Sajith promises prominent role for local academics under an SJB administration

Prominence would be given for local academics and intellectuals under a Samagi Jana Balavegaya administration, SJB and opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa said on Saturday evening addressing a group of university dons in Colombo.

He said political parties sought the support of university dons to win elections.

“Politicians collect the signatures of university dons for documents published in the newspapers. Given that there is still a lot of respect for academics, I am sure their pledge of support goes a long way in making people vote for a particular political party. “However, after political parties come into power, advisers, consultants and experts for important projects are brought from abroad. These foreign experts, although highly remunerated, have little understanding of the Sri Lankan context.”

Premadasa said: “That’s why most of our projects do not yield the expected results. I have no issues with bringing foreign experts but we have a lot of qualified people here in this country. We have people who are leaders in their fields and they are also educating the future generations. These people will be given the pride of place under an SJB government.”