President's loyalists try to settle former presidents propaganda bills 

Oct 26, 2015

Department of government information is going to pay a sum of Rs. 1.8 million public funds to private sector companies who did art works services and layouts for printing 23 booklets for former president's election campaign. The private companies have printed 100,000 copies in each book which costs Rs. 23 million.

The department of government printing has requested the Government information department to settle the bills but the government information department has not giving priority to pay to private companies.

However the government information department has also printed propaganda booklets worth more than Rs. 25 million.

These election campaigns were conducted by the former Director General of the Government Information Department Prof Ariyarathna Athugala and Director Wasantha Ramanayake. Following the presidential election Wasantha Ramanayake Has become a close associate of the current government and the president.

These propaganda booklets have been printed violating government procurement guidelines and other government financial regulations by selecting personal contacts.

Following the presidential election director General Ariyarathana Athugala lost his position at the Government Information Department and the latter could not settle those propaganda bills. Later Wasantha Ramanayake tried to settle those bills by misleading senior officers but that also failed. A new director general was appointed with the blessings of the media minister but the latter lacks knowledge of government rules and regulations.

Now Ministry of media and department of government information are jointly going to settle former president’s propaganda bills using public funds. How ever still nobody cares about the printing cost which was borne by the Department of government printing. Therefore it appears the current president's loyalists are trying to settle former president’s propaganda bills