Sajith slams Government for ‘insulting’ public service

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) condemns the insult to public servants after the Finance Minister stated that the public service has become a burden to the country.

He said the SJB believes this is the Government’s view as well, and the SJB condemns the statement.

“It is clear that the Government is planning to do away with the public service, either directly or indirectly. The Minister who introduces a proposal in the Budget to raise the retirement age in the public sector from 60 to 65 says on the next day,  that the public sector in this country is a burden on the country. We are not surprised by the Government’s treatment of public servants, who are praised when they need them to meet their objectives during election time, because this is the true nature of this ungrateful Government,” he said.

He said the Government’s opportunistic nature was on display right now, with the Government seeing public servants as a burden to the country even before the end of the current pandemic situation, ignoring the public service’s commendable and indomitable intervention in catastrophic situations, such as the COVID-19 epidemic.

“If not for the duty performed for the country by heads of public administration as well as public servants in many sectors, including Health, Defence, Transport, Postal, CWE, Samurdhi, Grama Niladhari, Public Health Inspectors, Family Health and Consumer Services the country would undoubtedly have encountered a grave crisis by now. However, the whole country is aware who made the arbitrary recruitments to Government institutions without any planned programme,” Premadasa said.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By Nabiya Vaffoor)