Sri Lanka should consider importing people with proven track records to run government as native leaders have consistently failed to deliver and develop the country after independence from Britain, a senior private sector executive has said.
"When a company fails and has continuous losses, what do you do? The management just won't shrug it off," Rienzie T Wijetilleke, chairman of privately owned listed bank, Hatton National Bank told senior corporate leaders at the LBR-LBO CEO Forum. "What we say is, we have failed and get someone on contract from outside."
Wijetilleke said he even suggested getting Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore or Nelson Mandela from South Africa and giving them the power to govern the country for 10 years with parliamentary sovereignty.
Sri Lanka was a stable country, ahead of most of Asia, when it got independence from Britain in 1948.
But today it is lagging behind other nations, though it has made some progress after the economy was re-opened in 1977.
Sri Lanka's slide started in 1950 with the establishment of a money printing Central Bank in 1950 by then finance minister J R Jayewardene after abolishing a currency board arrangement that had kept the rupee fixed and inflation tied to that of Britain.
The country ran into balance of payments troubles within two years of its creation and the economy was progressively closed to deal with the inevitable 'foreign currency shortages' that comes from printing money and pegging the currency at the same time.
Lee Kwan Yew's Singapore on the other hand preserved the currency board and instead encouraged people to work hard and pay taxes to run the government instead of using 'central bank credit' to run the state and suffering high inflation and currency instability.
Mandela took South Africa from a white-run government to a black-run government but did not oppress the minority. In sharp contrast neighboring Zimbabwe collapsed under money printing and state action against its white minority.
Wijetilleke's suggestion as the basis principle of equality before law, which is a basic tenet of any democratic state, has been denied to the people over recent decades, under a constitution that strengthens the state rather than promote individual freedom.
Wijetilleke says he has proposed importing foreign talent for government for a long time.
"I told this 10 years ago and even endorse that proposal now," Wijetilleke said.
"That's what's required in this country as all leaders from independence have failed us."
LBO
"When a company fails and has continuous losses, what do you do? The management just won't shrug it off," Rienzie T Wijetilleke, chairman of privately owned listed bank, Hatton National Bank told senior corporate leaders at the LBR-LBO CEO Forum. "What we say is, we have failed and get someone on contract from outside."
Wijetilleke said he even suggested getting Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore or Nelson Mandela from South Africa and giving them the power to govern the country for 10 years with parliamentary sovereignty.
Sri Lanka was a stable country, ahead of most of Asia, when it got independence from Britain in 1948.
But today it is lagging behind other nations, though it has made some progress after the economy was re-opened in 1977.
Sri Lanka's slide started in 1950 with the establishment of a money printing Central Bank in 1950 by then finance minister J R Jayewardene after abolishing a currency board arrangement that had kept the rupee fixed and inflation tied to that of Britain.
The country ran into balance of payments troubles within two years of its creation and the economy was progressively closed to deal with the inevitable 'foreign currency shortages' that comes from printing money and pegging the currency at the same time.
Lee Kwan Yew's Singapore on the other hand preserved the currency board and instead encouraged people to work hard and pay taxes to run the government instead of using 'central bank credit' to run the state and suffering high inflation and currency instability.
Mandela took South Africa from a white-run government to a black-run government but did not oppress the minority. In sharp contrast neighboring Zimbabwe collapsed under money printing and state action against its white minority.
Wijetilleke's suggestion as the basis principle of equality before law, which is a basic tenet of any democratic state, has been denied to the people over recent decades, under a constitution that strengthens the state rather than promote individual freedom.
Wijetilleke says he has proposed importing foreign talent for government for a long time.
"I told this 10 years ago and even endorse that proposal now," Wijetilleke said.
"That's what's required in this country as all leaders from independence have failed us."
LBO
