Candidates vacate official residences after TISL expose

Monday, 27 July 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Candidates of the United National Front and the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance in the Ampara Districts who converted their official residences to party offices and have used them for various campaigning purposes have vacated the official residences after Programme for Protection of Public Resources (PPPR), the election monitoring arm of Transparency International Sri Lanka, intervened in the matter.

The PPPR stated made a complaint to the Commissioner of Election Mahinda Deshapriya after these candidates had converted their official residences to party offices following the submission of nominations.

The official residences of Ampara District Secretariat, the Ampara Department of Irrigation and the Ampara Higurana Sugar Factory are examples of some of the Government offices that have been used for electioneering. Soon after the complaint was made Commissioner of Election Mahinda Deshapriya informed the District Secretary and the Returning Officer of the Amapara District to conduct an inquiry and wrest the control of the official residences.

P. Dayaratne of UPF used the residence (B8) belonging to the Ampara District Secretariat, UPFA candidate Shriyani Wijewickrama utilised the residence belonging to Department of Irrigation and Indika Nalin, the ex-Mayor of the Ampara UC and UPFA candidate, has used the official residence allocated to the District Secretary for election campaigning.

Meanwhile, UPFA candidate for the Ampara District Sarath Weerasekara used a residence (C7) belonging to the District Secretariat, former minister and UPFA candidate Mohamed Athaulla and Daya Gamage UPF candidate used official residences belonging to the District Secretariat. The PPPR handed over photographic evidence confirming the above misuse.

Thusitha P. Wanigasinghe, District Secretary and the Returning Officer of the Amapara District, confirmed that candidates have vacated the official residences after his intervention and the residencies were now under his custody.