{"id":69181,"date":"2017-08-23T14:29:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T21:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=69181"},"modified":"2017-08-24T14:48:15","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T21:48:15","slug":"innovations-in-yahapalana-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/08\/23\/innovations-in-yahapalana-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"INNOVATIONS IN YAHAPALANA ADMINISTRATION"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Yahapalana \u2018regime change\u2019 \u00a0was intended to bring the island under western control and get the administration to run the way the west wanted. The existing government institutions were not suitable for this task, therefore new agencies were needed.<\/p>\n

The first of these was the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM), chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.\u00a0 It was established on September 23, 2015 through a Cabinet decision. CCEM was empowered to make decisions on all economic matters, including military procurements. It was the central authority for all key economic policy decisions. All economic decisions first went to CCEM and thereafter to the Cabinet. In March 2017, the CCEM was given the right to engage directly with line ministries and the Board of Investment to fast track investment projects.\u00a0 \u00a0Influential persons in the CCEM included Charitha Ratwatte and R. Paskaralingam, a retired CCS officer who had served under President Jayawardene and President Premadasa. <\/i>He would be around 90 years now.<\/span><\/p>\n

The CCEM was like a parallel cabinet, said critics. Most financial and economic issues\u00a0\u00a0 no longer came before Cabinet.\u00a0 They were discussed and decided by the CCEM and sent for rubber-stamping to the Cabinet of Ministers. A copy of the minutes of the CCEM meetings, usually very brief, were placed before the Cabinet of Ministers for approval. \u00a0Vital information such as full details of costs and including the terms under which the project was approved were withheld. In April 2017 it was stated that a separate Secretariat would be set up to service the CCEM. Ministers will be invited to attend when their subjects are discussed.<\/p>\n

CCEM lacked transparency and it sometimes blundered. One such instance was when a particularly influential UNP minister pushed through a deal for a project for the manufacture of radial tyres in Horana. Even before formal approval was granted by the Board of Investment (BOI), \u2018permission\u2019 had been given to the company involved, and the company cleared the land marked for the project and had an opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

In July 2017, President announced that he would create a National Economic Council (NEC) which\u00a0\u00a0 would rank above the CCEM. The NEC will be headed by the President and will consist of Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Secretary to the President, Secretary to\u00a0 Prime Minister, Secretary to\u00a0 Cabinet, Secretary to\u00a0 Ministry of Finance, Secretary to\u00a0 Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs, Governor of the Central Bank and Secretary-General of the NEC.<\/p>\n

The NEC would be an advisory body on economic policy reporting directly to the President of Sri Lanka. It will make recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers on economic policy. The President may refer any economic matter to the NEC for its review and advice. CCEM will function under the NEC and will be required to follow policy guidelines and other matters it may lay down from time to time. The NEC will have its own staff under a Secretary-General appointed by the President. This Secretary-General would represent the NEC in the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) and other relevant bodies.<\/p>\n

In November 2016, Yahapalana put forward the Development (Special Provisions) Bill .This startling Bill created a Super Minister, who was given the title, \u2018Minister for National Policy and Economic Development\u2019. This position was to be held by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.<\/p>\n

This Super Minister\u2019s powers exceeded the powers of the President, Cabinet and the Provincial Councils combined. Any regulation made by the Super Minister must go before Parliament, but even if Parliament rejected the regulation, all actions taken by the Super Minister remained in force. This places the Super Minister even above Parliament, observed critics. He will enjoy legal immunity and have the power to veto cabinet decisions, as well.<\/p>\n

This Super Minister is given the authority to designate any area of the country as an economic development area and to issue a Gazette notification to that effect. He also has the power to decide for what purpose land in that area can be utilized. If he declares it to be an agricultural area, non-agricultural activities in that area will be prohibited .<\/p>\n

The Super Minister\u00a0 \u00a0has the power to register investors and those who are registered by him, are exempt, with regard to the utilization of land, from restrictions that apply to other investors. This \u00a0Bill states specifically that the Land Registration and Alienation Act will not apply to such investors. Not only will this give \u00a0exclusive privileges to\u00a0 one group of investors but \u00a0it will also be an open invitation to corruption, said critics.<\/p>\n

The Super Minister\u00a0 \u00a0will have under him a powerful Development Agency, which will coordinate all development plans of the state. The Agency could delegate its powers to \u2018regional boards\u2019. There are no limits on the delegation. \u00a0The Agency will be run by a Managing Director handpicked by the Minister. This Development Agency will di\u00adrectly issue licenses to investors. \u00a0The Board of Investment (BOI) will need authorization from this Development Agency before ap\u00adproving any investment project.<\/p>\n

The Agency will also have the power to give directions to a number of important institutions including\u00a0 Board of Investment,\u00a0 Export Development Board,\u00a0 Information and Communication Technology Authority,\u00a0 Civil Aviation Authority,\u00a0 Sri Lanka Ports Authority,\u00a0 National Water Supply and Drainage Board and\u00a0 Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.<\/p>\n

At present these institutes carry powers and responsibilities given to them by different Acts of Parliament. This Bill removes these powers. The institutes must now act according to the direction given by the Development Agency. If the Board of Investment wishes to develop a project, they must apply to the Development Agency to seek approval for such a project.<\/p>\n

There is something else. At present the ministers under whose purview these institutions come under are responsible to Parliament regarding these institutions. The Minister for Trade is answerable in Parliament for matters pertaining to the Export Development Board. Once this Bill is passed, the ministers in charge of those bodies will no longer have control over those bodies.<\/p>\n

Below the \u00a0Development Agency \u00a0came \u00a0several nested agencies. There would be a Policy Devel\u00adopment Office (PDO) to formulate policy and monitor implementa\u00adtion across the entire state machinery. It reports to the Minister of National Policy and Economic Affairs, but all policy drafts are presented to Cabinet for ap\u00adproval. The PDO is not limited to formulating national policy on economic mat\u00adters, it can cover any subject and set the agenda for any public insti\u00adtution and review their functions. The PDO can call for any information which they claim is related to economic development, from any individual, including private individuals. There are penal sanctions for non-compliance.<\/p>\n

An Agency for Development will be created under the PDO to imple\u00adment government policy. It will have powers to direct other de\u00advelopment-related institutions like the Board of Investment. It will have the au\u00adthority to direct the activities of the Export Development Board, Urban Development Authority, Mahaweli Authority, Information and Com\u00admunication Technology Agency, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, National Water Supply and Drainage Board, and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau.<\/p>\n

The Development (Special Provisions) Bill\u00a0\u00a0 also proposes five regional Development Boards for economic development, namely Northern, Southern, Central, Eastern and Wayamba Development Boards.\u00a0 They will be under the Agency for Development. The North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces will cease to exist.<\/p>\n

Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Moneragala, Ratnapura districts<\/strong>\u00a0 will be transferred to the Southern Development Board . Puttalam, Kurunegala, Kegalle districts\u00a0\u00a0 to Wayamba. Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Batticaloa , Ampara districts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to\u00a0 Eastern<\/strong> Development Board.<\/strong> Matale, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla\u00a0 district \u00a0to the Central <\/strong>Development Board.<\/strong> Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu\u00a0 districts to Northern <\/strong>Development Board.<\/strong> These Boards would function for three years, after which they\u00a0 will cease to exist, leaving in its wake what would probably be complete chaos, observed critics.<\/p>\n

There is to be an Agency for International Trade established under the\u00a0 Minister for International Trade and Development Strategy. \u00a0The governing board will include persons from the private sector. This Agency has the power to give binding directions to the Department of Commerce, the Import- Export Control Department, the Tea Board and the Tourism Authority.<\/p>\n

The Department of Commerce functions under the Minister for Trade and Commerce. The Tea Board functions under another minister. All these bodies will now have to take instructions not from their respective ministers but from the\u00a0 Minister for International Trade and Development Strategy. It will be the Minister for International Trade and Development Strategy who determines the criteria for tax incentives, not the Minister of Finance. What happens to the responsibility of those ministers to Parliament, asked critics.<\/p>\n

The Bill confers immunity on the Agency for International Trade. If \u00a0\u00a0its officers cause any loss to a private citizen who applies to court and gets an award for damages, the Bill says that the damages will have to be paid out of the consolidated fund. This means that the taxpayers will have to pay for the misdeeds not only of government officials but also individuals from the private sector serving on this body, noted critics.<\/p>\n

There will also be an Agency for Internal Trade to be managed by a Board. The officers in this Agency will also be immune from prosecution. This Agency will also take over WTO, UNCTAD, BIMSTEC, SAARC, ASEAN, and APEC. At present these organizations are administered by the Ministry of Foreign affairs.<\/p>\n

All \u00a0the institutions set up by Development (Special Provisions) Bill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 except for the Policy Devel\u00adopment Office (PDO) will function for three years, only winding up just before the next election. The whole Bill seems to be designed to grab power from other ministers and concentrate power in the hands of a \u00a0single person. The country is heading for a dictatorship, said Chandraprema.<\/p>\n

In accordance with the 13th Amendment, the Development (Special Provisions) Bill was sent to the Chief Ministers of the Provincial Councils. The Chief Ministers of Central, Southern, North Western, North Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa vehemently refused to support the Bill.\u00a0 It would\u00a0 curtail the powers\u00a0 of the Provincial Councils, they said. The Bill was thereafter re-named as \u2018Sri Lanka Sustainable Development Bill\u2019 and presented\u00a0 to Parliament in January 2017. This is the Super Ministry Bill under another name, said critics. The Bill had not yet come up for debate in Parliament.<\/p>\n

Ravi Karunanayake ,then Finance Minister \u00a0set up a Private Public Partnership (PPP) division \u00a0under the Treasury,\u00a0 with World Bank funding.\u00a0 The purpose was to secure private sector support for public services, \u00a0\u00a0and to\u00a0\u00a0 operate state-owned enterprises in a businesslike manner.<\/p>\n

A division with a\u00a0 large cadre of staff was created \u00a0for this Partnership in May 2017. Persons \u00a0were recruited for the positions of Coordinating Secretary, Back Office Manager, Director Investment, Director Economic and Financial, Director Legal, Director Transaction and Risk, as well as executives for the \u00a0Business, Investment, Economic, Financial, Legal, Promotional, Transaction Management and Risk Management sections. Bradley Emerson, the controversial former CEO of CIMA, Sri Lanka was appointed as CEO \u2018at a massive salary\u2019. Emerson was also Director General, Department of Fiscal Policy, also appointed by Karunanayake.<\/p>\n

Normally applications for recruitments for departments under the Finance ministry are called under the signature of the Secretary to the Treasury. For the PPP applications were called by Private Secretary, Minister of Finance. This was considered most unusual. \u00a0\u00a0When Mangala Samaraweera took over as Minister of Finance, in May 2017, the PPP division was closed down and a high-powered \u2018National Agency for Public Private Partnership\u2019 was created with Former BOI Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe as its Head.<\/p>\n

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is a semi autonomous body responsible for the conduct of monetary policy<\/a> in Sri Lanka. It also has wide supervisory powers over the financial system<\/a> and management of the public debt of Sri Lanka. As soon as Yahapalana took power, the Central Bank was taken out of the Finance Ministry and placed under the Prime Minister. There were objections \u00a0but the transfer was made.<\/p>\n

Yahapalana\u00a0\u00a0 government wished to take away the powers of the Central Bank \u00a0and moved quickly to do so. \u00a0Yahapalana announced that a new unit would be set up under the Finance Ministry to oversee some of the functions of the Central Bank, including the printing of currency notes. \u00a0The Exchange control department, the EPF, Staff Training College and the Public Debt department would be taken out of the Central Bank and put under independent agencies.<\/p>\n

A new debt management unit was to be set up at the Finance Ministry for transactions in government securities, to be extended later to other instruments including corporate debt security.\u00a0 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the Central Bank\u2019s task is to raise money to pay the loans, settling the debt could be done by a separate office. Central Bank insiders said taking away debt management from Central Bank\u00a0\u00a0 means taking over most functions of the Central Bank. Managing debt is one of the primary functions of the Central Bank.<\/p>\n

The function of regulating and supervising banks had been traditionally assigned to the Central Bank. The Ministry of Finance, under Ravi Karunanayake\u00a0\u00a0 is attempting to take this away from the Central Bank, said critics in 2016. An advisory group on bank regulation was to be set up in the Ministry, under a retired Deputy Governor of the Central Bank. Critics observed that the Ministry and the \u2018advisory group\u2019 lack the skills and the funds for bank regulation.<\/p>\n

The bank supervision function would \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0also be taken away from the Central Bank \u00a0and assigned to a parallel agency set up in the Ministry specifically to undertake bank supervision., said the media. Leave bank supervision to the Central Bank, said critics.<\/strong> It is best to let a Central Bank handle this rather than give it to an outside authority. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Finance is planning to rate financial institutions and give them a rating based on color coding like the coding used in traffic lights on the road, reported the media. Accordingly, good commercial banks will be given \u2018green coding\u2019, while those in emerging risk category will be given the color coding of \u2018amber\u2019 and the hopeless cases would be given \u2018red coding\u2019. At present, all commercial banks and other financial institutions are subject to rating by rating companies. Such ratings are released to the public domain to help investors and depositors to make informed judgments. So this is nothing new, said critics.<\/p>\n

An advisory group would also be formed within the Finance Ministry to assess the solvency levels of banking and financial institutions \u00a0and a \u00a0\u00a0National Payments Gateway would be set up outside the Central Bank, announced the government . Both these functions are preserves of the Monetary Board, assigned to it by law, to be implemented through its operational arm, the Central Bank, observed critics.<\/p>\n

Former Central Bank Deputy Governor W.A. Wijewardena said that the Finance Minister was trying to interfere with the responsibilities of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank. Never before has the Central Bank been compromised as much as now \u00a0and never before have the functions of the Central Banks been undermined like this by a Finance Minister, \u00a0he said.<\/p>\n

Yahapalana attempts to \u00a0take away key functions from the Central Bank came under strong criticism from many including the Bank\u2019s own officials. Central bank authorities\u00a0 warned that such interference\u00a0 will\u00a0 put monetary management into a chaotic situation. According to the Constitution, only Parliament shall have full control of Public Finance. What is the purpose of a Central Bank when its departments are handed over to private companies, they asked.<\/p>\n

The independence of a Central Bank is vital for a country\u2019s economic stability, \u00a0said the \u00a0economists. The\u00a0 economies that have performed well are those that have strong, independent Central Banks.\u00a0 A strong Central Bank\u00a0 can make sound assessment of the economy, give sound advice and take correct action to curb inflation. Economists \u00a0also \u00a0stressed the need for an independent Central Bank. It is of vital importance, they said, that all sections of the community protest against any moves to undermine the independence of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka .<\/p>\n

The government announced in its 2017 Budget that it would set up a National Payment Platform (NPP) to be managed and controlled by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA). Yahapalana clearly had plans for ICTA. Within a month of Yahapalana taking over, ICTA was transferred from Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure \u00a0to the Foreign Ministry.\u00a0 The media was\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 watching. \u2018We\u2019ve been wondering what changes the new government would bring to ICTA,\u2019 they said.<\/p>\n

They did not have to wait long. Reshan Dewapura who had headed ICTA for twelve years was\u00a0\u00a0 removed and Muhunthan Canagey, a young Tamil entrepreneur, founder of several software companies, was appointed its CEO. \u2018Controversial businessman Muhunthan Canagey is to assume duties as the Chief Executive Officer of the Information and Communication Technology Agency\u2019 reported Asian Mirror.<\/em><\/p>\n

We now return to the subject of the payment platform. The \u00a0National Payment Platform is intended to facilitate persons, businesses and government to make peer-to-peer payments, including fund transfers and online payments for goods and services, using computing devices, including mobile devices, said the government . This would include the collection of taxes and other levies by revenue collection agencies of the government. The National Payment Platform will bring in savings for the government by reducing cash movement and the cash float in the market and thereby increasing efficiency.<\/p>\n

The Central Bank\u00a0 opposed\u00a0 this. \u2018This is dangerous stuff, said a Central Bank official. No country allows a payments gateway to be managed by private parties. The payment system is the responsibility of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank. This NPP must be designed and handled by the Monetary Board. The reason is that, when we make an electronic payment we should be satisfied that the payment reaches the person or institution we intended to, \u00a0say an account in Nigeria or somewhere.<\/p>\n

Treasury and private sector experts did not think that ICTA could deliver this project, either. ICTA has very limited powers under its Act \u00a0and ICTA\u2019s ability to implement and monitor the National Payment Platform (NPP) was doubtful. ICTA might jeopardize the National Payment Platform, experts warned. Critics observed in November 2016 that ICTA had not yet produced any tangible results.<\/p>\n

ICTA\u00a0\u00a0 it appears, had around September 2015, awarded the National Payment Platform contract to Transact Lanka, a mobile payments and funds transfer service provider,\u00a0 without following due tender procedures. According to ICTA, eight companies initially agreed to test the NPP software but that number reduced to three companies, Transact Lanka Pvt Ltd, Payment Services Pvt Ltd and Total Pay Pvt Ltd.<\/p>\n

ICTA remained silent after that, but Transact Lanka, issued a media statement on September 2015, saying ICTA has awarded and granted it permission to operate the Lanka Government Payment Service (LGPS) Web Portal to enable citizens to make cash-based payments for all government related payments, including customs duties, port charges, revenue license and taxes.<\/p>\n

On July 12, 2016, 10 months after ICTA had\u00a0 \u00a0selected Transact Lanka, the Cabinet approved the introduction of a NPP to facilitate digital commerce and online transactions, with the Central Bank facilitating its implementation.\u00a0 The media reported that Central Bank Deputy Governor P. Samarasiri, closely associated with former Governor Arjuna Mahendran and the Treasury bond scam, had been appointed to oversee the implementation of the NPP. It was unclear, said the media, whether\u00a0 Samarasiri had pursued the matter or held discussions with ICTA officials. How was Transact Lanka \u00a0\u00a0selected in 2015, \u00a0\u00a0if Cabinet approval was given in July 2016 on a budget proposal made in November 2016, asked critics.<\/p>\n

A National Payment system should be operated by the Central Bank, said bankers.<\/strong> The Payments and Settlements Act No. 28 of 2005\u00a0 specifically says the Central Bank shall be the authority responsible for the preparation of a plan for a national payment system. Therefore ICTA cannot do this, \u00a0without the knowledge of the \u00a0Central Bank .<\/p>\n

Payments need a settlement agent explained\u00a0 bankers. <\/strong>\u00a0\u2018Settlement\u2019 means transferring<\/strong> the payment from one bank to another, providing liquid funds to the\u00a0 bank if it is short of funds and making\u00a0 sure the payment goes where it should. The Central Bank is the best suited for this. <\/strong>It can effect payments among banks just by debiting the account of the paying bank and crediting the account of the recipient bank. It can provide liquid funds, and it has safeguards to mitigate risks involved in payments. It has the necessary audit trails to prevent frauds. A commercial bank or another agency is unlikely to perform this job effectively, efficiently and speedily.<\/p>\n

The Central Bank pointed out that Sri Lanka already had an advanced digital payment system, the Real Time Gross Settlement System ( RTGS) owned and operated by the Central Bank. Sri Lanka was the first country in the region to implement Real Time Gross Settlement Systems (RTGS) in 2003 and is far ahead of other neighbouring nations.<\/p>\n

Central Bank\u00a0 also had LankaClear, the agency for clearing cheques and operating a nationwide payment system. It is operated by banks under the supervision and part ownership of the Central Bank. It has now upgraded and modernized its service. It is now in the process of introducing a system of sharing Automated Teller Machine or ATM system of banks. It is\u00a0 LankaClear which is best placed as the agency for operating a national payments system “There is nothing wrong with the existing Lanka Clear driven National Payment system. It is fully secured, highly confidential and trustworthy.<\/p>\n

LankaClear also\u00a0 operates\u00a0 LankaPay, a trusted National Payment Network. This became the first entity in Sri Lanka to obtain the certification of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), version 3.2. This certification is at the zenith of international data security standards in the payment card industry.<\/p>\n

Central Bank had other achievements in this area and it drew public attention to them through an official statement. The statement said that\u00a0 Central Bank \u2018s\u00a0 Nationwide T + 1 Cheque Clearing launched in 2006, was 1st in South Asia and 2nd in the world. The nationwide Same Day Electronic Fund Transfer launched in 2010 was 1st in South Asia. BankCSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team) launched\u00a0 in 2014 and CITS Online mode launched in 2016 were\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1st in South Asia, as well.<\/p>\n

There was also\u00a0 \u2018LankaSecure\u2019, launched in 2004. This was a Scripless Securities Settlement System (SSSS) and Scripless Securities Depository System (SSDS) to facilitate Government securities and Central Bank securities for settlement and the recording of ownership. \u2018LankaSign\u2019, launched in 2009,\u00a0 was\u00a0 the Only Commercially Operating Certification Authority (CA) in Sri Lanka. Central Bank has invested sufficiently in the needed digital infrastructure\u00a0 and\u00a0 has the trained staff necessary\u00a0 for these functions. Central Bank should be asked to set up the\u00a0 national payment system in collaboration with \u2018LankaClear\u2019. ICTA can provide the technical expertise if necessary, said\u00a0 critics.<\/p>\n

The Central Bank, now under Governor \u00a0Indrajit Coomaraswamy, spoke up in August 2017. Central Bank said it has not given power to ICTA with regard to the digitalisation of country\u2019s payment operations. No private company has been given approval to operate the NPP, and no legal agreement has been signed so far with regard to this. Central Bank\u00a0 has been raising concerns over the ICTA\u2019s role in NPP for several months, saying it should be properly regulated and cannot operate independently as\u00a0 ICTA wanted, Central Bank\u00a0 said. Central Bank had asked for more information when ICTA presented the NPP proposal to the Central Bank in May 2016, but ICTA\u00a0 had not responded to date.<\/p>\n

Any payment platform. NPP or otherwise, \u00a0needs to be regulated as is done in other parts of the world, since they have a significant impact \u00a0on the financial stability of a country, said Central Bank . The regulator’s role is important. The regulator must ensure that the platform and associated systems contain the required security measures to protect the interests of the public and to maintain the stability of the financial system as a whole.<\/p>\n

Central Bank observed that ICTA had publicly stated that its NPP was\u00a0 merely an open platform dealing with messaging via mobiles phones on Internet, with payment requests included. \u00a0Central Bank observed that such services, which offered payment messaging, will also fall under the scope of a payment transaction, and therefore be subject to regulation by Central Bank \u00a0\u00a0Further, as the NPP constitutes an amalgamation of payments and settlement systems, it will inherently need to be under the regulation and supervision of\u00a0 Central Bank<\/p>\n

The government intended to use ICTA to break the monopoly of the Central Bank and hand the\u00a0 national payment system\u00a0 over to the private sector, accused critics. UPFA\u2019s Bandula Gunawardene\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 filed a FR violation petition over this ICTA managed National Payment Platform in November 2016.\u00a0 But Gunawardene need not have bothered.<\/p>\n

The National Payment Platform (NPP) \u00a0\u00a0collapsed as soon as Ravi Karunanayake left the post of Minister of Finance and Mangala Samaraweera took over. ICTA CEO Muhunthan Canagey, \u00a0was asked by the President to resign. Sri Lanka\u2019s controversial National Payment Platform (NPP) developed by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) has been suspended, reported the media in August 2017. the Finance Ministry\u00a0 has ordered an investigation into the matter. \u00a0Government had not authorised any private company to operate the National Payment Platform (NPP)\u00a0\u00a0 said \u00a0Harsha de Silva, \u00a0Deputy Finance Minister, in Parliament .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS The Yahapalana \u2018regime change\u2019 \u00a0was intended to bring the island under western control and get the administration to run the way the west wanted. The existing government institutions were not suitable for this task, therefore new agencies were needed. The first of these was the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM), chaired by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}