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Wildlife summit jolted by Lankan resignations
With under 60 days to go before the 18th World Wildlife Conference (CITES COP18) opens in Colombo, the event received a blow this week with the resignations of key officials Samantha Gunasekara and Dr. Sevvandi Jayakody.
Both officials belonged to the CITES Sri Lanka Secretariat, established last April to drive the organisation of the conference.
Mr. Gunasekara, the former head of the Biodiversity Protection Unit of Sri Lanka Customs, had been appointed secretariat director due to his vast experience with the CITES framework while Dr. Jayakody of Wayamba University had been appointed coordinator.
Both of them are well known in their field, and Mr. Gunasekara is an internationally-acclaimed expert.
Mr. Gunasekara declined to comment at this point, promising to issue a statement in a few days to explain the reasons for the resignations.
Sources close to Sri Lanka’s CITES Secretariat told the Sunday Times that Mr. Gunasekera and Dr. Jayakody had complained of undue interference by the Minister of Wildlife and Tourism Development, John Amaratunga. The interference had created mistrust, the sources said.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, S. Hettiarachchie, confirmed he had received the resignations but said he could not accept them as these officials’ work was critical for the success of the event.
Mr. Hettiarachchie said he would speak to Mr. Gunasekera and Dr. Jayakody and try to get the matter sorted out amicably.
When contacted, Minister Amaratunga said it was his right as minister to check on processes, claiming that when he had investigated alleged irregularities in tender procedures and other matters the two secretariat officials had resigned.
Sri Lanka was selected as hosting nation of CITES COP18 following a request made by then Wildlife Minister Gamini Jayawickrema Perera in 2016.
Sri Lanka set up its CITES Secretariat only last year, mobilising preparations after a two-year lapse. Subsequently, the wildlife portfolio was handed over to General Sarath Fonseka in May 2018 and, after the cabinet reshuffle in October, to Mr. Amaratunga, who then became the minister responsible for the event.
With the event now being handled by the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism, it is alleged that tourism officials want to make changes to already-laid plans in order to use the event to promote Sri Lanka as a tourist destination.
It is estimated that the event will cost Rs. 1.2 billion and apparently the ministry is still trying to find the funds.
It is also learned that even the company to handle event management had not been confirmed despite there being less than two months before the conference opens.
As an event with several thousand foreign delegates, there will be a substantial number of parallel activities running alongside the main conference, and it is already late for any company to handle such a mammoth task.
Mr. Amaratunga appointed a Director-General to the CITES Sri Lanka Secretariat, informing the CITES Secretariat in Switzerland on March 19 without consulting the officials of CITES Sri Lanka secretariat, further hurting the already troubled working relationship.
This is a position that did not exist earlier, and it is claimed this post was not approved by cabinet and that it had been given to an outsider. Many question whether it was wise to appoint an outsider for the position just two months before the event.
Defending his decision, Minister Amaratunga said the appointee was from the private sector and well-versed in event management, and that this was necessary to make the conference a success.
On a visit to Sri Lanka in December 2018, CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero expressed satisfaction with the organising of the conference to that date.
The Sunday Times contacted the CITES Secretariat in Geneva about the new developments. The officials said the secretariat was in continuous and regular contact with the authorities in Sri Lanka and confident that preparations for the conference were on track.