President Maithripala Sirisena informed the Secretaries to the Ministries that it is a must to act according to the circulars issued by the Secretary to the President when appointing Chairpersons and members to Boards of Directors of State enterprises including the statutory boards and public corporations.

The circular numbered PS/PCMD/19/2018 signed by the Secretary to the President has been issued on December 31, 2018. Furthermore, the President took steps to appoint a Committee to submit recommendations after inquiring the qualifications of the individuals to be appointed as Chairpersons or members to Director Boards of State enterprises.   

The Secretary to the President chairs the Committee to review the appointments, while other members of the Committee are President's Senior Advisor W.J.S. Karunaratne, two representatives appointed by the Prime Minister and a representative of the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance.

The President also instructed the Secretaries of Ministries to forward the names of the currently appointed Chairpersons and members of the Board of Directors to this committee to submit their recommendations after examining the qualifications of them. President Sirisena further stated that he will send written instructions to all ministers in the near future.

The President made these remarks during a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat, yesterday (03) with Ministry Secretaries.