Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Major General Daya Ratnaike as the new Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, the government information department announced Thursday. He is the latest recruit from the military to the civil administration by Mr. Rajapakse.
Rajapakse has already appointed retired military top brass to a number of top and strategic positions in the government and semi-government corporations.
Former navy chief, Admiral Vasantha Karanagoda, has been appointed Secretary of the Highways Ministry.
Major General Chandrasiri was earlier the Competent Authority for the refugee camps housing 300,000 Tamils from the conflict area.
Major General Jagath Dias, who led one of the divisions in the war, has been made number two in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Germany.
Major General Asoka Thoradeniya of the Military Police is now Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
Major General A R A T Soysa was recently appointed Managing Director of the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals.
Artillery General, V R Silva, is now Commissioner General of Prisons.
Brig Udaya Perera, former Director or Army Operations, has been made Deputy High Commissioner in Malaysia.
Political analysts are of the view that the government thinks that military men might be better able to deliver the goods in areas in which politicians had failed, and also that should be no let up of vigilance against a resurgence of Tamil militancy.
The government’s position appears to be that the vastly expanded armed forces would have to be kept engaged, ideally made part of the development efforts of the country in the post-war period, especially in the security sensitive Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces.
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