CMEV, PAFFREL asks Maithri to depoliticise public service with reforms

Monday, 12 January 2015 01:17 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Two election monitoring bodies CMEV and PAFFREL have jointly written to President Maithri Sirisena to depolicitise the public service with reforms. Following is the full text of the letter written by CMEV Co-Convenor P. Saravanamuttu and PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi and copied to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Secretary to President P.B. Abeykoon and Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya: We write to you as two independent election monitoring bodies which have monitored elections in Sri Lanka for several years and proposed electoral reform. We write to urge you to take immediate steps to ensure a public service that is depoliticised and non-partisan. At this historic juncture in the political landscape in Sri Lanka, we believe steps are needed to ensure a public service strengthened by the appointment of secretaries to ministries and other key officials who have the necessary experiences and training required for the respective office and not on the basis of political and other considerations. We have previously observed that secretaries and other key positions to Ministries and other State institutions were politicised with many involved in and/or supporting politicians and political parties. Such practices severely undermined the independence and integrity required of the public service to ensure the effective implementation of government policy. This is an opportunity to correct past wrongs and to ensure appointments made are based on merit and for the furtherance of good governance and democracy in Sri Lanka. In this context, it is paramount to facilitate the appointment of independent institutions including independent commissions for elections, police and public service and to introduce much needed constitutional and legal reform to provide for the integrity of the electoral reforms. We look forward to engaging with you and others in Government regarding this.

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