Despite the public perception of former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa being an excellent administrator and a manager, the Committee on Public Accounts report that was released few days ago has revealed otherwise.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Although his arbitrary decision making within the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development is well known among most, the public perceived him as an excellent public servant – a ‘go-getter’ who could ‘get things done’. This was a fact that even he himself boasts of, as evidenced by his recent interview with Daily Mirror where he has stated that ‘no one will be able to replace him’.
However the CoPA Report on the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has painted a completely different picture, where several administrative failings of the Ministry and its lack of cooperation with the Auditor General on certain accounts has been listed as major issues within the institution.
Following have been listed as major issues seen within the Ministry during the period from 17 January 2012 to 25 October 2012.
-The Corporate Plan and Action Plan for the years 2005 to 2012 has not been prepared and the Annual Performance Reports from 2005 to 2011 had not been tabled in the parliament
-The Committee has stressed that most of the queries in the Auditor General’s report could have been avoided if there had been prior discussion between the AG and the Ministry officials
-Un-recovered loan balances from employees
-Revenue generated from the taxes levied on the firearms and other explosives had gone into arrears
-The Committee had also raised an issue on the mobilization of uniform staff who were disabled and were engaged in clerical work and lift operating etc in the Ministry, and had noted that in order to keep them, they would have to be appointed in permanent basis
“I am a dedicated government servant. I have done so much and I can tell without any fear or uncertainty, that no one will be able to replace me. I challenge anyone, try and replace my commitment, my hard work and my vision – no one can.” Gotabaya told Daily Mirror.
Moving the report, CoPA Chairman Dr. Sarath Amunugama said that accountability lay at the heart of good governance.
“In a democracy the Parliament represents the people, and the Government irrespective of the political system is accountable to the Parliament. The control over public finance is vested in the Parliament by Section 148 of the Constitution, which is now in operation. The COPA is the most significant arm of executing this power as an oversight committee. However, what we have is a post-fact analysis system,” he said.
“It is better if the Auditor General and the respective Secretaries resolve these prior to putting it in the final report, which we work on. I congratulate the Government on proposing a new accounting policy Act,” he added.
Sylvia Haik / February 16, 2015
“I can tell without any fear or uncertainty, that no one will be able to replace me.” Gotabhaya’s arrogance is astounding. If not for his brother becoming President, he would still be stacking shelves in the 7-11 where he allegedly worked in USA. It was unfortunate for the Rajapakses that he was their campaign manager during the presidential elections having convinced his brother Mahinda that creating the conflicts between communities, with the help of his mentor, Gandasara Thera, was a winner.
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Abhaya / February 17, 2015
Weather you are a good manager or not is all about the results you get so based on those Gota is an excellent manager . the ones before him were lousy . the ones after him . the story is yet to be written
Cheers
Abhaya
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Sylvia Haik / February 17, 2015
Ah! Abhaya. I have a feeling this is Gota himself posting with an assumed name. He is so thick he couldn’t choose an unrecongisable nom-de-plume. Anyway, I’d like to know exactly what qualifies him as the Excellent Manager. If abducting his opponents or people he does not like, or making people disappear is the criteria then Gotabhaya is more than Excellent.
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Swarnapalee / February 18, 2015
“WEATHER” hahaha Aneh apoi Abhaya….
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yasapala / February 17, 2015
The much appreciated beautiful roads with massive pavements resulted in narrowing of the road width from almost three lanes to one and half lanes resulting in traffic jams in all major roads. Some think more money had been spent in laying bricks on the pavements than proper and long lasting tarring of the roads. Who benefitted is the multi billion
rupee connection. Let Wimal, Dinesh, Udaya and Vasu bring Gota to be answerable to public.
Cheers
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sanna / February 18, 2015
1994 – 2001 :CHANDRIKA
Sleeping queen, beloved husband of Johnie Walker, did nothing, promoted thugs and underworld, looted country’s assets and institutions unprofessionally.
2004 – 2004 : RANIL AND HIS ELEPHANT GANG
economy was boosted from his previous predecessor in many folds, gained investors confidence, started peace talks, mother lands sovereignty was compromised, terrorists gain upper hand. millennium city, etc. during this time his big elephants looted country’s assets and sold many institutions, professionally.
2006 – 2015 : MAHINDA AND HIS MEGA FAMILY
eliminated LTTE fear, developed roads and infrastructure of the country, erased the underworld completely and unfortunately looted the country’s institutions unprofessionally, by while doing them.
Now let’s decide who is better ?
Bhagavat-Geeta clearly says , in times of khali-yug, the choice is hard, it won’t be a simple matter like choosing good vs evil. There’s no such thing any more. The choice is finding the lesser evil.
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EDWIN RODRIGO / February 18, 2015
Abhaya, the word ‘weather’ with which you start your comment reveals a lot, at least the fact that it is probably written by a member of the ‘Maroon and Gold’ (pronounced gould) brigade – Gota’s brigade. The cat is out of the bag.
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R.M.B Senanayake / February 19, 2015
It is easy to manage if you have the power to commad and demand unquestioned obedience o your orders. But that kind of management is no test of a manager’s competence. Obedience to a command irrespective of the subordinate’s own views may be necessary in the army but it doesn’t produce the best results. what is required is the subordinate’s willing compliance and acceptance of the order for then he would act with a commitment of his own. All dictators failed because they thought they had a monopoly of knowledge and knew better than anybody else.We know Hitler over-ruled his generals in the Russian campaign and set the stage for his eventual defeat. Gotabhaya has sought to accomplish his objectives through unquestioned command but it has a heavy cost and always fail eventually
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