By Charindra Chandrasena A Public enterprise law akin to those in Singapore and Malaysia should be brought in to put a stop to arbitrary and politically motivated appointments at State Owned Institutions (SOEs), said the State Minister of Finance, Eran Wickramaratne. During a press conference held on Thursday (31), Wickramaratne emphasised on the importance of fit and proper appointments. “You need independence in governance and you need fit and proper persons at all state-owned enterprises. Therefore, we need to have a public enterprises law brought into the country. It is needed to make sure that fit and proper people are appointed. Other Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore have done this.” He added that the management of SOEs should be given to people capable of managing their organisation through the Public Enterprise Law, instead of appointing a relative of the minister under whose purview respective institutions fall. “What is happening today is we are appointed as ministers and the institutions are gazetted under us. What do we do? We appoint some people who are neither fit nor proper. In addition, we even go further and appoint relatives. This is absolute nonsense,’’ he said. Moreover, he said that should the relatives be capable and qualified, ministers should appoint them elsewhere in the Government, and certainly not under their own purview. “I may have brothers and sisters, and you do not prevent them from being appointed, but they should never be under my ministry. They can be in some other area in the Government, but certainly not under my ministry,” he stressed. Further, he noted that SOEs, particularly institutions with commercial value such as SriLankan Airlines, should be inspired by how banking sector appointments are made in the country. He said: “When it comes to the banking system in this country, if it is a director to a board or a CEO, CBSL (Central Bank of Sri Lanka) is the regulator. If we make a nomination, be it in government or private sector banking, they inform if the person is fit and proper or not. We should have that process for every single state institution.” These comments came amidst a continuous tug-of-war between President Maithripala Sirisena and the United National Party (UNP) Government led by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe over appointments of heads to state institutions. On Wednesday (30), disrupting functions at the Sri Lanka Customs and Colombo Harbour, customs workers launched indefinite trade union action against the Cabinet decision of appointing retired Navy personnel Rear Admiral Dr. Shemal Fernando as the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs, replacing former Director General G.S.M. Charles. Trade unions demanded a Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) Officer to be appointed to the post of Director General, as practiced over the years, instead of appointing someone with no SLAS qualification. Trade unions claimed that the Navy personnel neither possessed any experience nor has any knowledge on international trade and regulations and that the appointment was not approved by the President. Trade unions said that there’s hidden intention behind the decision which, according to them, could be the suspension of ongoing high-level fraudulent investigations. A total of five Customs Director Generals were appointed since 2015 based on political needs. Proposed by the Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera, the proposal to appoint Fernando as the Director General of the Sri Lanka Customs, removing G.S.M. Charles was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday (30). However, the appointment letter was not given to Fernando. Following these issues, Additional Secretary of the Finance Ministry H. G. Sumanasinghe was appointed the Acting Director General of Sri Lanka Customs on Thursday (31). Meanwhile, the appointments of heads to key tourism bodies were cancelled at the last minute on Tuesday (29), interestingly, due to the intervention of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, hinting at cracks within the ranks of the UNP itself. The appointments of Chairmen to the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), and Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) were scheduled to be formally announced at the SLITHM auditorium. Prominent corporate leader Kishu Gomes was tipped to take over as the new Chairman of SLTPB while travel industry veteran Ranjit De Silva was expected to be appointed Chairman of SLTDA. The immediate past heads of SLCB and SLITHM, Kumar de Silva and Dilip de Silva, were expected to be reappointed to their positions. Reportedly, these cancellations were due to PM Wickremesinghe requesting a meeting at the last minute with the tourism heads. Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife, and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga said: “The Prime Minister also wants to have a look at the appointments, even though the President has approved it.” However, at the time of going to print on Friday, these appointments had still not been approved by PM Wickremesinghe.