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Is Pensions Dept. suffering from ‘Vestosis’ fit for purpose?

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‘Vestosis’ is a dreadful illness with a dismal prognosis for the sufferers and even a worse one for their service recipients. Existence of this malady amongst state sector officials was well known for decades but the inclusion of its diagnosis in the satirical medical nomenclature awaited the advent of my erudite friend and Consultant Psychiatrist, late Dr. D. V. J. Harischandra at the Teaching Hospital (T.H.) Karapitiya in the late 1980s.

What is ‘Vestosis’?

This is a case where those who donned vests of power lost their heads and started behaving in an overtly insane manner. The Director of the hospital of the time was just a not-so-senior medic with no postgraduate qualifications. While misusing the privileges of the job and misappropriating the health vote allocated to the institution, he tried to be super strict with the colleagues, often straying away from the Establishments Code.

A new-born with a major abnormality of the gullet (only a small single digit number of babies with this malady has survived in the whole of written Sri Lankan history up until then) was destined to live because the anaesthetist with the surgeon’s help, broke open the well-equipped and hitherto unopened (for no rhyme or reason) ITU for the baby’s post-operative care. The boot licker Director who was waiting to open the ITU with the usual pomp and pageantry was not amused. He called the anaesthetist for explanation as to why he did what he did when indeed the latter’s action should have been commended and the latter congratulated for the great achievement in making a helpless new-born pull through following historic surgery to put his malady right. The whole hospital rose against the director and walked out demanding an investigation into this action of his which was a gross violation of the Establishments Code. On the list of allegations there were some acts of corruption which could be easily proven too. All the allegations against this ‘Vestosis’ sufferer were proven and as a merciful alternative to dismissal was transferred to provincial hospital Badulla from where he disappeared into oblivion.

What about the Pensions Department?

A senior doctor, we will call him X, who was a Consultant colleague of mine at the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya has been harassed by the sufferers of ‘Vestosis’ for no fault of his. Dr. X served Sri Lanka for 35 long years in different parts of the country before retiring and taking up a job in England to fund his youngest daughter’s education. As a result, his state pension came to be known as a foreign pension. He obtained life certificates from the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, scanned them and together with a scanned copy of the relevant pages of the passport sent to the Director General Pensions (DG) attached to emails, one every year. The hard copy was sent by snail mail. This was sufficient proof of identity and life for his pension to be credited to his account till 2021 when his pension stopped around September for not submitting the life certificate (LC).

By then he had come back to live in Sri Lanka. At the request of the DG he sent a completed life certificate downloaded from the department of pensions website and a Grama Niladhari (GN) certificate scanned, via email and hard copies via snail mail. His pension was up and running again till August 2022 when the pension stopped for the same reason. One can understand why and empathize with a 75-year-old forgetting to send the LC in time for the pension to roll over to next year. Even though he furnished the Pensions Department with the same documents as in 2021 authorities did not revive his pension asking him to call over in person to hand over the life certificate. As the Covid virus was still doing its rounds and as my friend being 75 years young was in the vulnerable group, he requested that his pension be reactivated with the documents already supplied as happened in 2021 during which year the same documents were abundantly sufficient indeed. Emails have gone to and fro but the pension remains put within the confines of the department. There have been some shoddy emails sent specially by the accountant which my friend has not taken lying down and gone on to educate the wrongdoer about writing proper emails. This might have contributed to the resistance the officials are putting in the way of my friend’s pension getting activated. My friend is contemplating taking legal action, but he is conscious of the prohibitive legal and logistic costs he will have to incur doing so.

Is the Pensions Department Stance justified?

These are some points to ponder before one could answer the question. In the end you will know that they cannot justify their stance even in their wildest and weirdest dreams.

● What should be proven for a foreign pension to continue? 1) identity of the person and 2) proof of life

● Passport copy and a life certificate from the embassy was sufficient for 14 years from 2005-2019 for the pension payment to continue

● Downloaded and filled Life Certificate (LC) and GN certificate requested to be sent by non-other than DG himself were enough for revival in 2021

● Why are the same two documents insufficient in 2022?

● Can the officials ask a 75-year-old man to come personally to hand over LC especially in a milieu of covid virus still being very much at large.

● My friend lives in Colombo. What if he lived in Nuwara Eliya? Would he have had to come down all the way to show his tired, wrinkled but still handsome face to the officials whose favourite past time seems to be sitting on their brains!

● Mind you all this insane behaviour of top government officials is taking place in a world one could do internet or phone banking to move large amounts of money without the bank ever seeing the account holder’s face

What Pensions Department Officials Need to Do to Redeem Their Lost Image

1.Remember all government departments are there to serve the public

2.Remember the power instilled in the vests the Vestosis sufferers don is peoples’ power handed down to them by the government elected by the people.

3.Remember the officials in government departments are servers of the public and not their masters

4.Remember circulars are for the guidance of the employees of the department to help them function well and not to inconvenience its service receivers

5.Remember circulars are not law.

6.Remember the pride of the officials is far less important than convenience of their elderly service receivers

7.Remember unfairly clinging onto an irrational section of an internal circular to harass an elderly customer is not only inhuman but could also be criminal

8.Remember if some sections of the circulars are irrational, trash the circular and go for a better one.

Mr. Minister of Public administration, or better dear Mr. President, over to you for an investigation into harassment of a public service pensioner in unison by the Accountant (Monthly Pensions), Assistant Director Foreign Pensions, and the DG Pensions. I am not a lawyer but will gladly appear before your inquiry panel to look after my friend’s interests. (mind you I am the same person who appeared for the hospital staff before the inquiry panel in T.H. Karapitiya to send the Director home all those long years ago) You might well find material enough to consign these individuals to a life in retirement as a merciful alternative to dismissal like how Director, Teaching Hospital Karapitiya was transferred to Badulla. In the meantime, please instruct the DG Pensions to restore this poor man’s pension too.

Dr. M. M. Janapriya



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Opinion

HW Cave saw Nanu Oya – Nuwara rail track as “exquisite”

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Plans to resurrect the Nanu Oya – Nuwara Eliya rail track are welcome. The magnificent views from the train have been described by H W Cave in his book The Ceylon Government Railway (1910):

‘The pass by which Nuwara Eliya is reached is one of the most exquisite things in Ceylon. In traversing its length, the line makes a further ascent of one thousand feet in six miles. The curves and windings necessary to accomplish this are the most intricate on the whole railway and frequently have a radius of only eighty feet. On the right side of the deep mountain gorge we ascend amongst the tea bushes of the Edinburgh estate, and at length emerge upon a road, which the line shares with the cart traffic for about a mile. In the depths of the defile flows the Nanuoya river, foaming amongst huge boulders of rock that have descended from the sides of the mountains, and bordered by tree ferns, innumerable and brilliant trees of the primeval forest which clothe the face of the heights. In this land of no seasons their stages of growth are denoted by the varying tints of scarlet, gold, crimson, sallow green, and most strikingly of all, a rich claret colour, the chief glory of the Keena tree’.

However, as in colonial times, the railway should be available for both tourists and locals so that splendid vista can be enjoyed by all.

Dr R P Fernando
Epsom,
UK

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Opinion

LG polls, what a waste of money!

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If the people of this country were asked whether they want elections to the local government, majority of them would say no! How many years have elapsed since the local councils became defunct? And did not the country function without these councils that were labelled as ‘white elephants’?

If the present government’s wish is to do the will of the people, they should reconsider having local government elections. This way the government will not only save a considerable amount of money on holding elections, but also save even a greater amount by not having to maintain these local councils, which have become a bane on the country’s economy.

One would hope that the country will be able to get rid of these local councils and revert back to the days of having competent Government Agents and a team of dedicated government officials been tasked with the responsibility of attending to the needs of the people in those areas.

M. Joseph A. Nihal Perera

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Opinion

What not to do

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Trump and Zelensky arguing in the White House

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

It is immaterial whether you like him or not but one thing is crystal clear; Donald Trump has shown, very clearly, who is the boss. Surely, presidents of two countries are equal; perhaps, that is the impression Volodymyr Zelensky had when he went to the White House to meet Trump but the hard reality, otherwise, would have dawned on him with his inglorious exit! True, the behaviour of President Trump and VP Vance were hardly praiseworthy but Zelensky did what exactly he should not do. Afterall, he was on a begging mission and beggars cannot be choosers! He behaved like professional beggars in Colombo who throw money back when you give a small amount!!

Despite the risk of belonging to the minority, perhaps of non-Americans, I must say that I quite like Trump and admire him as a straight-talking politician. He keeps to his words; however atrocious they sound! Unfortunately, most critics overlook the fact that what Trump is doing is exactly what he pledged during his election campaign and that the American voters elected him decisively. When he lost to Biden, all political commentators wrote him off, more so because of his refusal to admit defeat and non-condemnation of his supporters who rioted. When he announced his intention to contest, it only evoked pundits’ laughter as they concluded that the Republican Party would never nominate him. Undaunted, Trump got the party to rally round him and won a non-consecutive second term; a feat achieved only once before, by Grover Cleveland around the end of the nineteenth century. His victory, against all predictions, was more decisive as he got more collegiate votes and, even though it does not matter, won the popular vote too which he did not get when he got elected the first term. Even his bitterest critics should accept this fact.

Zelensky was elected the president of Ukraine after the elected pro-Soviet president was deposed by a ‘peoples revolution’ engineered by the EU with the support of USA. After this, the EU attempted to bring Ukraine to NATO, disregarding the Munich agreement which precipitated the Russian invasion. He should have realised that, if not for the air-defence system which Trump authorised for Ukraine during his first term, Russian invasion would have been complete. It may well be that he was not aware as when this happened Zelensky may still have been the comedian acting the part of the president! Very likely, Trump was referring to this when he accused Zelensky of being ungrateful.

Zelensky also should have remembered that he disregarded requests from Trump, after his defeat by Biden, to implicate Biden’s son in some shady deals in Ukraine and that one of the last acts of Biden was to pardon his son and grant immunity to cover the alleged period. Perhaps, actions of the European leaders who embrace him every time they see him, as a long-lost brother, and invitations to address their parliaments has induced an element of the superiority complex in Zelensky that he behaved so combative.

Trump wanted to be the mediator to stop the war and spoke to Putin first. Instead of waiting for Trump to speak to him, egged on by EU leaders Zelensky started criticising Trump for not involving him in the talks. His remark “He should be on our side” demonstrated clearly that Zelensky had not understood the role of a mediator. His lack of political experience was the major reason for the fiasco in the White House and the subsequent actions of Trump clearly showed Zelensky where he stands! PM Starmer and President Macron seem to have given some sensible advice and he seems to be eating humble pie. In the process Trump has ensured that the European nations pay for their defence than piggy-backing on the US, which I am sure would please the American voter. By the way, though Macron talks big about defence France spends less than 2% of GDP. Trump seems vindicated. Of course, Trump could be blamed for being undiplomatic but he can afford to be as he has the upper hand!

Ranil on Al Jazeera

Zelensky has shown what not to do: instead of being diplomatic being aggressive when you need favours! Meanwhile, Ranil has shown what not to do when it comes to TV interviews. God only knows who advised him, and why, for him to go ‘Head to Head’ with Mehdi Hasan on Al-Jazeera. Perhaps, he wanted to broadcast to the world that he was the saviour of Sri Lanka! The experienced politician he is, one would have expected Ranil to realise that he would be questioned about his role in making Sri Lanka bankrupt as well, in addition to raising other issues.

The interview itself was far from head to head; more likely heads to head! It turned out to be an inquisition by Tiger supporters and the only person who spoke sense being Niraj Deva, who demonstrated his maturity by being involved in British and EU politics. The worst was the compere who seems keen to listen his own voice, reminding me of a Sinhala interviewer on a YouTube channel whose interviews I have stopped watching!

Ranil claims, after the interview was broadcast, that it had been heavily edited reduced from a two-hour recording. Surely, despite whatever reason he agreed to, he should have laid ground rules. He could have insisted on unedited broadcast or his approval before broadcast, if it was edited. It was very naïve of Ranil to have walked in to a trap for no gain. Though his performance was not as bad as widely reported, he should have been more composed at the beginning as he turned out to be later. Overall, he gave another opportunity for the Tiger rump and its supporters to bash Sri Lanka, unfortunately.

Medhi Hasan should watch some of David Frost interviews, especially the one with Richard Nixon, and learn how to elicit crucial information in a gentle exploratory manner than shouting with repeated interruptions. He does not seem to think it is necessary to give time for the interviewee to respond to his questions. I will never watch Al-Jazeera’s “Head to Head” again!

Ranil’s best was his parting shot; when asked by Hasan whether he would contest the next presidential election, he said “No, I will retire and watch Al-Jazeera and hope to see you better mannered”!

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