Dr Sudath Gunasekara

10.9.2017

Wrong doers and who rob public money have to be punished. There is no second word about it. But should a public servant (who has ceased to be so in this country after 1987) be punished for carrying out an order given by his Minister. Of cause if such order violates Administrative or Financial Regulations he can always refuse to carry out such orders as such actions will be questioned at the Public Accounts Committee. This is particularly so at the level of a Ministry Secretary. Because under the Constitution, he is the Chief Accounting Office for his ministry and all the Departments and institutions coming under that Ministry. Has there being such a violation in this issue.  Now that the Ex- President has publicly said that he has given an order to distribute silredi, the question arises as to why Lalith and Pelpita were convicted. Was there a mensria on the part of these two officers to do such wrong act?  I do not know whether they have stated in court that they were only carrying out an order from the then President. If it had been said then this order is definitely a Kekille Nadu tiinduwaki.

The next issue is the nature of punishment. RS 52 million each and 3 ½ years RI.

It was I who the one as Secretary to Mrs B in 1994, proposed Lalith,s name as Additional Sec. I met Lalith  as a young, intelligent, dynamic and vibrant SLAS officer in 1992 when I was the President of Sri Lanka Administrative Services Association. He was an active committee member. From that time on words I knew him as an efficient and honest man. Knowing him so close I cannot even dream he will do a wrong thing like this. As uch I feel this is not justice at all and the 3 1/2 year rigorous imprisonment and fine 50 million cannot be justified by any conceivable standard. OK silredi has been given. But it is the poor people who have benefited, Neither MR at elections nor these two officers have benefited.  I believe the higher court will deliver better justice.

I think the Yahapalanaya has done this to warn and hurt MR as they are afraid to put him behind bars. This may be a warning to him of things to come. As I have already said in one of my previous posting in this site this is the Kautilyan strategy of attacking the periphery first. Exactly this is what he got Gupta prince to do to attack Nanda regime.

I only hope President Sirisena will prove the metal of his yahapalanya by taking immediate action at least now to arrest the Alibaba and all the thieves who have robed the Nation’s Central Bank starting from him down the line Arjuna Mahendran, his son-in law and put them behind bars immediately, now that the CB scam has been proved beyond all reasonable doubts in the eyes of the public.  Isn’t it a more serious a mega crime that has ruined the whole nation amounting to 2 or more Billions. The whole country is waiting to see what punishment this Government is going to give them

I do not know whether Lalith has done this Silredi distribution under political pressure. If that is the case then you must punish the person who gave such orders and definitely not a poor public servant. These queries will haunt our minds for a long time. As for me I regret very much for the predicament Lalith and his friend had to face. Even if they are exonerated by the Higher Court now the damage is done and it is irreparable.

I wonder why this duplicity by this government in treating different people differently when even people who have lost their civic rights are kept in high positions. Another person who was found guilty for taking a bribe of 10 lakhs was given 20 years imprisonment few days back. Is this yahapalanaya?

One can argue that this is a good lesson for those who indulge in such activities. It certainly sends a clear message for the 1.6 million public servants in this country. But the question left unanswered is whether public servants have the freedom to say no to politicians when such orders are given. If they say no then they will be branded as anti-government and punished. They have no job security under the existing situation. In order to avoid this sad situation the first thing what the government should do is to restore the independence of public service. Eradicate the cause first and let the politicians be exemplary

To avoid this type of disasters to public servants let the 1.6 million Public servants also stand up and agitate for an independent Public Service. I think the Sri Lanka Administrative Service that was once the steel frame of the Administration and the guardian of public interests should wake up from its deep slumber and fight for an Independent and professional public Service and retrieve Public Service in this country from political bungling. They should not allow the politicians to treat them like domestic servants. Take a lesson from the medical profession.

Even under the present situation you can still say no if you have the guts and the courage to say no when it is wrong. As for me I have never gone after politicians for favours in my 36 years of service. I have said no to many including Mrs Tamara Ilangaratna, S.K.K.Suriya arachchi, Gamani Jayasuriya, Presdident Premadasa,. D.B Wijetunga,  Lalith Atulathmudali, Luxman Jayakodi and even  Mrs.B. They all not only appreciated but agreed with what I said and most of them became my lifelong friends. Sans any political support and pull I was able to retire as Prime Minister Mrs Bandaranayaka’s Secretary.  I was able to be Secretary to four Cabinet Ministries.  All this happened on my own merit. So the question I ask is as to why others also cannot do that way, serve the people maintaining the dignity and independence of the public Service and self- respects without giving in and retire happily. Remember you are Public Servants and not servants of any given political party. You are permanent servant of the people until you retire. Politicians on the other hand come and go in every five years, though in Sri Lanka unfortunately it has changed since 1987. In politics today corruption has become the rule rather than the exception. They don’t serve the public but serve themselves only.

Overall today both politicians and public servants have to revisit their roles and both political and administrative cultures need a complete reformation, where both settle down as instruments of delivering public good. Follow the Asokian principles of governance and adhere to the  dictum Bahujana sukhaya  Bahujana hitaya’ the Great Teacher has taught.