Hanif says AKD is Sri Lanka’s ‘one shot’ for transformation

Governor Western Province Hanif Yusoof  

• Business leader turned Western Province Governor Hanif Yusoof speaks highly of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at Institute of Directors forum
• Says AKD, a commoner, has great vision; keen to end racism and corruption, ensure law and order, and is private sector friendly 
• Recalls President impressed him with corporate adage “what gets measured gets done”
• New Governor says will improve living conditions of people in Western Province, make it clean and safe, improve ease of doing business
• With focus on improving sanitation, hopes to seek private sector cooperation in setting up fee-levying public toilets

By Nisthar Cassim

Former business leader turned Western Province Governor Hanif Yusoof last week at a corporate forum spoke highly of newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, identifying him as Sri Lanka’s ‘one shot’ for transformation and hence, the private sector should extend support.

Speaking at the first-ever International Conference of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID), Yusoof in his keynote said that President Dissanayake was for private sector-led development. Yusoof said that Dissanayake was a man of understanding and acumen. “For example, he [AKD] said, in planning for a 6% economic growth, we must measure its actual trickle down. Here is a man who is talking of the popular corporate adage ‘what gets measured, gets done’,” recalled Yusoof.  



Giving a brief background to his appointment, Yusoof recalled that he met National People’s Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake only a few months before the Presidential election. Yusoof opined that people voted for AKD as they viewed him as one of them.

“President Dissanayake has a great vision to eradicate corruption and improve ease of business. He has deep knowledge about international businesses and the private sector. He is also a person who listens. AKD is going to change things and make things happen,” Yusoof told the SLID forum titled “The Courage to Be Bold.”

Describing himself as someone who should be playing golf or enjoying retirement in a posh beach villa, Yusoof said that would have made his life boring. When President Dissanayake asked Yusoof to take up the post of Western Province Governor and get development going, he decided to take up the challenge. Yusoof noted that he too is a ‘son of the soil’ and wanted to do something useful in his last phase of active life.

President Dissanayake had impressed upon Yusoof that racism and disharmony must be ended in Sri Lanka and priority given to law and order and the rule of justice. Yusoof was told to improve the living conditions of people in the Western Province and the ease of doing business, thereby enhancing its contribution to the national GDP.

“I will focus on creating the Western Province as a clean and a safe place. I want to improve sanitation and overall living conditions. People must get what they deserve,” Yusoof told the SLID forum, adding that he hopes to seek private sector cooperation in setting up fee-levying public toilets.

Yusoof, who co-founded logistics multinational Expolanka Holdings and steered it to become one of Sri Lanka’s most valuable listed companies, also emphasised that the lack of consistent policies was the bane of Sri Lanka in the past, hence the need for a strong and consistent policy framework.

“He convinced me, a man of the private sector, that what is measured gets done. Let us work together and make this country better. We have one shot, right or wrong. Let us give that one shot to transform,” Yusoof told the SLID forum, adding that “let us be courageous, be bold and start right now.”