The foreign Ministry mandarins have come under severe censure once again. Earlier, the second in command of yahapalanaya had pulled up the white collar ones for serious dereliction of duty, but they are yet to be up on their toes, they say.


It came to light the other day that the government nearly forfeited a massive US aid package due to the failure on the part of the Ministry officials to ink the renewal agreement on time. What was worse, they say, was that the mandarins were totally in the dark about the renewal being due until the UN envoy here reminded the second in command about it.  On learning about the situation, the second in command had swung into action and got the foreign deputy to sign the renewal agreement.

The second in command has now decided to set up a separate foreign affairs bureau manned by white collar ones who can be depended on  to carry out his instructions, they say.