Leader of the Pivithuru Hela Uurumaya, MP Udaya Gammanpila, yesterday said that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has given a post of Presidential Adviser on Climate Change to Eric Solheim who had been sacked by the UN for wasting funds.
Addressing the media in Colombo, Gammanpila said that so-called peace envoy Solheim has re-emerged as the Presidential Advisor on Climate Change. “In fact, he has no credentials to hold this post. He became the UN Environment Head because of Norway’s huge monetary contribution to the UNEP. He wasted $500,000 on his foreign travel within 22 months. He was subject to bitter criticism by the environmental experts.
He had grossly violated regulations of the UNEP.
Because of these reasons, the UN Secretary General asked him to resign in November 2018.
“Why was Solheim appointed as the Presidential Advisor on Climate Change with his negative credentials? This is a title to hide his true task. He was brought to liaise with Tamil separatist movements. India has informed Sri Lanka that they were not in a position to support us any further. Signing the free trade agreement is a precondition of China. Japan, with its broken heart, has agreed only to restructure the loans. Russia has no capacity to support us because of the war. Europe is in a deep economic crisis. The IMF funds will reach us only after restructuring loans. Hence, the Government has no option but to beg before the separatists.
“The separatists earn millions of dollars every year through human smuggling, weapon smuggling, antique smuggling, money laundering, operating shipping fleets, and TV and radio channels. After the war, they didn’t have many expenses. Hence, they now have accumulated wealth of billions of dollars. Solheim has been tasked with to appease them by meeting their separatist demands and to obtain their money by way of loans and investments.
“We have no objection in attracting their funds. But not at the cost of our beloved motherland.”
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Disclaimer: Gammanpila smells a rat in appointing Solheim as Presidential Advisor on Climate Change - Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Latheefarook.com point-of-view