• A free and fair Presidential Poll

• School admissions and Central Colleges

• Extend facility to tsunami affected bank employees

• Negombo Divisional Secretariat

   

A free and fair Presidential Poll

NOW that the date of the Presidential Poll has been declared, the two main contenders have come out into the open with a multitude of posters and cut-outs to 'adorn' our streets and public walls.

Expressions of a free and fair poll have been expressed by both sides of the political divide which is customary when an election date is fixed, but behind the scenes, there could be persons planning impersonations, vote rigging and stuffing of ballot boxes.

It is the bounden duty of the Commissioner of Elections to ensure that the environment where voting is going to take place is conducive for a free and fair poll.

There is no place for impotence and lack of powers on the officers concerned and these should not be trotted out as excuses. An election is invariably a politically motivated exercise and has to be conducted in an unbiased potent manner by the election secretariat and its staff.

Arranging for conferences with district secretaries and Government agents who act as returning officers is all well and good.

Making pious statements about the importance of a free and fair poll is inadequate. More important is to ensure that the officers conduct themselves in a respectful neutral manner and achieve this end result of a free and fair poll.

The security situation has to be taken seriously and the ability for a citizen to exercise his franchise freely is the sine qua non of a free and fair poll.

While it is considered undemocratic to deprive a person of his vote, it is more undemocratic to allow a person to use someone elses' vote.

Recalling the April 2004 elections in the North it was an ill-mannered disgraceful procedure where it is alleged that persons voted over and over using different names, some presumably dead and gone and others resident abroad.

This was allegedly done on a mass scale under the very noses of the election officers who were there to supervise the poll. The polls monitors in their report made derogatory remarks about this poll in the north while the returning officer, the GA Jaffna then described it as an overall free and fair election contrary to what the monitors had to say.

One wonders whether the returning officer knew the difference between a free election and a fettered one or he did not see, did not want to see and did not want to know. Officers acting in this manner bring about disrepute to the posts that they hold and could be considered a disgrace to the Elections Department.

It is a pity that the Commissioner of Elections endorsed the results of the Northern Province enabling several TNA members to enter Parliament by default. One hopes that there will not be a repeat performance in the oncoming Presidential Poll.

In this election, the problem is compounded by persons displaced by the tsunami and it is possible those who want a rigged election will have a field day.

The Commissioner and election staff should be vigilant in these areas and not ignore polling irregularities. One wonders whether the Commissioner of Elections is authorised to declare the votes in one or more polling stations null and void if there is strong evidence of fraud?

ARAVINDA GAUTAMADASA -
Nawala.

School admissions and Central Colleges

ADMISSIONS to schools - especially town schools has become a great problem. The reason is that everybody wants to admit his child to a well-known school in the town. Because of this practice, sometimes doors are opened for various kinds of mal practices too.

To solve even a part of this problem, we feel that all scholarship holders should be sent to the Central College at hand. Earlier all scholarship holders were admitted to the Central Colleges and then the school admission was not an acute problem.

It is true now the population has increased. But still the original Central Colleges, opened by Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara can play a major role.

In those Central Colleges, hostels are available and the rural students can do their studies in them with a homely atmosphere, instead of going to town schools and face untold hardships - such as finding suitable boarding houses, unused urban environment and higher boarding fees etc.

The authorities should pay some more attention to these schools and improve further their facilities to take in some more students.

All Island Central Colleges Past Pupils Association, has pointed out this aspect several times and we appeal to relevant authorities, especially, the Minister of Education, the President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, to direct her officials to improve these Central Colleges further and admit more scholarship holders next year and solve the problem of admissions to better schools.

And the said Association is ever ready to discuss further about this subject with the Ministry Officials at any time and assist the Ministry to solve this perennial problem.

We should like to make a special mention here that many of the luminaries in educational, administrative, commercial or professional fields are the products of Central Colleges.

Though most of the Central Colleges were launched after the Free Education Bill was passed by the Parliament in 1944, by 1955, 45 per cent of university admissions were from Central Colleges. Let us give another chance for these Central Colleges to play a major role and shine themselves.

It is also worth mentioning here that All Island Central Colleges Past Pupils Association has taken steps to hold the 36th commemoration of Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara, the Father of Free Education, on September 30 at Mavanella, Mavatagoda Rivisanda Central College.

A. W. G. MUDIYANSE -
Kandy.

Extend facility to tsunami affected bank employees

THE Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs has issued a circular, No: 1/2005 to all Heads of Department to grant one year interest free salary advance to all State employees affected on 26.12.2004 by the tsunami waves.

This concession is deprived to the employees in the State banks. There are some employees in the State banks who had lost their lives; lives of their family members, their houses and household goods in the tsunami disaster.

They are desperate, worried and do not have any means to re-construct or to construct their houses. The management of the State banks is duty bound to help such affected employees, who do not have peace of mind to work with commitment and dedication due to this disaster.

Some employees have already applied for normal loan to construct houses. This is a natural disaster, where the respective ministry should help their employees on humanitarian grounds.

Will the Ministry of Finance view this problem seriously and issue necessary instructions to grant interest free housing loan to these affected employees?

A.E. -
Thambilivil

Negombo Divisional Secretariat

I write in deep appreciation of the services rendered by the Negombo Divisional Secretariat under the dynamic leadership of the divisional secretary of that office.

While the general public often let's you know when things especially in Government and State departments are not to their satisfaction, they rarely take time to pass along compliments when matters are attended to promptly, not only as exceptional gestures, but more so as a routine.

The highest level of efficiency an institution can hope to attain is that set by its leadership. In this respect the Negombo Divisional Secretariat typifies exceptional leadership.

I congratulate the Divisional Secretary the 'pace setter' of this office for his remarkable leadership abilities in bringing this institution to a such a level of efficiency. I also wish to thank the Chief Accountant and the rest of the staff for making this possible.

DR. H. J. O. FERNANDO -
Colombo.