ICTA hits back at Sanjiva Weerawarana

• Says his resignation was inevitable due to his position on how board should act and operate  

Responding to media reports on the resignation of Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana from the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) board, ICTA Chairman Jayantha De Silva said Dr. Weerawarana’s resignation was inevitable.

“Further to the resignation of Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana from the board of the ICTA, there has been a great deal of speculation subsequent to his blog post, dated May 30, 2020, both in the mainstream and social media, as to the reason for his sudden departure.

We believe his leaving was inevitable, due to the positions taken by Dr. Weerawarana on how the board should act and operate, rather than reaching common ground with others to ensure that the ICTA functions in a cohesive manner as one team,” De Silva said in a statement. 

He said the vision of the ICTA director board is to build a sustainable and inclusive organisation, which empowers its employees, rather than allowing one or more board members to exercise executive functions, 

which would create confusion amongst staff and the ICTA’s stakeholders and also jeopardise the collective accountability of the board.

What is even more disturbing is the manner in which Dr. Weerawarana handled his resignation, which smacks of an attempt to smear the good reputation of the ICTA board. 
This has been done with the release of various reports to the media, which has been subjected to edits even after they were publicly posted, due to inaccuracies contained therein,” De Silva said.

He further noted that Dr. Weerawarana’s public statement is contrary to his letter of resignation handed over to the appointing authorities, in which he clearly states that he is resigning solely “because of personal reasons”.

De Silva also said Dr. Weerawarana’s blog post insinuates that there were some irregularities concerning two tenders that were sent for the review of the ICTA. 

“This is cause for confusion and seems like a deliberate move to mislead the media and public, as the ICTA has acted purely as a technical advisor in the said two tenders and has taken no part at all in the tender processes.

Dr. Weerawarana’s actions of deliberately trying to create doubt in the minds of the public on the digital governance plan for the nation, is mala fide, inflammatory and defamatory.The ICTA categorically denies the alleged irregularities alluded to by Dr. Weerawarana and is considering what actions it should take in this regard. The falsehoods of this story need to be exposed as they are nothing but a ploy of those seeking personal gain,” De Silva said.