By Eranda Ginige –
Eranda Ginige
An Open Letter to Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Minister of Disaster Management, Sri Lanka
Lives of innocent children were taken not by the rain, but by the inaction, negligence and failure of you and your ministry who are responsible and accountable for managing disasters in Sri Lanka.
Are the lives of the common people so expendable to the insensitive rulers of this country? Where are those comrades who vowed to take action if the Yahapalana regime fail to deliver their promise? Where are you? Wake up! What are you waiting for? Your silence is deafening! Hold the man accountable, he who so miserably failed to do his job. Ask him to resign. Ask for a competent person to take charge of the Ministry of Disaster Management, immediately!
Anura, were you scraping coconut for one year?
It has been a year since the last year’s flood and some of the displaced are still displaced. For one long year, you didn’t do anything to prepare for this year’s monsoon. You failed to organise your ministry and the relevant departments. You failed to coordinate with other relevant ministries. You failed to analyse historical weather data. You failed to analyse the geological conditions. You failed to identify the risk-zones. You failed to plan for the worst. You failed to inform the people about the imminent disaster. You failed to evacuate the people, your own people, people who voted for you, people of your country of which you are a minister! You failed to mobilise the government officers, the thousands of Gramasevakas, the Divisional Secretaries and the Police to evacuate people to designated safe-zones. Hell, you failed to even designate any safe-zones for people to run to! What kind of a disaster management minister are you?
You failed to equip the hospitals in target areas with medicine, doctors, nurses and support staff in case the worst happen. You failed to stock food, clothing and essentials at designated relief centres. You failed to use the media to inform the people in risk-zones in time on the imminent threat. You failed to use the Police to evacuate at least the children to safe-zones. You failed to build a state-of-the-art monitoring system to track the weather and water-level around the country. You failed to build a system to track the actual ground-level situation. You failed to implement a plan when the worst happen. You failed to build a system to coordinate the relief efforts. You failed. You failed. You failed. Your ministry’s website is a disgrace. (ICTA, before you send balloons up… can you do something useful for a change? Like at least building useful digital tools for critical government ministries.)
Anura, was Mexico more important than your own country?
What kind of a minister gives speeches about disaster management at a conference in Mexico when there is a disaster happening in his own country? You are the highest authority for disaster management in this country. This country and its people should be your utmost priority. You should’ve taken the first flight home the moment you heard about the disaster. Hell, if you predicted this disaster, you shouldn’t have left in the place! What kind of wisdom were you mumbling in Mexico, when you clearly couldn’t plan for a recurring monsoon in your own country for one whole year? Those conference organisers must be real geniuses to invite somebody like you to talk to them.
Anura, you should be ashamed of yourself for not being there to lead your ministry during this disaster. You should be ashamed of yourself for not being there to see the faces of the innocent people who lost their everything. Did your voice shake when you spoke in Mexico? Did your legs go weak when you stood up there? Did your hands feel heavy when you held the papers? Did your eyes get dreary when you looked at your notes? Did you Anura? Did you feel the pain? I bet you didn’t.
And when you did return after seven days since the disaster started, you still didn’t have the decency to apologise for your failure. You could’ve at least pretended to care.
Anura, step down and give that job to somebody who can do it
Anura, you are a minister of this so called Good Government. The right thing to do is to apologise to your people for your failure as the top authority of disaster management in Sri Lanka, and resign from your post immediately. That’s at least a principle of Good Governance. The people of this country has suffered enough, Anura. For 30 cursed years our people died, our children died, our women died, our men died. People of this country deserve better leaders than you. We deserve somebody who is serious about their job for which we pay an awful hefty price. We pay your salary, Anura. We pay for your house, your food and for your fancy cars. All we want is for you to do your job right. Is that too much to ask, Anura? The citizens will one day charge people like you for negligence of public duty.
But we can’t let this happen again. We live in the 21st century and there are far better technologies to predict weather, lightyears ahead of the jokers at the met department of Sri Lanka and their mediocre tools and useless weather updates. Disaster management is a developed science and you clearly have no clue on how to do it. Your team is no better than you. You keep failing in your duties. So, we need a minister who can do it. We don’t care which party, which religion, which ethnicity, which school or which university he or she is from. We just need somebody who has the knowledge, the skills, the experience, and most importantly the genuine wanting to manage disasters in this country. We need somebody who has the empathy to at least be there when the worst happen.
Please for the sake of the drowned children, go home, Anura.
Disappointed Citizen,
Eranda Ginige
Related posts:
Petition Launched Calling For Disaster Management Minister Yapa’s Resignation
To sign the petition click here
Lankan / June 5, 2017
And that goes for all the useless idiots in the government, including the President and the Prime Minister. Go home!
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Amarasiri / June 5, 2017
Eranda Ginige —————————————————————————————-
RE: Anura Yapa, Go Home! You Failed Miserably————————————————
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Can you please add the so-called President to the petition as well, who has earned the Titles of Turncoat, Traitor, Gona(colloquial Sinhala, whore), Mala-Prethaya ( eating off the agony of the dead killed by MaRa and Cronies), and Sevalaya(sleaze) , from those who voted for the common Presidential candidate.
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Ajith / June 5, 2017
Whom do you want replace the President and Prime Minister? Is it with the Mahinda who robbed the whole nation? Is it with the man with the head of BBS Gota who ran white van company? Yes flood caused deaths and sufferings to the people. Yes Mr Yapa did not take preventive measures to reduce the damage caused by floods. Not only floods but also the dirty politics of Buddhist Fundamentalism caused thousands of deaths and destruction of economy and livelihoods of millions of people since this land was handed over to Buddhist Fundamentalists? Is it not that time to replace those blood thirsty Buddhist Sinhala Fundamentalism with the true Lord Buddha’s preachings towards humanity, equality and moral responsibilities.
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Emil van der Poorten / June 6, 2017
Ajith:
Thanks for bringing some balance to this discussion. Blaming this hypocrite of a minister alone is easy enough. However, the problem is far deeper and rests in the realm of the chauvinist b.s. that seems to have taken over this country as witness the inability to arrest the BBS’s Gnanasara. (When they do find him, if they ever do, he will be built into a martyr and statues put up for him all over the place.)
We are NOT going to get the radical change that is essential as long as there is a refusal to acknowledge the fact that any “good governance” can only be ensured by morality, principle and ethics in government. Simple as that. And as difficult to achieve given the mire that this country has become.
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Jim Softy / June 5, 2017
What ever happens, we can not expect fairness from Sri lankan leaders. It is completely screwed up system. In a decent society where politicians respect the system and the voters they would not keep dead beats. Ranil’s defence mechainism is keeping silence for everything. President simply talks something and does something.
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Mallaiyuran / June 5, 2017
NNNGGGEEE, What to say? At least it is a appropriately named ministry and minister! Isn’t it? The disaster ministry and the disaster minister.
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Douglas / June 5, 2017
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Dilum / June 5, 2017
This good articale.I ageered all your points,not only this ministry but also all other ministries were same.SL is more currupted and falier to gavernce .Every politition should resinged when they not perfoming their duties.
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Lankan No 1 / June 5, 2017
Not only ANURA…many MPS are inneptitute members..MPs are many making machines…..Mps are money making machines.they do not care about public…but do business with their post ..
He can be taken to court for his professional blunder ..
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The poor man / June 5, 2017
Few years back, this guy was the chairman of a select committee of parliament who fired the chief justice , just because the judgement of the supreme court didn’t agree with the government.
But, this guy has miserably failed repeatedly costing many people lives from several disasters. It is justifiable for him to resign nw, if not chase him out from the ministry as well as the parliament.
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Kevin Sez / June 5, 2017
“Please go to safe zones” was a mantra during the rains: But who knows where the mystery safe zones are and how to get there? Perhaps like Trump’s ‘covefefe’ it is something known only to a few, in this case the Minister and the inhabitants of his cranium. Both the Disaster Ministry and the Disaster Minister are disasters.
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Justice & Fairplay / June 5, 2017
This is a rare strident call by a brave citizen for the resignation of one man who has obviously failed in his job.
It is time this President and Prime Minister WOKE UP from deep slumber, forget grandiose plans and stick to proven basics of decent government. The long suffering people of this country deserve it.
Things such as equal justice for all ( clearly not there now), zero tolerance on racial and religious overtones, zero tolerance on communal violence, STOP government spending on non essentials including their roposed and unnecessary cars, zero tolerance on ministerial corruption.
I would call on e President and the Prime Minister to LEAD BY EXAMPLE showing self sacrifice and show greater humility.
Bring on some worthy young people and discard the old forgies in the government, whose only qualification seems to be their longevity with their own party.
Lets have some clever, decent, dynamic people willing to govern for no personal returns. ( This is of course a pipe dream).
Let’s start with sending this particular minister home. That will be a good start. Let’s respect these fellows less. They are undeserving and a drain on public money.
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Lasantha Pethiyagoda / June 5, 2017
The writer might as well bark at the moon on Poson Poya day and expect the moon to respond. Such is the insensitivity of Sri Lankan politicians who live off the blood and sweat of its people.
While he highlights all the failures of this fellow, he can look more deeply and find that every one in that jumbo cabinet (the largest in the world) is more or less the same as this fellow.
The people must sideline politicians and not give them publicity. They should instead highlight citizen groups in the media.
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Sma / June 5, 2017
Good initiative Eranga. You did two important things,
1. calling these parasites by their first name.
2. asking them to resign.
Although we know nothing will happen, bringing these characters’ incompetency and lack of accountability to record is a good thing.
These buggers never know the word “accountability”, they only crave for positions/titles/perks.
Keep fighting is what is left for people. Good on you.
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B S Perera / June 5, 2017
Before going away, pay a visit to FCID
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Demo Crazy / June 5, 2017
Like everything else and every other in this Yahapalana band. Killed people in Meethotamulla when there were many plans and finance allocated. Pure two and a half years of total neglect. Let the biggest bank robbery take place under their very nose. One minister was at least honest, he said all these southern highway type excuses blaming the previous regime even after 2 1/2,years is very childish.
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LEELAGEMALLI / June 5, 2017
I dont think that way. This has been the nature of srilanken politics from that day on.
However, the worst leader we ever had in thiscountry is Rajapakshe. He looted and ruined the nation as nothing can help it further.
The loans that the country has to pay today is a high risk, but ballige puthas have made them as if a teenager ran amok.
Today, the current duo would not want to talk and make the people clear about the huge debt problems, since that can then be sounded as the current govt is nocapable of handling it.
Whoever whatever had been made, the successive govt has to manage to do their best to find solutions.
That is why the current duo with harmony let anyone to criticise them, since not many are clean, they have to rely on highly abusive ministers and former authorities worked for them. There is no other option.
Should they import clean men from outside world, srilanka is an another poor country.
As greeks face it , we folks have to face it.
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kumaran / June 5, 2017
Not only this man but the GOVERNMENT must resign. Civil Society must take control, not MR and Co. or this lot, nor the armed forces.
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K.Pillai / June 6, 2017
We are evolving into a society in which the minister is held responsible. This must not be so – the ministry personnel must act immediately but seek the minister’s intervention in the event of a bottleneck. Eranda Ginige poses the question “What kind of a minister gives speeches about disaster management at a conference in Mexico when there is a disaster happening in his own country?”. Minister Anura Yapa was telling the conference as to how the GoSL tackled the Meethotamulla garbage disaster.
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