9 May 2020 12:01 am
You could donate only if you are willing to. Employees of the Postal Department have already donated their day’s pay
By Sandun A. Jayasekera
Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardana made an appeal yesterday to the opposition not to attack the President’s Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundara on his request to the public sector employees to make a donation for the “Covid-19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund,” launched by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Minister Gunawardana told the media that Dr. Jayasundara has made the appeal with bona-fide intentions and the opposition has used it for their political advantage.
“Please don’t put him in the ‘Stocks’ only because he has made this humble plea. You could donate only if you are willing to. Employees of the Postal Department have already donated their day’s pay for the fund and the total collection of Rs. 30 million will be handed over to the fund on next Wednesday,” Minister Gunawardana said.
While condemning the opposition’s criticism on Dr. Jayasundara, Minister Gunawardana said it was sad that the opposition had politicised his request in a contemptuous manner.
Meanwhile, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) stalwart, former State Minister Ajith P. Perera scoffed Dr. Jayasundara’s request and said he was not the best person to make such an appeal from the public.
“Here is a man who has been issued with a judicial sanction by the Supreme Court for his misdeeds. He has also been branded as an ‘Economic Murderer’ by a Cabinet minister of the Rajapaksa regime. Now he wants the public employees to donate their salary to a Presidential Fund. How appropriate is it?” Mr. Perera asked.
He also said if Dr. Jayasundara had made a personal appeal to public servants, he did not have the right to issue it on the letter head of the Presidential Secretariat as he has done, and added it seems that President Rajapaksa is inactive now and that Dr. Jayasundara runs the show.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has set up a special fund to facilitate social welfare of the people along with the efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country.