Business Times

On unethical, and possibly unlawful, election propaganda by ICTA
Right of Reply

Athula Pushpakumara, Head- Media & Strategic Communications at the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) has sent the following response to a point of view expressed by Prof Rohan Samarajiva published in last week’s Business Times under the heading “Unethical, and possibly unlawful, election propaganda by ICTA”:

“All the contents in that article mislead the public and constitute a malicious campaign of hatred against ICTA by Prof. Samarajiva who is a brother-in-law of former UNP minister Lal Dharmapriya Gamage. ICTA has never violated the country’s law (election or other) when conducting its awareness campaigns on e-Sri Lanka.

The particular billboards referred by Samarajiva in his false-propaganda against ICTA were part of a series of awareness campaigns for e-Asia 2009, which consisted of Asia’s premier ICT conference & exhibition held in Colombo in December 2009. HE President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the chief guest on that prestigious occasion in which most prominent ICT practitioners, visionaries and policy makers participated. I cannot see any person other than President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the ideal person to grace this occasion as he was the leader who most earnestly and tirelessly worked for ICT development in this country. This view was endorsed by the ICT Private sector in this country that organised e-Asia 2009 along with counterpart organisations in India.

e-Asia 2009 follow-up awareness campaign obviously includes HE the President’s photographs at e-Asia inauguration and it is sad to see Samarajiva’s comment on these photographs as a violation of election law. So, it’s up to the readers to decide on Samarajiva’s hypocritical charges and I am not going to waste my time to respond (to) them. I strongly refute Samarajiva’s allegations about ICTA using public money for e-Asia 2009 branding and would like to say that ICTA never used public money for these advertising campaigns for e-Asia 2009 and our sponsors largely contributed for our advertising budget of e-Asia 2009.

Also in his letter, Samarajiva is trying to expose my political affiliation saying that I have a close-relationship with HE the President. As an official who is working for a sGovernment Institution, this attempt by Samarajiva is a clear violation of my fundamental rights and is tantamount to defamation of my personal character. Therefore I have personally advised my lawyers to take legal action against Samarajiva’s public comment on my political affiliation. “

 
Top to the page  |  E-mail  |  views[1]
 
Other Business Times Articles
Wage hike only through Wages Board
Largest ever cement silo project underway
Pelwatte Dairy to go public in early Feb
President promises 1st World from 3rd World: Fonseka wants to end corruption
Regulators concerned about MTD Walkers' share price hike
Lankem Group now controls CW Mackie
Horana Plantations into hydro power, bungalow tourism
In or out after January 26?
Comment - Calls for a peaceful poll
Role of citizens in challenging corruption
Is overseas higher education still worth the investment?
On unethical, and possibly unlawful, election propaganda by ICTA
Oman Air offers full mobile phone, wi-fi connectivity aboard new Airbus A330s
Unclaimed money in bank accounts, owned by northerners can be reclaimed - Central Bank
Who should be the next President of Sri Lanka?
Rajapaksa, Fonseka promises could result in ballooning budget deficit
Rice imports due to climate change - Sarath Amunugama
Hopes of a new generation: Providing 50,000 new university places
A humble request and an invitation to the future President
Depositors dispute Ceylinco Shriram repayment plan
Elections will not impact market activity
John Keells Hotels offers rights issue to fund new projects
Thilan Wijesinghe takes over as Group Managing Director at Overseas Realty
Money markets to remain stable
Elections monitor says declare day after polls - Jan 27 – a holiday
Virtusa brand roll-out aimed at projecting its world-class service
Leo Burnett South Asia praised Colombo official on achievements
Silvermill, the new concept of nutrition in a pack
Allied Trading to service Snorkel products
Gem export earnings reach Rs.45 billion
Credit to private sector increasing, says CB
Private sector HR better than public sector - HRP President
Financial maths as important as accountancy and management
Is 'digital' really possible?

 

 
Reproduction of articles permitted when used without any alterations to contents and a link to the source page.
© Copyright 2010 | Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka. All Rights Reserved.| Site best viewed in IE ver 6.0 @ 1024 x 768 resolution