{"id":152326,"date":"2015-10-17T02:20:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T20:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=152326"},"modified":"2016-12-24T02:28:05","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T20:58:05","slug":"nepotism-bug-hits-foreign-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/nepotism-bug-hits-foreign-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepotism Bug Hits Foreign Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime&#8217;s policy of helping friends and family appears to have spread to the Foreign Ministry with career diplomats being overlooked in favour of loyalists and their kin.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_134399\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Mangala-pic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-134399\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-134399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Mangala-pic-150x143.jpg\" alt=\"Foreign Minister Managla Samaraweera \" width=\"150\" height=\"143\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-134399\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foreign Minister Managla Samaraweera<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Last week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Lal+Wickrematunge&amp;x=10&amp;y=3\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Lal Wickremetunge<\/span><\/a>, brother of Lasantha Wickremetunge, the slain Editor of the Sunday Leader,\u00a0was made\u00a0Consul General in\u00a0Sydney. Also, Manoj Warnapala, the son-in-law of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Austin+Fernando&amp;x=10&amp;y=7\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Austin Fernando<\/span><\/a>, advisor and confidante of President Maithripala Sirisena and\u00a0the Governor of the Eastern Province, was appointed yesterday as a\u00a0consul\u00a0in Sri Lankan High Commission in UK. Warnapala is a UK citizen.<\/p>\n<p>One of the main pillars of the Maithripala Sirisena campaign was to de-politicize the Foreign Service which was filled with children and relatives of cronies by the previous Rajapaksa administration. Colombo Telegraph understands that key individuals of the Sri Lanka expatriate community are upset by this decision. They argue that it amounts to a continuation of the much-criticized nepotism of the Rajapaksa Era. Some of them, who were very vocal in their support for Maithipala Sirisena, point out that career diploamats continue to be sidelined just like during the Rajapaksa years.<\/p>\n<p>Neither Lal Wickrematunge nor Manoj Warnapala have ever held a diplomatic post before nor do either one of them have any career training or experience in the diplomatic service.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related posts;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/nepotism-continues-foreign-ministry-tight-lipped-about-sonali-samarasinghes-political-appointment\/\">Nepotism Continues: Foreign Ministry Tight-Lipped About Sonali Samarasinghe\u2019s \u2018Political Appointment\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sajin-appoints-rosys-daughter-11-others-as-chogm-70k-consultants\/\">Sajin Appoints Rosy\u2019s Daughter, 11 Others As CHOGM 70k Consultants<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-mp-chandrani-bs-son-gets-diplomatic-posting\/\">UNP MP Chandrani B\u2019s Son Gets Diplomatic Posting<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-mangala-recall-chandani-bandaras-son\/\">Will Mangala Recall Chandrani Bandara\u2019s Son?<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mangala-releases-foreign-service-examination-results-buried-by-rajapaksas\/\">Mangala Releases Foreign Service Examination Results Buried By Rajapaksas<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/full-list-over-50-rajapaksa-diplomats-recalled-so-far\/\">Full List: Over 50 \u2018Rajapaksa Diplomats\u2019 Recalled So Far<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":134399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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