Sri Lanka president tells diplomats: pick up phone or pack up
Posted on September 17th, 2018

Courtesy  Mail on line (UK)

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Maithripala Sirisena was criticised for the shock dismissal last week of his top envoy to Austria

Sri Lanka’s president on Monday justified his decision to sack six diplomats — including an ambassador — for not answering his phone calls, saying more would follow if the foreign service did not shape up.

Maithripala Sirisena was criticised for the shock dismissal last week of his top envoy to Austria and five other Vienna-based staff after his office tried unsuccessfully for hours to reach them by phone.

“I am being attacked ferociously over social media for recalling the entire embassy staff. Yes, I did that to send a powerful message to other embassies,” Sirisena told a public meeting in Colombo.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Maithripala Sirisena was criticised for the shock dismissal last week of his top envoy to Austria

He said he ordered the sacking of ambassador Priyanee Wijesekera and five other staff to set an example.

Sirisena did not say why he needed to contact the embassy urgently, or why other avenues were not explored to reach the staffers.

The Sri Lankan embassy in Austria is accredited to UN bodies in Vienna, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

It was the second time in days that Sirisena has raised eyebrows.

Last week, he flew into a rage over nuts served aboard SriLankan Airlines, the island’s national carrier, saying they were unfit for animals.

“Returning from Kathmandu, I was served some cashews on board a SriLankan flight, but it was so bad even a dog wouldn’t eat it,” he said.

An airline spokesman said it had cleared its stock of cashews — only served in business class — and would change its Dubai-based supplier.

One Response to “Sri Lanka president tells diplomats: pick up phone or pack up”

  1. Ratanapala Says:

    Simple Sirisena calls the Austrian Embassy outside working hours and receives no reply. This leads to the recalling of the Ambassador and her staff. He eats the silica gel bag in the cashew nut packet and blames it on the cashews. His ability to manufacture jokes and dirty jokes like that of the Kurahan Gala knows no bound.

    He has now become the Kakille Raja and Gamarala who went to heaven hanging on the Elephant tail combined. Very soon he will tell the Sri Lankans how big Divyalokaya is and come crashing to the ground and the stark reality that his Presidency is hollow and without substance!

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