Floodgates opened at Foreign Ministry for political appointees to overseas embassies
Currently, ambassadors, high commissioners or consuls general of 33 missions are from outside the active Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS). Additionally, there are at least 14 political appointees at the levels of minister, second secretary, counsellor, minister counsellor and deputy chief of mission. This is set to rise to 15 with the President’s pick this week of Senior Lecturer- Political Science, University of Colombo, M.S. Anees, as minister counsellor to Tehran.
A businessman who was once handpicked by the former administration to head Sri Lanka’s embassy in Nigeria, has been officially named ambassador-designate to Qatar.
Panagoda Don Prince Solomon Anura Liyanage, more commonly known as ASP Liyanage, was nominated by President Maithripala Sirisena. The Qatari Government is yet to be notified. He is the latest in a number of political appointments made to the highest levels of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic corps.
Currently, ambassadors, high commissioners or consuls general of 33 missions are from outside the active Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS). The position in the Maldives is still vacant. This is a significant increase from 2015, when the “Yahapalanaya” administration took over with its pledge of creating a professional diplomatic corps. The number includes retired senior Foreign Service officers, while four are retired members of the armed forces.
Additionally, there are at least 14 political appointees at the levels of minister, second secretary, counsellor, minister counsellor and deputy chief of mission. This is set to rise to 15 with the President’s pick this week of Senior LecturerPolitical Science, University of Colombo, M.S. Anees, as minister counsellor to Tehran.
The former administration peppered Sri Lanka’s diplomatic corps with a plethora of friends, relatives and supporters. When Mangala Samaraweera took over as Foreign Minister in 2015, one of his first actions was to recall 27 political appointees scattered around the world. In an interview, he said he would restrict non-career service heads of mission to 19 out of 63. It was Lakshman Kadirgamar, the late Foreign Minister, who introduced a ratio of 70:30 in favour of career diplomats.
But even under the former administration, the President’s office regularly maintained a list of the most senior members of the SLFS. “The President's Secretary was in the habit of asking for it,” a confidential source said. “They made their political appointments and, at least, maintained a list.” At present, even this practice has been stopped.
There are new concerns regarding the calibre of appointments being made. A well-known anecdote about Mr Liyanage is that, when he was ambassador in Nigeria, he had requested “speaking notes” for an impending meeting with that country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Then, instead of using the submitted points to conduct his discussion--as diplomats are supposed to do--he sent them to the Nigerian ministry.
Minister Samaraweera also came in for criticism recently when he named Saroja Sirisena, a relatively junior member of the SLFS, to head the mission in Berlin, Germany. The post was initially set aside for senior career service diplomat Ranjith Uyangoda. Ms Sirisena is yet to take over her new role; objections to her selection are cited as a reason for the delay. Mr Uyangoda is now scheduled to retire next month.
The missions currently staffed with ambassadors, high commissioners or consuls general from outside the active Foreign Service are in Afghanistan, Canberra and Sydney in Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Nairobi, Malaysia (designate), Myanmar, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Palestine, Qatar (designate), Russia, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, UAE, Britain, Washington DC and Los Angeles in USA, and the UN in New York.
The missions with political appointees in minister, second secretary, counselor, minister counselor and deputy chief of mission positions are in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Ottawa in Canada, Israel, Kuala Lumpur, Poland, Qatar, South Africa, two in Britain, UN, and two in Washington DC.