Die another day

‘IT looks like few of us will be able to afford to retire before we’re 70, but at least we’ll get the choice. Dayananda Dissanayake, a 61-year-old election official in Sri Lanka, has been told he cannot step down despite passing the country’s retirement age and despite having suffered five heart attacks.

Dissanayake, who has worked in the role for 33 years, says he needs rest after years of overseeing Sri Lanka’s often bloody elections, including the last general elections in December 2001 in which 61 people were killed.

But the Supreme Court ruled that it could not overturn a government decree preventing him leaving office and ordered him to carry on working until a replacement is found – or until he drops dead.’

Posted: 25th, July 2003 | In: Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink