The case for retaining Mahendran and battles at SriLankan Airlines

By Insider

A leading English newspaper in the country a few days ago carried out a survey to get the pulse of the public about the reappointment of the Central Bank Governor. An overwhelming 84% said he should not be reappointed. This means the general public mood is totally against his reappointment. 

But the Prime Minister, who frequently attacks the media in Parliament, does not care about public opinion. Will he for a change bow down to public opinion and do what his good for the country or do what he pleases?

It is reported that he had insisted that the Governor is reappointed because it is only Mahendran who can bring in foreign money into the country. What an argument from an educated man like Ranil Wickremesinghe. The two bond scams (Wijewardane’s article in the Daily FT, Monday 13 June) is nothing for the Prime Minister; also the Governor’s spending binges are dismissed with a pinch of salt. 

If there is credibility in the financial system, foreign money will flow in. Already our country crediting rating is down, that is after Mahendran took over and there is a regular outflow of foreign money. Why? The Government without addressing the real problems is only attempting to create a sense of ‘all is lost’ because of a MR-induced ‘debt trap’ with limited recourse with ‘white elephants’ (airports, harbours, convention halls) and the resultant taxes inclusive of VAT imposed on the hapless general public under the ‘Yahapalanaya’ regime. 

Take the case of SriLankan. The Prime Minister’s friends have been running the airline for over 18 months. The CEO is the brother of a close advisor to the PM, a pilot who has no management and leadership experience, and has not made any impact on the airline according to the staff, other than further undermining the relationship between the management and the staff. 

Because of indecision and conflicts between two ministers, important decisions were postponed and as a result the financial situation of the airline has got worsened; for example, according to senior staff, the A350 aircraft orders should have been cancelled in 2015. But because of internal disputes, consultant after consultant commanding huge fees has been appointed, all giving the same recommendations. Millions have been paid as consultancy fees. 

Now staffers say cancelling the orders will cost 100% more because the aircraft are almost ready for delivery and therefore limited customisation is possible for a third party. Given this backdrop it would be interesting to see how much of concessionary travel the directors have undertaken in the last 18 months from the loss-making national airline. The Directors would however say it is their privilege to use their 10% tickets and their upgrades. 

The way we are going, the Aranayake tragedy and most recent Salawa debacle are just meaningless and are being used as opportunity to hurl accusations at each other, while doing precious little for the victims of the disasters.