Pelawatte brigade-influenced shake-up of top bureaucratic echelon

Last week, our sister newspaper, The Daily Mirror reported that Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Kumanayake has been asked to step down from the coveted post as senior members of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) – the ideological parent of the NPP administration - had wanted him to be rreplaced by a sympathetic individual

 who is sympathetic towards the Pelawatte-based political clique led by the veteran JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva, whom many refer to as the spiritual leader of the Left-leaning political party.

A certain faction within the JVP had proposed appointing Prabath

 Chandrakeerthi as the new Secretary to the President, since he is considered as a sympathiser of the hitherto Marxist-oriented outfit. Chandrakeerthi is currently the Chief of Staff to President Dissanayake after he was promoted to the post in February, and he is also a special grade officer in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS). It was claimed that Kumanayake is expected to assume the post of ambassador to the US, replacing the incumbent envoy, Mahinda Samarasinghe.

The appointment of Kumanayake itself was viewed with scepticism by many. In fact, this column on 16 October, 2024, raised doubts regarding the selection of a Customs official to serve as the President’s Secretary. Prior to taking up his current post, Kumanayake was in the service of Sri Lanka Customs since 1997. A few claimed he was selected, as he had studied together with the President during his university days. The influential post in the state bureaucracy throughout history had been occupied by a senior public servant representing either the SLAS or the Planning Service. It was only during the tenure of Chandrika Kumaratunge, a person outside the Government service, was selected for the powerful job – K. Balapatabendi.

Given the NPP’s lack of experience in governance, many felt that the President should have appointed a seasoned SLAS officer who has a thorough understanding and grasp of the entire State bureaucracy instead of placing the enormous responsibility on a middle-level, career Customs official. What is also questionable is his suitability to function as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the US at a time when Washington is led by the chaotic, unpredictable Trump administration, which has destabilised the international order by its outrageous decisions that have contravened the generally accepted conventions of diplomacy, as well as upending long-held regional alliances.

On the contrary, the current Ambassador, Mahinda Samarasinghe,  is well-placed to represent the republic’s interests in the US, having been a career foreign service official, besides engaging in full-time politics. The former MP who changed his political loyalty on several occasions is reputed for his ability to provide leadership in troubleshooting and navigating complex issues associated with influential international entities. On several occasions, he led Sri Lanka’s delegations to UNHRC Sessions in Geneva to present the case of the Sri Lankan state regarding human rights issues associated with the final stages of the island’s armed conflict. Besides the anticipated changes in the bureaucratic setup, political observers have begun to examine the influence of Tilvin Silva in terms of plotting the Government policy. The JVP General Secretary has never held public office and is not even a Member of Parliament. But his recent public utterances could give the impression that he is even more powerful than the executive president. Silva’s statement that the long-overdue Provincial Council elections cannot be conducted this year, due to a lack of funds,  has come under fire from many quarters, and people have questioned his authority to comment on the matter.

A nation-state  should be governed by the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary—the three main pillars of any democratic political system. Nevertheless, the seemingly oversized and unwarranted influence of a small, faceless clique of the JVP in terms of shaping public policy and bureaucracy is a highly alarming prospect.