Rejecting comments made by Minister Wimal Weerawansa that he publicly praises the Finance Secretary to get approval for cabinet papers, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake today said that cabinet papers are approved by the cabinet Ministers and not P.B. Jayasundera.
Dissanayake said he believes that P.B. Jayasundera is a rare official who is highly knowledgeable of the country’s economy and who handles the Finance Ministry very intelligently.
He stated that Jayasundera is developing the economy and that he had brought the economy to its current level. In the previous year Sri Lanka was the country with the second highest growth rate, he said, speaking at a press conference in Colombo today.
“I don’t understand what he (Wimal) is saying that my cabinet papers are being approved. P.B. Jayasundera can’t approve them,” he said, adding, that cabinet papers are approved by the Cabinet Ministers and that the President in his capacity as the Finance Minister.
Weerawansa, in the Derana 360° programme last night, launched scathing attack on the Secretary of the Finance Ministry and Treasury, claiming that he is wrongfully exercising executive powers.
The NFF leader and Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities further alleged that Ministers are praising P.B. Jayasundera in the media in order to gain fund allocations.
Giving an example for this, Weerawansa said that Minister S.B. Dissanayake is pushing cabinet papers to build hostels and various other facilities and that they all receive approval.
“The reason for this is because Minister S.B. Dissanayake praises P.B. Jayasundera in public saying he is good and a talented official,” Weerawansa said.
“I have not personally praised P.B. Jayasundera anywhere,” Minister Dissanayake responded today.
He stated that the Secretary of a Ministry is its Chief Accounting Officer and that he wields executive powers in the ministry, but he does so in cooperation with the Minister.
He stated that as the Chief Accounting Officer, the Secretary bears the full responsibility for the Ministry’s finances, not the Minister. “That authority is an executive authority.”
The Ministry of Finance is responsible for finances of the entire country. Therefore the Chief Accounting Officer of that ministry is P.B. Jayasundera. Hence he is an executive officer and exercises executive powers, Dissanayake said.
In a possible hint at Minister Weerawansa, S.B. Dissanayake stated that one should know a little about financial culture and economic theories and read on the subject. “When you don’t read there are problems.”
“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t passed A/Ls, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have an education but you can learn even now by reading a book,” he remarked jokingly.
