Act positively to fulfil the aspirations of people

by Ranil Wijayapala

President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday directed all the Ministry Secretaries to give top priority for the poorest areas in the country when implementing programmes under all Ministries.

"This is the only way, we can improve the quality of life in the poorest areas of the country," President Rajapakse added.

The President made these observations yesterday addressing all Ministry Secretaries at the Presidential Secretariat to brief them how they should implement the Government's programmes based on Mahinda Chinthana.

The President said the responsibility of handling the Government's programmes to achieve its goals and bringing results lies at the hands of the government officials.

"The role of the politicians is to formulate policies and it is the responsibility of the government officials to implement them," the President said.

"The Government programme based on Mahinda Chinthana aims to bring results by achieving its goals. It is useless to implement a programme which cannot bring results", the President said.

The President said he believes the Government officials can formulate a better working plan with more activities to make the programme based on Mahinda Chinthana a reality.

"It is the responsibility and the duty of the Government workers to turn the tears of sorrow to tears of joy", he added.

Addressing the participants, President Rajapakse said he expects the entire Public Service to act with discipline and be dedicated to serve the people to implement the programme which is planned for a period of three years and for another six years.

The responsibility of implementing the programme in a people friendly manner basically lies with the Secretaries of the various Ministries.

"They must act positively to fulfil the aspirations of the people without confining themselves to heaps of files", he added.

The President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, Prime Minister's Secretary Mahinda Bandusena and Secretary to the Cabinet D.Wijesinghe and Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara also participated in the discussion, the President had with the Ministry Secretaries.