගුවන්විදුලි, රූපවාහිනී සහ ජන මාධ්‍ය

16`උඩරට ගැමි පුනරුත්ථාපන සහ කන්ද උඩරට (ජාතියේ හදබිම ) සන් රක්ශනය 

17 ස්වදේශ කටයුතු රාජ්ය පරිපාලන හා ග්‍රාම සන්වර්ධන (මෙම ඇමති ධුරයට නිතරම පත්කල යුත්තේ ශ්‍රි.ලන්.ප.සේ විශිෂ්ඨතම නිලධාරියෙකි- ජාතික ළැයිස්තුවෙන්)

(ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන හා ග්‍රාම සන්වර්ධන අමාත්යාන්ශය මට භාර දෙන්නේනම් 1948 සිට නොකෙරුණු මේ රටට ගැලපෙන දිස්ත්‍රික්ක, ප්‍රාදේෂීය සහ ග්‍රාම පාලන ක්‍රමයක්  6 මසක් අතුලත මට මේරටට නිර්මාණය කොට දිය හැකි බව්ද ප්‍රකාශකරමි).

දැනට තිබෙන අමාත්‍යාශ, දෙපාර්තමේන්තු සහ අනෙකුත් රාජ්ය ආයතන සියල්ල (අනවශ්ය ඒවා වසාදැමීමෙන් පසු ඉතිරිවන) මෙම අමාත්‍යාශ යටතට විධිමත්ව අන්තග්‍රහණය  කළ යුතුය

ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් ඇමතිමන්ඩලයට  ගත යුතු කීපදනෙක්

සරත් නන්ද ද සිල්වා  හිටපු  අග්‍රවිනිශ්චයකාර ආචාර්ය

ආචාර්ය ගාර්වින් කරුනාරත්න

ගාමිනි විජේසින්හ හිටපු විඝණනාධිපති

නීතිඥ නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු

ප්‍රභාත් මහනාම

වන්නියෑලෑ ඇත්තො

ආචාර්ය චන්ද්‍රේ ධර්මවර්ධන.

මෙම ළැයිස්තුවට ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිරගාම වැනි දෙමල නියෝජිතයෙක්ද ඇතුලත් කරගත යුතුය

                   (මොවුන් ඇමති තණතුරු භාරගැනීමට අසතුටුනම් යටත් පිරිසෙයින් ජාතික සැලසුම් මන්ඩලයේ උපදේශක වරුන් වශයෙන් හෝ පත්කොට ගතයුතුයයි මම යෝජනා කරමි)