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| Monday, 23 February 2004 |
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Please forward your letters to editor@dailynews.lk in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
Recent disclosure that the Galle Face Green was rented out took many by surprise. Privatization Juggernaut had shifted attention away from departments and corporations to land and water. When the CWE was thrown open to 24 hour shopping with the avowed aim of helping citizen Perera to do his marketing on the way home, some eyebrows were raised as Colombo goes to bed early. In the implementation of round the clock marketing, it was realised that sales staff exceeded shoppers often. Low sales paved the way to a sell out of the organization. Selling the family silver! The ailing railway was declared an authority overnight. Result a 3 week strike. Transport islandwide affected. Result a two years respite before a repeat performance. Privatization in a liberalized economy is the mantra to remove all the ills that plague the land. The net is cast on many state organizations as many have forgotten the Kantale sugar fiasco or the steel factory. The 300 acre seed garden of the Coconut Research Institute in the coconut triangle will enter history with the opening up of 60 factories proposed there. Research stations are next in line. Already bids are called to exploit gems in tea estates in Bogawantalawa. The efforts of the pioneers who sweated to establish the scientific outlook are devalued to such extent that the only value left is the value of bare land. The Meteorological Department faced such amputation. The Road Construction and Development Corporation and the State Engineering Corporation face a bleak future. The article by Dr. U. Petiyagoda in (DN Feb.18) vividly describes the fate of Science and Technology as a result of the scant regard and priority from government for the professional institutions. One must recall that almost all such institutions have objectives to advise government on matters related to their mission. The need for a THINK tank has again come up as a favoured slogan. This has a history of repetition since it first surfaced in the sixties through Dr. Gamani Corea. A think tank to guide government in development is imperative and it is hoped it will not be lost sight of after the hustings. S. H. C. DE SILVA - via e-mail A courier company in Colombo, sends a common circular letter to the consignee stating "either the consignee has to pay them Rs. 1,000 if he wishes to clear the sample through them or consignee can clear it through another party if he wishes," when a parcel arrives from abroad. This company wants to charge for framing a custom entry and also say "various other expenses, too, are involved." The courier companies are supposed to hand over parcels to consignees levying only the custom duties and taxes. The truth is this company clears a consolidated list of items by one custom entry but charge each consignee in this list Rs. 1,000 pretending they are framing separate custom entries. This company is really a 'head-ache' to consignees. The consignee is helpless. The clearing cannot be given to third party Custom House Agent as they charge about Rs. 1,500. Once I threatened to expose this courier and they delivered the parcel the following day free of charge. JAYANTHA SAMARASINGHE - Kotte Cost cutting and saving taxpayers' money I think the Director of Pensions and his relevant Minister were on the right track when they wanted to save public funds by saving Rs. 4.00 on the postage of each government pensioners' pension from which might perhaps have also resulted in retrenchment of some staff in the Divisional Secretariats. As a government pensioner I would make the following suggestion which might also result in the saving of billions of rupees of Taxpayers' money. Articles 44(1)(B), 45(1)(A) and 46(1) of the Constitution state that the President may appoint from among Members of Parliament respectively, Cabinet Ministers, Ministers who shall not be Members of the Cabinet and Deputy Ministers. As a consequence, with each General Election the country has seen a steady increase in the numbers of Ministers and Deputy Ministers with the possibility that soon every Member of Parliament will end up being appointed a Minister or Deputy Minister. Every such Minister or Deputy Minister will insist on having his own luxury office complex along with his private secretary, co-ordinating secretaries, office staff, drivers (all recruited exclusively or mainly from the Minister's or Deputy Minister's electorate), Armed Security Staff and a fleet of vehicles some of which would even be commandeered from departments and corporations under the Ministry and some others hired at colossal expense even from relatives and friends. A Member of Parliament's political interests would mainly be limited to his Electoral district. But when he or she becomes a Minister or Deputy Minister that interest becomes all island. This would lead to a conflict of interests. The Minister or Deputy Minister would also be compelled to neglect his or her electorate or his or her Ministerial duties. Ministerial appointments have also become a bargaining chip to the detriment of the interests of the country. My suggestion is that once a Member of Parliament is appointed as a Minister or Deputy Minister, the relevant seat in Parliament should be declared vacant to be filled by another in the relevant Party List. The Constitution should be amended and Article 47(C) should be repealed. This would perhaps stop the mad scramble for Ministerial appointments and help any Prime Minister to limit his Ministers to the few that a small country like Sri Lanka really requires. The Ministers can have any number of Ministerial Divisions headed by qualified Ministry Secretaries. What do the Constitutional pundits have to say to this layman's suggestion? I have no doubt that all National Minded Members of Parliament (if any) will wholeheartedly support this suggestion. A.P - Colombo 10 I understand how Tina Gunawardana felt walking into toilet area at Lionel Wendt theatre (DN Feb. 19) I along with some of my friends visited Sri Lanka in December. We decided to visit Kandy. Rented a van with a driver away we went. Of course there were litter carelessly discarded, papers along with bottles/plastic bags floating across the main Galle St. We sort of expected it. But, prior to landing in Colombo, we spent a week in Singapore. I think the Mayors of Galle Rd. communities and the environmental engineers should consult the Singapore Govt. to help with, how they manage to re-cycle, or dispose their garbage. One evening we went to see the traditional Kandyan dance in an open theatre. Nice building, probably could do with a fresh coat of paint. The building accommodated approximately 100 to 150 people. About 70 to 80 per cent were overseas tourists average age of fifty and above. The show was excellent. However, the unfortunate part was, I had a slight stomach cramp and had to visit the toilet. Toilet seats and floor were wet with urine, unflushed toilet and more. Charge more entrance fee and pay someone to keep the toilets clean. Most of the visitors expressed disappointment with the toilet condition. We love the country, wonderful people Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. You have a country so beautiful, so blessed with nature and educated people - Don't expect the Government to do everything, you all must have pride in your country. Take pride in your country. The rest of the world wants you to come out of the long suffering you have gone through. God Bless Sri Lanka. TED HODGSON - Canada The CWE has been doing both profitable business and serving the lower and middle class housewife well for over half a century. Over 150 Sathosa outlets are situated in key locations throughout the country making available daily essentials to the consumer at fair prices. CWE's fine role during times of extreme difficulty characterized by shortages such as the dark days of July 1983 - came in for praise from international agencies like the World Bank. When the Minister took over about two years ago, he announced many grandiose plans to serve Sathosa customers and specially the rural and suburban housewife. He promised a better quality service and super-market like Sathosa shops. One of these happened to be that scheme of his which was to keep Sathosa shops open throughout the night and early hours of the morning. The ordinary modest housewife in her simple ways and in line with the cultural norms of our land, preferred to do her "groceries" in the day and in the old-fashioned way. Posh air-conditioned super-markets are not what she was looking for. Her only intention was to get the usual essential items for the kitchen at affordable prices. What has resulted from the Minister's plans? What we gather, was that very few customers visited these shops late in the night and the CWE was forced to pay high electricity bills for this inadequately considered misadventure. No wonder these, as a result is, became loss-making concerns. The beneficiaries were neither the CWE nor the customers. It is believed those who contracted the expensive equipment in the CWE in the past two years really stood to gain whereas the equipment, in most cases, were used and discarded items imported from places like Singapore many of which now lying condemned and idle. Throughout this year, local suppliers - many of whom leading Companies in Colombo - queue up at the CWE Head Office demanding their payments for goods supplied many months ago - valued at many millions. The near-bankrupt CWE eventually managed to salvage themselves temporarily out of the mire by selling 40 per cent of Sathosa retail activities to a cartel at a reported price of Rs. 680 million. The Minister made a great brouhaha about this pyrrhic deal. This sum was barely sufficient to meet even a fraction of what is due to suppliers. Though he claimed on TV recently CWE has paid all debtors with this money, it is seen dozens of suppliers call over at the CWE for their dues. Many of them are bound to be disappointed because the new management unethically distanced themselves from their obligations and asked the suppliers to get their funds from the earlier management. CWE should insert a press advertisement calling for lists of debtors and then the truth will be out. In the entire half a century history of CWE this is the first time the organization has run into such serious financial difficulty. They have lost their long cherished credibility and integrity - both in the local and foreign markets. It is also understood they also entered into contracts with regular foreign suppliers and were unable to honour their commitments because local Banks refused to open covering Letters of Credit for the CWE - as a result of extremely their poor liquidity caused by poor management in the past two years. It is time the president moved in the matter and save this valuable organization from the inefficiency of the present CWE Board. The CWE must be saved from total collapse and from the hands of a ministerial and management team that is incapable of doing no more to resurrect the CWE than to helplessly watch this vital body going down the drain. P. R.D. JAYASEKERA - Colombo 4 In Daily News of 12/2 there was a news item about the NCPA initiating the setting up of Child Protection Committees in 7 schools in the Colombo District which included D.S. Senanayake College and Sirimavo Bandaranaike Balika Vidyalaya which are a little over 25 years old. Parents are curious to know why schools such as Ananda, Royal and Visaka which are nearly a hundred years old (Royal is 169 years) have been left out. Parents and students of these schools are well aware that children are harassed both by teachers as well as senior students of these schools. If committees are set up in these schools the students will know what their rights are. It appears that the NCPA is only concerned about sexual abuse of children as all newspaper reports are related to this aspect. But a great number of school children are harassed in schools in many other ways which go unnoticed. I hope the NCPA will initiate action early to set up Child Protection Committees in these so called popular schools in Colombo. T. FERNANDO - Colombo 6 |
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