President Maithripala Sirisena has informed the Secretaries to the Ministries that it is a must to act according to the circulars issued by the Secretary to the President when appointing Chairpersons and members to Boards of Directors of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) including the statutory boards and public corporations.

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 their qualifications.

President Sirisena further stated that he will send written instructions to all ministers in the near future, the President’s Media Division said.

The President made these remarks during a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat, yesterday (03) with the Ministry Secretaries.

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.

The Gramashakthi People’s Movement was launched to free the people from poverty, and steps are being taken to implement it as a broad people’s movement in the future. The President said that the dedication of all state officials, including secretaries of Ministries is essential in this endevour.

The President also pointed out that all stakeholders should fulfill their respective obligations and responsibilities in a way that they would make the government’s 2020 goals more ambitious by delivering the development benefits to all the citizens for the benefit of the country’s development and people’s well-being.

Secretary to the President Mr. Udaya R. Seneviratne and ministry secretaries were also present on this occasion.

-PMD