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Views
on Budget
After the presentation of the Budget, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
met with some of the staff in Parliament and inquired what their
views on it was. Many quipped the pay raise was not enough only
to be told by the Premier more was to follow?
In less formal set ups, the employees were more vocal in their views.
"Nangi pennala akka dunna wagay," one disappointed worker
said.
Asked
for bread, given a stone
Heads of five underprivileged families living in Thirunelvely area
in Jaffna made an appeal through Hindu Affairs Minister T.Maheswaran
to give them a cow each.
The men were asked to send in grama niladhari and police certificates
to establish their credentials but what they got was nowhere close
to what they had asked for.
Instead of cows, the men were sent letters stating they would be
made Justices of the Peace (JPs).
The men who
have no idea who a JP is are now wondering what the connection is
between a cow and a JP?
A touchy
matter
Sometimes seating arrangements can be a very touchy matter especially
when it comes to police bigwigs. At a Security Council meeting held
at the Joint Operations Headquarters last week, seated next to the
Acting IGP was a DIG when a top Director General of Intelligence,
now a retired police officer arrived on the scene. His displeasure
to see a man junior to him seated next to the top man was evident
as he kept standing refusing to sit elsewhere. Junior officers were
seen running hither and thither making hurried phone calls to check
on who should to be seated next to the top man in the Police Department.
The matter was
finally settled and the due person occupied the chair. With the
seat of the top man still being rotated around, it is little wonder
that lower downs have similar maladies.
Your
slips are showing
Talking of maladies, the health sector is plagued by more than its
share of ills.
The draft of the Health Master Plan for Sri Lanka - 'Healthy and
Shining Island' compiled at the request of the Ministry of Health,
Nutrition and Welfare over a period of a year and half at a cost
of Rs. 256 million has come in for some very unhealthy criticism
from the medical fraternity itself.
The report lists
abortions as the second largest health problem in Sri Lanka, which
the medical officers say is inaccurate. The report is full of grammatical
errors as well, they say. Health Minister, first heal thyself is
what the doctors are saying.
Their
masters' voices
Last week both Speaker Joseph Michael Perera and Leader of the Opposition
Mahinda Rajapakse made two statements in Parliament, both drawing
attention to various clauses in the Constitution and Standing Orders
of Parliament but what many were asking afterwards was who actually
prepared the texts they read out.
When a person visiting the Opposition Leader's office in Parliament
quipped that the speech Mr. Rajapkse read out in English was prepared
at President's House and sent to him another was heard remarking
there was nothing wrong in it as the other speech had come from
Temple Trees. |
