Time Management

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s eldest son, Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa, addressing children at a school in Beliatte last Saturday said that he doesn’t want them to be pasting his posters.
However, what he did not say, or lead by example, is the importance of punctuality.
The meeting was originally scheduled for 11 AM, but was put back to 2 PM. Rajapaksa (junior) finally arrived at that meeting at 2.20 PM.
This reporter who was also there knows that for some 24 children of 12 years of age, who had been waiting for Rajapaksa (jnr.) at least from 11 AM, thanks to the concerns of one of their teachers, lunch was hastily arranged for them, so they were fortunate, they didn’t have to go hungry, due to the long wait for their VIP guest..
But I wonder whether the rest of the children of this school (there are some 500 children according to its principal G. Dayaratne) who were also present in their numbers that Saturday afternoon, were as fortunate? Were arrangements made so that they too had their lunch because of the change of schedule of Rajapaksa’s (jnr.) arrival at the last minute as it were?
Deeds speak louder than words.
The occasion was the opening of a computer laboratory funded by Microsoft to Kahawatte Maha Vidyalaya.