Local and expatriate Lankan experts should enter Parliament: PMG

By Ifham Nizam

Post Master General Ranjith Ariyaratne said yesterday that local and overseas based Sri Lankan scholars should be given the opportunity to enter Parliament and that a pragmatic Monetary Board, consisting of those experts, should be appointed.

The Post Master General, who is also the Acting President of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association said so attending a special media briefing organised by the Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association in Colombo. He was accompanied by Vice Presidents of the Association Chandraratne Pallegama, Dhammika Muthugala, Secretary Pradeep Lakshantha and Member of the Executive Committee A.P. Nishantha.

Ariyaratne said that the failure of individuals appointed to high posts in the government including members of the security forces and retirees had become evident.

He said the failure was due to the fact that many people who were given posts outside the civil service were not aware of the subject and that public servants who risked their lives during the war as well as during natural disasters such as the tsunami had been overlooked.

The government had ignored the Administrative Service Union’s opposition to raising the retirement age of public servants to 65 years and had implemented it, Ariyaratne said, adding that politicians as well as public servants had a responsibility to help rebuild the country.

The collapse of the present government, which was formed with more than a two-thirds majority, was due to natural disasters as well as weaknesses in the economic and social policies implemented throughout history, added the Post Master General.