| by Prabhath Saha-Bnadu
( September 24, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Major Chandana Pradeep Susena's claim that he was too
shocked to remember who really beat him the other day at Hilton Residence makes
one feel sorry for him and the army. He is a weakling who gets easily shocked
and disoriented in a scuffle with a few ruffians. If what he has told the Court
is anything to go by, the army must be scraping the bottom of the barrel and it
is a pity that the national military has had to depend on information provided
by such personnel in making crucial decisions on matters concerning national
security. There is a compelling reason to believe that the country has won a
fierce war against a ruthless terrorist outfit not because of intelligence
operatives like Major Susena but in spite of them. It is time the military
intelligence recruited strong officers and men who could take a few blows from
political goons in a car park!
If an intelligence officer assigned to keep tabs on elusive
characters cannot even remember where he left his gold chain and falsely
accuses others of having robbed it, he is certainly not worth his salt. He is a
liability to the army! Next time he may forget where he has left his service
weapon––and god knows what else! The army has done a major blunder by assigning
important tasks to Major Susena.
The major was spying on two drug dealers at the time of the
attack, we are told. There was absolutely no need for the military intelligence
to play hide and seek with such elements. They could have been arrested
promptly and interrogated thoroughly. We wonder what has become of the White
Van brigade. Are we to gather that it is not called in to deal with dangerous
characters like drug barons, some of whom have fled the country with the help
of ministers? How Kudu Lal, the drug czar who controlled the narcotics business
in Colombo, was escorted to the airport by a minister is case in point. The
drug barons Major Susena claims to have followed must now be aware that the
military intelligence is on their trail. So, they must be arrested forthwith
before they, too, flee the country-maybe with the help of Kudu Lal's saviour.
We hope they are real.
Different sauce for A'pura gander – II
The chief ministerial dispute in the North Central Province
took a turn for the worse a few days ago with former Chief Minister Berty
Dissanayake warning the government that unless he was reappointed, about 120
local government politicians in that province would resign en masse. But,
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is reported to have brought the situation under
control.
As for who will become the next NCP Chief Minister, we could
not care less. Whoever gets that plum job, it will be a case of one political
leech being replaced by another or the same leech being allowed to fatten at
the expense of the public.
It is President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has won the PC polls,
period! If he had left his coalition's campaign to the jokers who have been
either returned or rejected at the recently concluded election, he would
definitely have got a rude electoral shock. Therefore, he should have the
freedom to appoint chief ministers in the provinces where the UPFA has secured
a clear majority. (After all, he is the government and the government he.)
But, the UPFA cannot cover up its double standards by making
ludicrous claims like the one that two members of the same family will not be
allowed to hold ministerial posts. In keeping with that policy, Minister S. M.
Chandrasena has resigned his ministerial portfolio to enable his brother S. M.
Ranjith, who polled the highest number of preferential votes in the
Anuradhapura District, to become Chief Minister. We have pointed out, in a
previous comment, how hypocritical that policy is in that President Mahinda
Rajapaksa and his sibling Basil have between them several ministries.
Here is another example of the UPFA's volte-face. At the
last election to the Uva Provincial Council in 2009, Sashindra Rajapaksa, who
polled an impressive 137,000 preferential votes, was appointed Chief Minister
over and above experienced, senior councillors who could not match his
electoral performance, though his father Chamal Rajapaksa was the Minister of
Ports and Aviation at that time. A precedent has thus been created and it needs
to be followed, unless the government has informed candidates prior to the
recently concluded PC polls of its decision not to appoint as chief ministers
those whose siblings were ministers, and obtained their consent for it.
Notwithstanding the UPFA's policy U-turn, Minister S. M.
Chandrasena's resignation has warmed the cockles of many a heart. Most of the
current ministers should not have been appointed to the Cabinet in the first
place. They are, not to put too fine a point on it, absolute misfits. The jumbo
Cabinet must be downsized drastically as it is a drain on the State coffers and
has made this country a big joke in the eyes of the world community.
We don't need so many ministers to ruin things for us; a
ten-member Cabinet would have been equal to that job!
- The writer is the editor in chief of the " The Island", the Colombo based daily, where this piece appeared originally.
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