CEB electrified

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is embroiled in another crisis. As trade unions prepare to go on strike to protect the CEB, the impact the fallout could have on the people needs to be considered. Moreover this series of events emphasise the need for good governance, transparency and accountability to be inbred into organisations rather than imposed at the cost of even more public money.

It is no secret that the CEB has been bleeding public funds for decades. While providing electricity to all is a laudable goal the CEB seems to have been caught in the cross winds of political interference and bad governance. Used to operating in an environment of impunity the authorities as well as the public received a shock when the level of misappropriation was revealed. The CEB Chief Engineer was suspended for allegedly misappropriating Rs. 610 million while he was General Manager of the Lanka Electricity Company (LECO).

His subsequent suspension was a unanimous decision made by the CEB Board of Directors on the instructions of Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka. A media statement from the Minister noted that this was done on the recommendations made by a five-member committee that had been appointed by the Ministry Secretary M.M.C. Ferdinando to probe the alleged misappropriation of funds worth an estimated Rs.520 million during the previous regime.

However when the committee handed over its report, it was found that Rs.610 million had been misappropriated. This prompted the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to hold two investigations into the matter which uncovered massive incidents of fraud. Following the findings of the two reports the Board of Directors of LECO had taken steps to suspend Dr. Susantha Perera in April 2011. This step was taken after external and internal accounts investigations.

What is strange is that CEB General Manager Badra Jayaweera had given an appointment to Dr. Perera as the Chief Engineer at the CEB after the LECO suspension. Since this appointment was not done according to accepted procedures the CEB Board of Directors ordered investigations and afterwards agreed to suspend Dr. Susantha Perera from his duties effective from 3 May 2011. This prompted the trade unions to demand that Jayaweera be removed from the post along with several other senior officials.

The appeal by the CEB Chairman Vidya Amarapala urging all staff to dispel corruption from the institution speaks volumes of the challenge that the CEB is facing. He has also called for employees to think of the country, which would be hampered by a strike that could lead to power cuts. This highlights the need for mechanisms within State institutions to function in a transparent and accountable manner so that good governance is a standard and does not have to be enforced with strikes from trade unions.

State owned enterprises are actually owned by the people. They function on public money and therefore should have the people’s best interests at heart. Undermining good governance in these critical institutions mean that the wastage not only goes unrecorded but that greater crimes are allowed to happen through an environment of impunity. If officials have acted dishonestly then transparent and speedy investigations followed by appropriate punishment should be the answer. Strike action that could add more discomfort to an already bamboozled public is of scant use.