President reaffirms support for public enterprises |25 November 2017

President Danny Faure has reaffirmed his support for public organisations during his visit yesterday morning to four institutions. These were at the Office of the Advisory Committee on the Power of Pardon at Unity House, the Office of the Auditor General also at Unity House, the Electoral Commission’s office at Aarti Chambers and Anti-Corruption Commission office at Victoria House.

At all these different places the president was guided on a tour of the offices and was introduced to and interacted with members of staff.

“I want to congratulate you on the work you are doing and I thank you for that,” said President Faure to each organisation.

The Advisory Committee on the Power of Pardon is a constitutional appointment committee which considers convicts or parents of convicts request for pardon by the president. The committee meets on demand, seeks information on that request from the Probationary Services so the service can meet these convicts, interview them, check on their behaviour from the prison authority, check on arrangements made at home to accommodate if the person is released. For some years now Probation has been talking to victims also. A copy of the court judgment is also provided so the committee can be informed on the offence background. When all data are there, the committee uses its criteria under its laws and procedures to recommend a case to the President of the Republic if they agree on a merit of pardon for the offender – whether in favour of a pardon or not.

“We have given an update on the procedures and cases to the president. He is now more aware of the amount of work that goes into the preparation of a dossier before it reaches his office,” said the committee’s chairperson Linda William Melanie.

The visit was also a chance for the Auditor General’s office to officially launch its new logo in the presence of President Danny Faure.

“We briefed the president on our work which he appreciated a lot. We also discussed training needs, staff and backlog of cases and he expressed his support for the work we are doing which he said is important for the country and its democracy. And that such work brings more transparency, accountability and good governance,” said Auditor General Gamini Herath.

President Faure was also informed on the latest development at the Anti-Corruption Commission. He got the chance to assist a presentation on awareness and education the commission is undertaking and was entertained by a poem on anti-corruption by a staff member.

“We really appreciated the president’s visit where he showcased the importance of the commission. We updated him on the cases we are working on as we are very much criticised that we are not doing our work. We are doing lots of work in the background where our investigators are gathering cases. We explained to him capacity problems we are encountering. And as our budget will soon be in the National Assembly we are making sure we get this support and that he understands and sees the volume of work we are doing, and there are a lot,” said the commission’s chief executive May de Silva.

At the Electoral Commission’s office, chairman Hendrick Gappy said he informed the president of part of the electoral reform the commission has submitted and they are about to submit the larger part to him.

“The reform submitted mostly consists of recommendations made by all political parties and stakeholders. We also touched on our registration system and on the possibility of the commission to have a building of its own,” said Mr Gappy, adding that during election period they have to go to the National Library.

He hopes his office will be accommodated in the proposed Constitutional House which will also accommodate other constitutional authorities.