Up Close … with Auditor General Gamini Herath |30 May 2017

‘I want to have an audit force of  which the presence is felt everywhere’

Shantha Gamini Herath is the new Auditor General since March this year. He lives at La Retraite, Anse Etoile, and is married to Giselle. He has a daughter, Ashley, who is in S5 at the Independent School.

Many of you may recall that Ashley has contributed over 20 poems to the Seychelles NATION newspaper and all of them were based on the theme ‘Values for One, Values for All’ chosen by the  Seychelles National Youth Council to promote good values among young people. She has also contributed several picture-poems to The People newspaper.

Mr Herath first settled in Seychelles in 1986, married his Seychellois wife Giselle in 1992 and became a naturalised Seychellois in 1996.

He is not new to auditing and has over 27 years' experience in national auditing in Seychelles and has served for 12 years as deputy to former Auditor General, the late Marc Benstrong. Since 2014, he has been the chairperson of the Government Audit Committee which liaises with government ministries and departments to ensure that the recommendations made in the Auditor General's reports are properly followed up.

Talking about his job, Mr Herath says there are a lot of challenges. And the one that worries him the most and he has to put in extra hours, is the backlog of audits. He says some of these are time bound but have not been delivered. There are others, he says, which have not been audited for some years when in fact they should have been audited every year. He says he is someone who takes his responsibilities very seriously.

“I want to discharge them to the best of my ability. I want to have an audit force of which the presence is felt everywhere. Stakeholders should feel satisfied with our work. Other issues are productivity and various demands that are placed at my office from stakeholders. However, I have a professional and young workforce whom I think under the right direction and guidance will be able to deliver a better audit service on time. They have the  knowledge and they are full of energy but they need to be guided on the right path and given the necessary tools. If the job demands 10 things to be done, I think we must try and do all of them and not less. This can only be achieved through commitment, dedication and love for the job you do,” says Mr Herath.

Background

Mr Herath was born in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He went to a mixed primary school in his home town and then did his secondary education at a leading boys’ only college, also in Kandy.

“Upon university I moved to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, and that is where I completed tertiary education and started working in the field of accounts and auditing. My first job was at a leading mercantile establishment, employing over 1,000 employees with several branch offices. That laid a solid foundation for my career,” says Mr Herath.

He added: “I come from a large family of 10, I being the seventh. Both my parents were school teachers. I grew up in a village surrounding whereby the hilly land was mostly covered by tea bushes, fruit trees and coconut trees. Further down the valleys, there were rice fields. It was a beautiful surrounding to grow up in. Fresh fruits and vegetables were in abundance”.

Jack of all trades

“To tell you honestly, now I don’t have any spare time for anything else. I am really, really busy with my job, working almost 12 hours a day and 5-6 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. A lot of work has gone into arrears and I am trying to clear some of that with the help of my dedicated staff. But, however, I am a jack of all trades. I can do a lot of work around the house during my spare time, repair works, plumbing work, electrical work, masonry work, etc.,” Mr Herath says.

Knowledge is key

He says keeping ourselves up to date with the changes in the field we work in is also a challenge because things change fast and the changes don’t wait for you. You have to be actively up and running to be abreast with what is going on in other parts of the world. And to him, knowledge is the key in today’s place of work.

“Knowledge itself is not adequate. Applied knowledge is an invaluable asset. You should be able to put your knowledge into meaningful contributions in your work. Also, knowledge is not an ornament, it is a tool in your hand to do better and more with what you have,” he says.

Relevant experience

Mr Herath believes technical knowledge, skills and sharp analytical mind coupled with relevant experience accumulated over the years, are the key to such a job.

“Actually, experience is not the number of years one has clocked. It is about what one has learned and done in a working environment. You must be ready to make sacrifices, where it is called for. You may have everything, but if you are not disciplined you won’t go far or be successful in any field. If one is ambitious and one wants to move up the ladder, what one has to do is to do the work in one’s present job and try doing the work in the next position. This way you prepare yourself for the next step in the job ladder. So, this requires a lot of patience and dedication. You may not be rewarded in the short term but you keep moving up. Also, one must remember there is no short cut to success in a career. Those who use short cuts don’t last long,” he explains.

He said not to think he is saying this because of the position he is currently in.

“Believe me, I have been practising what I am saying from day one in my very first employment, and all along. If am successful today, it is because of hard work, discipline and dedication.”

Hobbies and past times

As hobbies and past times, Mr Herath plants fruits and vegetables at his place. He said he loves growing orchids and have has several colours of them. Sometimes, he goes fishing and says he knows a lot about long line fishing. He also likes reading, watching history and geography channels on TV and CNN is his favourite news channel. And he adores photography too.

“I can take good photographs. I have a professional camera. I enjoy making short videos and publishing them on YouTube. I have a lot of friends in the film industry. I even produced and directed a short film entitled ‘One Step, Long Journey’ on the environment for an international competition. It is on YouTube. The entire crew was local Seychellois and they demonstrated a high level of professionalism in doing this film,” he says.

Mr Herath is also a self-made freelance journalist and has contributed several articles to this newspaper on a wide range of issues. He is also an active member of the Seychelles Buddhist Association.

In fact, he said whatever he does, he enjoys doing it, adding that he has lots of friends who are really helpful and warm.

Dislike

“I hate to be sitting down doing nothing. Honestly, it makes me sick. I don’t remember a day in my life, I have slept during the day, even when I may be sick and on sick leave. I would rather read a book lying down on the bed,” he says.

Asked what he would change in life if possible, Mr Herath says nothing as life has been good to him since he was born.

Childhood mischiefs

As for the childhood mischiefs he was involved in, Mr Herath says the only mischief he used to indulge in was smoking cigarettes with school friends in hiding when he was small and under age. But after a while, with the change of schools and friends, he stopped. But as a young adult, Mr Herath got involved in something else.

“As a young adult, I enjoyed drinking my (warm) beers. That too, I stopped completely. So, I am a teetotaler now. Black tea with a drop of honey is my favourite drink now.”

Bad experiences and good memories

“I have not really had a bad experience so far, only small ups and downs in life, which you must expect. Life without problems here and there is like a dish without salt, to me. Ok, sometimes my honesty and humbleness have been taken advantage of by some people. It does not hurt much because the effect of such cause is short-lived within me,” he says.

As for good memories, Mr Herath says the most memorable sight he has seen so far is the Niagara Falls by late evening.

“It was so breathtaking that I kept gazing at it from afar for at least half an hour and I completely lost my thoughts.”

Hope for the future

Mr Herath says he personally does not have any great hopes for his future.

“But I am convinced that Seychelles has a bright future. What I want to do is to do my bit towards economic development of the country in whatever way I can, whether in this job or in some other field. Perhaps, I might consider long line fishing when I retire (he laughs).”

 By Marylene Julie