Who does PBJ think he is to make the statement below? – Yesterday!

"I blame the government, Vice Chancellors of our universities and student leaders for not acting responsibly which started something which could have easily been avoided," Dr. Jayasundera said delivering the 9th Annual Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute last evening.

The pomposity and arrogance of our Treasury Secretary is apparent from the above statement. Humility is not part of his personality. He thinks he is not the Government whilst drafting many of the policy statements of the Govt. and also some of the thinking behind the heavy borrowing at exorbitant interest rates from Foreign Sources is all part of the burden which will be his legacy to Sri Lanka within a few years of his departure from the scene.

He is in a sufficiently senior position to have prevented this issue getting to this stage. Therefore it is obvious PBJ is DIRECTLY responsible for this delay in finding a resolution, which he could have speeded up without letting it drag on for so long with the resulting disastrous repercussions for the undergraduates and soon to enter undergraduates.

The FUTA issue has NOTHING to do with student leaders!! Why PBJ is dreaming it is their responsibility defies logic, especially as they have been the worst affected by the impasse. I believe he is in his waning years long past his sell by date and needs to go home to his village and start pottering around his garden without interfering in the affairs of state.

I cannot understand why we allow bureaucrats to feel they are so indispensable to their positions where there are hundreds who are able to perform the task possibly better than the aforesaid individual. It is important that no one stay too long in a position, like Treasury Secretary who has long outlived his usefulness to the detriment of the state. They become wedded to their jobs, believing that no one can do the job better. They must realize that there are many who can perform better than the incumbent.

The responsibility for his continuity rest squarely with his boss the President who should have realized the above if he is worthy of his position and be able to shuffle such positions amongst other people so that new thinking can come into the debate. It is not too late to get rid of the fossilized wood from the Ministry which is currently stifled for new thinking. An appeal to reason to see the light and stop this nonsense of long-stayers, is long overdue.