Impending cabinet reshuffle and change of subjects

It is reported that a Cabinet reshuffle is in the offing and along with it some State ministries will also be given more responsibilities; the departments coming under some State Ministries will be changed. This will lead to anomalies where there are two Ministries, one for Power and the other for Energy. Don’t these two subjects go hand in hand? What is surprising is how this idiotic separation came and on whose advice? It is simple knowledge that energy is essential to produce power. For example, water in a hydro reservoir is energy, which powers the turbines to operate and produce electricity.

This portfolio is highly technical and needs an academically qualified minister who understands the subject, and therefore the proposed reshuffle should give serious thought to assigning it to an educated, knowledgeable politician.

It is heartening to note that the young and the educated will be promoted to the rank of ministers. All these years, mostly senior members in a political party have been appointed ministers and they become ‘experts’ overnight and dictate to public officials who have had long years of experience, or appoint their cronies to high managerial posts and they in turn lick the boots of the minister, get all financial benefits and perks at the expense of the public.

In my long years of service spanning three decades there was only one Ministry for Power and Energy and the Ceylon Electricity Board ran as a profit-making state enterprise with knowledgeable ministers at the helm, who were well briefed by competent Secretaries and staff.

Political interference caused this vital organisation to face heavy losses and today the issue of a US company NFE coming in on an LNG project, without the normal tender procedure has become a threat to the government. Even Cabinet Ministers have vehemently criticized the action of the government, and sought a legal remedy.

G .A. D. Sirimal

BORALESGAMUWA