Courtesy The Nation

The economic academia explained that the individual holding the post of the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) should not hold dual citizenship status and should not have conflicts of interest.

Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics of the Faculty of Art of the University of Colombo, Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan said that once the aforementioned criterion was fulfilled, the said person’s track record, capability, knowledge and qualifications should be considered.

He added that he did not know whether there existed a set of criterion to be considered when appointing the Governor of the CBSL.

Top State and Government positions of bureaucracy such as the Office of the Chief Justice, the Speaker, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the President’s Secretary, the Governor of the CBSL, the Attorney General and the Auditor General are to be considered as sacred as they are venerated by the people, he opined.

In the private sector, one is requested to declare any conflicts of interest one has, he noted.

S/he should not have dual citizenship. S/he should be patriotic to the hilt. S/he should not be bought over by money and the influence of local and international politics. S/he should possess integrity and act straight. S/he should be intelligent. If s/he has conflicts of interest, one cannot expect justice from such persons. Such is against principles of good governance. S/he or his/her family should not have dealings with the CBSL as if this is the case people will always doubt decisions made by the said individual as ones which were coloured by conflicts of interest. If a person with conflicts of interest is appointed, it is unfair to those who appointed him/her, it is unfair to the said individual and also unfair to the parties with whom s/he has a conflict of interest with as they too will be coloured by the association, not to mention the fact that such would be unfair to the people, the State and the Government,” Dr. Gunaruwan remarked. (RLJ)