Ministry Secretaries told to comply with circular when making appointments

Ministry Secretaries have been told to comply with a circular issued by the President?s Secretary when making key appointments.

President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the Ministry Secretaries to comply with the circular appointing Chairpersons and Boards of Directors to State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

The circular numbered PS/PCMD/19/2018 signed by the Secretary to the President has been issued on December 31, 2018. Furthermore, the President took steps to appoint a Committee to submit recommendations after inquiring the qualifications of the individuals to be appointed as Chairpersons or members to Director Boards of State enterprises.

The Secretary to the President chairs the Committee to review the appointments, while other members of the Committee are President?s Senior Advisor W.J.S. Karunaratne, two representatives appointed by the Prime Minister and a representative of the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance.

The President also instructed the Secretaries of Ministries to forward the names of the currently appointed Chairpersons and members of the Board of Directors to this committee to submit their recommendations after examining the qualifications of them. President Sirisena further stated that he will send written instructions to all ministers in the near future.

The President also pointed out that irregularities were emerging due to the fact that regular reports on vehicles of the government were not regularly maintained. As such, he instructed the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport to jointly schedule a programme to regularize the details and facts of the vehicles of the government in order to evade such circumstances in the future.

President Sirisena also instructed the officials to maintain the details of the vehicles belonging to the government in a manner where any person can obtain the facts easily through the internet.

Thus the President instructed that the each secretary of the ministry should visit the departments and institutes under their ministry at least once in three months to meet the office staff and to find out its procedure and issues.

The President also highlighted the importance of taking action in all the Ministries to assist the initiatives to prevent the drug abuse and pointed out the importance of establishing a Drug Prevention Unit in each state institution, and fulfill their respective duties according to circulars issued in recent years.?(Colombo Gazette)