INTERVIEWS

“There is infighting
in my Ministry” 

Environment Minister and grand son of the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Rukman Senanayaka, who is a conservationist himself, says he has elaborate plans to educate the masses about the environment and how best it should be preserved. He says people throw muck into rivers and come to the conclusion that their environment is cleaned. He says people do not understand that they only contribute to polluting something else in order to keep their own environment clean. “Our ministry is now taking steps to educate people,” he told The Sunday Leader in an interview.

Following are excerpts:

By  Wilson Gnanadass 

Q: You are an avid conservationist and wildlife enthusiast. What was your reaction when the Prime Minister offered you this portfolio?

A: Environment is a subject close to my heart. When I was offered this assignment I was more than glad to accept it and I thought I could do my best in this area.

Q: What achievements would you count as milestones in your year as minister in charge of wildlife?

A: There are three environmental problems that we face in this country. One is air pollution, the other is water and the third is land pollution. People feel that the muck they throw into water or rivers will dissolve by itself. But it is not so. When they throw things, they don’t realise that they are actually polluting the environment. Now, we are going to address our minds to these issues. In the environment field, a lot of work has been done even under the PA regime. But unfortunately, the Environment Ministry has always been overshadowed by other ministries. Environment Ministry was not given prominence in the past, but now with all the resources coming under this Ministry, it has given me the leverage to enforce most of the powers that we have under the Ministry. People are more aware of environmental problems even at the village level. This is a subject spoken since of late by everybody. I must say that environmentally, a lot of things have taken place in the world during the last year. This is the achievement that I could talk about from the Ministry’s point of view and it is indeed encouraging.

The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) has also been embarking on environmental programmes involving schools. We are trying to educate people and show them that they are polluting themselves. We are also thankful to nature for cleaning the environment by its own. There are certain kinds of trees that take away pollutants from water and the Menik Ganga is one such example. During the Kataragama season, the river gets highly polluted, but when it runs through the jungles, it gets purified naturally by some trees. But now we are trying to get people to do this part.

We have signed an MoU with the German government to tackle the solid waste problem and air pollution. Almost 18,000 hectares of land is considered wasteland in Sri Lanka. We are trying to reforest these areas and ask private companies to help us in this endeavour. The tree cover in Sri Lanka is about 60%  — our forestry component includes wildlife and conserved forests, which is about 22%. In addition, we have plantations, timber forests to supply timber to the country, and the home garden concept, which is good for the environment. These help us to have purified air, but this is not enough. We have already taken away lead petrol completely and we are going to start vehicle emission control from next July.

Q: Critics have alleged that you would have been happier to be Director, Wildlife Department with hands-on control, rather than a minister with the ability only to determine policy. What is your reaction to this?

A: There is a lot of infighting in the Wildlife Department and this has gone on for a long time. But the Forest Department is very professional. When I took over the Ministry, there was widespread poaching in the heart of Yala and I had to interfere and instruct the officials. To protect the wildlife there are a number of steps that have to be taken.

One, we have to demarcate the wildlife area and for that we need fencing. After that, we must get involved in linking the sanctuaries and the area where animals can move about must be expanded. We have more than 12% of land for wildlife only. My intention is to increase this. But this 12% is scattered all over the country and we are trying to link these areas. For this, we must see that the transfers are done properly. To answer the question, I am a politician and I must see that the job is done.

Q: It is widely talked of that you have shown special favour to selected junior officers such as Wilson and Muthubanda. It is said that you placed Muthubanda in charge of the south despite allegations that he had misappropriated a house constructed at Katagamuwa for the Yala National Park. What is your reaction to this?

A: That is not correct. Muthubanda was the assistant director when I took over office and he is still the same. He does not come into the area where the bungalow is situated. The bungalow comes under Assistant Director Jayaratne who is handling Yala and Bundala. This matter has also been taken to courts and the court has given the verdict in favour of Muthubanda. There is a court order and there is no way that I could punish him. As far as Wilson is concerned, he has been functioning as deputy director from the time I assumed duties and he still is. Everything is done in consultation with the director, Wildlife Department. I must say that nobody has been sidelined so far. I have invited every relevant official for discussions when decisions are taken.

Q: What is your reaction to claims that you appointed two of your closest friends, Pradeep Hapangama and Gamini Iriyagama as honorary directors, Wildlife Conservation Department, especially when neither of them have any experience as conservationists?

A: There is a provision to appoint honorary directors. The Ministry gives no remuneration to these people. They have to use their own vehicles and funds and they have to work with the assistant directors of the region. So they are only helping us. They also function under the wildlife director. But what must be said is that they are not given any facility. They are only doing an honorary job to help the Department in order to expedite the work. But this is also the Minister’s choice and these people love wildlife and have been brought into the Department to help us. They use their personal funds and assets.

Q: Why is it that you created this precedent by making these very senior appointments without atleast obtaining cabinet approval?

A: It is not necessary. These are provisions given in the act and I have acted accordingly

Q: It is widely believed that the Wildlife Department’s Director, Dayananda Kariyawasam, who is a highly experienced senior scientific service officer, was increasingly frustrated by your interference in minor administrative issues such as promotions and transfers. Is it not a fact that he opted to take early retirement rather than serve under you?

A:  It is he who requested to undertake the project. Kariyawasam told me that he does not receive any cooperation from the Department. He identified two groups not supporting him and made a request that he wants to work in the ADB project. He has not asked for early retirement. Even if he wants an early retirement he should ask the secretary and not me.

Q: You mentioned about the ADB project, which is a massive investment to improve the Wildlife Department. However, I understand that the ADB and the World Bank (WB) have severely criticised your Ministry for being inefficient, and threatened to withdraw this aid. It seems that less than 3% of the Rs. 3.4 billion available has been spent since the project began 18 months ago. What is your reaction to these claims?

A: They have not critisised the Ministry, but the Project Director Jayantha Jayawardene and that is why he resigned. This is the main reason why a minister had to get involved. The ADB component, the Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife Department must work in unison and it is my job to put them into one group in accordance with the policy of the government. The WB informed that they were not happy with the progress of the project and that there was no coordination between the departments. As a result of this situation, the national parks are suffering and the administration has broken down. These are the problems I face.

Q: But take for instance the tender called for consultancy services, which amounts to almost Rs. 500 million. I understand that this took more than nine months to process and that it was delayed by your Ministry and not the Wildlife Department or the project office. As a result, more than Rs. 150 million allocated to the Department had gone back to the Treasury at the end of the year. Don’t you feel responsible for this?

A: The last government agreed that the consultancy should be chosen by the ADB and not by the Ministry and the ADB chose the consultancy to the project. We only had to negotiate with them. There were two or three Treasury queries and they have now been cleared. The money has not gone back to the Treasury. These are funds given by donor countries and it was only the secretary who was involved. I did not take part in these discussions.

Q: What action have you taken regarding the serious claims of sexual misconduct levelled against a senior official in your Ministry by your deputy minister?

A: Not a single complaint has been made either officially or unofficially by the said deputy minister or for that matter anyone.

Q: I would like to ask you about your Ministry’s Gazette notification of June 23, 2000. As you know, this requires every vehicle in Sri Lanka, with effect from January 1, 2003, to obtain an exhaust emissions certificate prior to obtaining a revenue license. Despite the lapse of two and a half years, your Ministry has done nothing to establish the testing centres needed for this purpose. The Sunday Leader highlighted this in June 2002. Even then, your Ministry did nothing. Now we have a legal dilemma, in which no motorist can abide by the law as even a single testing centre has not been established. The public holds you accountable for this mess. What steps will you take to sort this problem out?

A: We discussed this with the Petroleum Corporation and we got rid of the lead component in petrol. As far as the fuel standard is concerned, the Petroleum Corporation wanted six months and we have extended the Gazette requirement to July 1 of this year. Then the emission control monitoring will be done by the Transport Ministry and not our Ministry. There was a WB expert who asked us to phase this programme in order to avoid a transport problem. He said if we enforce the line that we were to implement, we might have to knock out most of the vehicles from the road, which might cause a huge transport problem. So 10% may go out at the first level and then the percentage could go up gradually. From July 1 every vehicle that is registered would need the conformity certificate.

Q: There are allegations that your interference has made some senior officials in your Ministry to work to rule, without taking the initiative on anything. Would it not be better for you to take a more hands-off approach, focusing more on policy instead of administration?