Engineers’ union guns for CEB spokesman over his comments on live TV show

by Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) yesterday expressed displeasure at some comments made by CEB Media Spokesman during a live telecast called ‘Big Focus’ on the Derana Television Channel on Tuesday (February 20, 2024).

CEBEU Joint Secretary Buddika Wijeyawardhna said: “We urged the General Manager of the CEB to clarify the stance of the CEB in this regard and immediately issue an official statement apologising to the general public and, especially, to the children,”

The Union believes that the comments made about electricity consumers and the public of Sri Lanka by the Media Spokesperson of the CEB are extremely horrendous and outrageous, and severely damaging the image of the Ceylon Electricity Board and the GoSL.

“As such, we demand your immediate attention to the following disgraceful statements made by the spokesperson of the CEB among other unprofessional comments.

1) He confirmed that he was talking not only as the media spokesperson but as a mix of being a unionist and the spokesperson of the CEB.

2) He deliberately labelled the poor people who work in the tea estates as drunkards and they live gratifying lives.

3) He said electricity is not needed for the education of the children and urged them to use kerosene lamps as he did in his past.

4) He accused the dead father, in Badulla, of being a drunkard, who unfortunately lost his life trying to get an electricity connection from a neighbouring house, so his children could study at night due to his supply disconnection, due to non-payment.

5) He said that he has personally connected 750 MW of Mini Hydro Power Plants, whereas in Sri Lanka we presently have around 430 MW of such Mini Hydro Power Plants

6) He criticized a retired AGM of the CEB for following what has been in an Act of Parliament and which has been clarified by the Attorney General as well

7) He openly challenged to give him the AGM post of Renewable, and if so, he’ll take action to pass all the renewable projects within a month.

We believe that under the rules of disciplinary procedure of the CEB, this misconduct can be categorized as a major offence as per clauses 2, 8, 14 and 20 under the list of major offences in Schedule A. In our opinion, unless the appropriate actions are taken immediately in this regard, this will set a very bad example to all the other employees of the CEB, as well.

Further, we wish to bring to your notice that the CEB Board has decided that employees who hold positions of unions cannot work in specific workplaces in the CEB even violating labour rights of such employees and yet we are surprised to see that this particular person has been allowed to hold the post of media spokesperson when it’s evident that he is abusing that title.”

We believe that it’s your duty as the General Manager of the CEB to clarify the stance of the CEB in this regard and immediately issue an official statement apologizing to the general public and, especially to the children, regarding the disgraceful comments made by the media spokesperson of the CEB. If not, the public may assume that what’s been told by the media spokesperson is the stance of the CEB.

“As a professional trade union representing the engineers at the CEB, we denounced these repulsive and shameful remarks and demanded an immediate explanation from the CEB management regarding the official position and acceptance of these remarks. We also wish to categorically refute all of the false statements made by the aforementioned media spokesperson, including the remarks made about the engineering professionals of the CEB”.

The Union also said that under the rules of disciplinary procedure of the CEB, this misconduct can be categorized as a major offence and demanded appropriate disciplinary actions.

The Joint Secretary added that even though the CEB Board has decided that employees who hold positions of unions cannot work in specific workplaces in the CEB even violating labour rights of such employees and to our surprise this particular person has been allowed to hold the post of media spokesperson when it’s evident that he is abusing that title.