Top business tycoons to head State entities hailed

Following the appointment of the new Cabinet of Ministers the government has decided to appoint top bussiness personalities to head the State run entities most of which incur colossal losses and depend on taxpayers. Among the new faces on the boards of the State institutions are several business tycoons.

Harry Jayawardena the Chairman of the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLC, Lanka Bell Limited and of the highly diversified Aitken Spence & Company Limited has been appointed as the Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).

Chairman of the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) Janaka Ratnayake has been appointed as the Chairman of the Export Development Board (EDB). The Chairman of John Keells Holdings Susantha Ratnayake has been appointed Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board. CEO of the Upali Group of Companies, Nimal Welgama has been appointed Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom.

Harry Jayawardane	Nimal Welgama	Janaka Ratnayake	Susantha Ratnayake

According to government sources, the objective of these new appointments is to achieve the targets set by the government for the next six years, to achieve a higher economic growth. The government has set growth targets for each sector. Mixed views have been expressed on the new move of the government. Ranjith Fernando, a private sector executive said it is a wise move by the Government. They are professionals with hands on experience in business and most of them have a good track record in turning loss making businesses to profitable establishments.

However, some people have reservations on the decision. Senior Lecturer of the University of Kelaniya Dr. Anura Karunathilake said that some of them have conflicting interests because they have businesses in the same trade or have partnerships with competitors. Some of these figures have headed State owned businesses previously but have failed to show tangible results. I think if they do not have the freedom to implement sound decisions, it will not make a difference. If this issue is addressed and business personalities who do not have conflicting interests are selected they will be able to improve the productivity and make these institutions profitable.

Ashok Hearth, a government servant said there will not be political interference from ministers, because these people have been appointed by the President. He expects a positive change in these institutions. However, he also has doubts abouts the support from trade unions.

Most of these institutions have strong trade unions and there may be conflicts between the management and the trade unions because to make these institutions profitable radical measures have to be taken he said. The spokesman of the CPC Common Service Union Ananda Rajakaruna said the appointment of a businessman to the CPC will not make any difference. There is no business expansion to do here and to benefit the country we should reduce the oil consumption. CPC needs a good administration without political interference to reduce fraud and corruption.

However, they can do something better than other non-qualified political appointees do, in other competitive businesses such as Telecom, he said. We will fully support the new Chairman and help him to pull the CPC from present crisis. We expect he can do that and today the CPC is in a deep financial crisis. However, we hope he will not have a conflict with trade unions or deprive the rights of the employees,” he said. GW