UNP to name and shame public officials breaking election law
Friday, 12 December 2014 04:40
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The main Opposition United National Party has launched a campaign to name and shame public servants flagrantly violating election laws in favour of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and prevent them from travelling abroad.
Opposition United National Party (UNP) spokesman Mangala Samaraweera told reporters yesterday that they started a “Black Book” to record civil servants and public officials abusing their authority and campaigning for the ruling party.
“We will release the names of violators and we will also keep foreign missions informed on a weekly basis,” Samaraweera told reporters. “We want foreign missions to deprive them and their families of visas.”
Sri Lankan military officials already face travel restrictions to the United States in line with ‘Leahy Law’. Many Sri Lankan military officials have already been deprived of US visas in line with the Leahy criteria which blacklists military units accused of human rights abuses.
Samaraweera said Treasury Secretary P.B Jayasundera was planning to summon senior public servants to Colombo on 18 December and whitewash the Government’s controversial infrastructure projects.
Samaraweera warned Jayasundera’s intended action amounted to breaking election law.
He said Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by law was not permitted to conduct election campaign work, but he had been flagrantly violating the law.
Successive Governments in Sri Lanka have been accused of misusing both state resources as well as public servants for their campaign work and despite repeated warnings from private monitors the practice has only gotten worse. (Economynext)
