News

It is reported that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has agreed with the President to establish a caretaker government headed by the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) if a general election is held.

After a discussion with the UPFA ministers and MPs last evening, a proposal has been submitted for a caretaker government and it was agreed upon subject to several terms after the decision was informed to Mahinda Rajapaksa by the SLFP leaders.

Accordingly, it is reported that if the several conditions including the holding of an early general election are accepted then JO members are now favourable to form an alliance government.

Making a resounding comeback in Sri Lanka’s local polls, Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa fired a salvo against constitutional reforms aimed at curtailing powers of the executive president.

Following a landslide victory of the Sinhala nationalist Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by him, Rajapaksa demanded the president to roll back the 19th amendment to the constitution and dissolve parliament, inevitably leading to the collapse of any further reforms.

amendment to the Sri Lanka constitution ushered in by the unity government in 2015 restricts the executive president from dissolving the parliament until it continues in office for four and a half years.

It also established an independent election commission that conducted the local government polls.

“We will support to remove the 19th amendment,” said Rajapaksa. “The government should propose it.”

SLPP, formed by breakaway members of the ruling President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) took control of 239 local bodies out of 341 throughout the island in the elections held on Saturday the 10th.

The United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took control of 42 councils and Tamil National Alliance 34.

The SLFP was able to get control of an abysmal 10.

The local polls were the first elections held since the coalition government of SLFP and UNP took office in August 2015.

“Dissolve parliament”

Following the massive victory, Mahinda Rajapaksa urged the president to dissolve the parliament and call for fresh elections.

“There is a clear mandate for that," he told a press briefing in Colombo. "A government should listen to the people’s mandate.”

He asked journalists to “promote that ideology” in their output.

The government had pledged to introduce long overdue reforms to the constitution aimed at strengthening the parliament and devolve powers to provinces.

Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists led by Mahinda Rajapaksa have been on a continuous campaign opposing any changes to the constitution that would make the state secular and devolve powers to Tamils.

PM meets President

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and President Sirisena had an emergency meeting late into the night on Monday (12) to discuss the future of the shaky coalition.

The PM who consulted party seniors before the meeting had been requested by a majority to continue with the unity government to “deliver the commitments of good governance pledged in 2015".

Source : Journalists for Democracy Sri Lanka

The Court of Appeal (CA) today further extended its interim order preventing police from acting against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa under the Public Property Act regarding a Magistrate's Court inquiry, until February 28 .

The two-judge-bench comprising then Court of Appeal (President) Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Shiran Gunaratne extended this Interim Order preventing police from acting under the Public Property Act against Rajapaksa, on Galle Magistrate’s court inquiry over a complaint that the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in Medamulana was built using public funds amounting to Rs.90 million.

Source : Daily News

If Ranil Wickramasinghe continues as the PM, MP’s of the SLFP and the UPFA are to function as an independent group within the Parliament, Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva has said.

35 out of 41 will not join the ‘Pohottuwa’

The Minister is said to have communicated this decision to all the Ministers of the SLFP and the UPFA last night while confirming that 35 out of the 41 MP’s belonging to the parliamentary group will not join the SLPP.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva stated that the President has been informed of the decision taken by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) senior leaders Minister Susil Premajayantha, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Dilan Perera, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena

Issue is Political

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva stated that the SLFP and the UPFA party has no personal grudge with the UNP or the Prime Minister but however they are of the view that the PM should change in order according to the response of the people in the local government polls.

The newly elected 8,356 candidates from the recently held Local Government elections will assume duties for 341 local authorities on March 6.

The number of seats to be assumed in the local authorities, classified as Urban Councils, Municipal Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas are 41, 24 and 276 respectively.

The gazette notification in this regard will be issued tomorrow, said the Local Government and Provincial Councils Ministry.

Source : Daily News

United National Party (UNP) MPs say that the UNP has come to a unanimous decision to form a unitary UNP government.

 They said that this decision was taken at the discussion held by the UNP parliamentary group at the Temple Trees with the Prime Minister and the party leadership today and that the government that will be established in accordance with the policies and vision of the UNP.

They made these comments in response to questions posed by the media after the meeting held at Temple Trees.

They also claimed that no change in regards to the post of PM will be made adding that a wider discussion will be held regarding after the formation of the UNP unitary government.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says the UNP and SLFP led unity government should continue as it is due to the recent LG poll results.

 When asked if the Premiership should go to anyone other than Wickramasinghe, TNA MP M.A Sumanthiran said the TNA has no opinion in this regard.

He also said no request has been made of them to join to form a UNP unitary government and even if such a request is made the TNA will not support such a cause by becoming part of the government.

"Our position is that we will not become partners of the government until we see a settlement for the national question."

“No such offers made”

The MP also refuted rumours that several cabinet ministerial portfolios have been offered to the TNA if they support a UNP unitary government. “No one has invited us or offered such posts to us,” Sumanthiran said.

However, he said if such a request is made the party will hold discussions regarding it adding that however, the party will not become a party to the government which is to be formed.

“National government must continue”

He also claimed to have no connection to parties who are calling for the resignation of Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe adding that the TNA stances is that the national government should continue.

The MP while accepting that the EPDP and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress’s voter base has increased as seen in the recent polls, he said the TNA would hold discussions in this regard.

(BBC)

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe held a two hour long discussion last night (12).

The President is said to have told the PM that he has to now take a decision based on the hopes of the people and the election results. It is learned that the President has asked the PM to take a decision after analysing the situation first.

Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Malik Samarawickrema, Kabir Hashim, Mahinda Amaraweera and Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala had also participated in this discussion. After the meeting, the UNP delegation had visited Minister Mangala Samaraweera and held discussions further. Minister Rajitha Senaratne also joined the discussions thereafter.

Will Ranil step down?

Meanwhile the BBC has reported that SLFP MP’s have demanded that PM Ranil Wickramasinghe to step down while the President had confirmed these sentiments of the group.

The BBC quoting a Minister of the government said the President and the PM had held a discussion in this regard last night at the President’s official residence on Paget Road where the President is said to have informed the UNP to appoint a new PM from the party.

According to the BBC the PM had claimed the UNP is not ready to make changes within its party as per the wishes of the SLFP.

The President is also said to have claimed that he will not grant any ministerial posts to SLFP MP’s who join the UNP to form a UNP government.

He had also stressed that the TNA will have to forget about forming a new constitution if they join hands with the UNP to help form its own government.

CAPTION - Calls from within the UNP itself for Sajith or Karu to be made the new UNP party leader

Meanwhile, demands within the party are emerging that Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign from the leadership and appoint Sajith Premadasa or Karu Jayasuriya as the leader.

Karu Jayasuriya replying in response to a question raised by the BBC Sinhala service if a he has been invited to accept the party leadership or to accept the post of Prime Minister, he said no such request has been made of him yet.

The Speaker also requested the media inquire into this with the UNP as he has left party politics after being appointed as the Speaker.

Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in an interview with BBC Sinhala Service on Sunday that he will not accept the post of Prime Minister and urged the government to call for a general election as the people has lost confidence in the government as evidenced by the results of local government elections

The Japanese Justice Ministry stated that 2,226 people from Sri Lanka had applied for refugee status last year.

Justice Ministry officials however stated that they believe that most of the asylum seekers came to Japan for work and such applications will be declined due to strict screening procedures.

Japanese government said the number of foreigners who applied for refugee status in the country during 2017 hit a record high for the 7th year in a row with 19,628 people filing for refugee status but only 20 were granted asylum.

SLFP group of Ministers have demanded that PM Ranil Wickramasinghe should resign from the premiership if the national government formed by the UNP and the SLFP are to continue in the same manner going forward. According to sources the group of SLFP ministers of the government has told the President that if the UNP does not agree to this demand they should seek to form an alliance with the JVP to form an wide opposition.

Accordingly the group has suggested that JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake should be appointed as the opposition leader.

Currently there are 41 MP's of the UPFA led by Nimal Siripala De Silva in the parliament while the JVP group of parliamentarians consist of 6 members.

Reason for defeat?

According to sources the SLFP group of MP's have accused PM Wickramasinghe for the recent defeat claiming it is due to his economic policies and the bond scam accusations. The Ministers had made these comments during a meeting held with the President yesterday (11).

Accordingly the have requested the President to remove the PM as a result.

Former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Prasanna Nanayakkara was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department last night (13) for concealing evidence pertaining to the Lasantha Wickramatunga murder case.

At that time of Wickramatunga’s death, Prasanna Nanayakkara was overlooking the Western Province as the Senior DIG.

Police sources said that the ex-DIG will be produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate today.

Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera said that despite the sincerest of efforts to inject haste and independence into a dilapidated justice system over the last three years and empower the police with the tools they need to successfully investigate complex crimes, murderers and fraudsters remain at large.

He made these remarks by issuing a statement to media today. The Minister admitted that despite his government being the first in the nation’s history to insist that ministers resign from the Cabinet at the first sign of wrongdoing, and indeed the first to investigate allegations of corruption within its ranks with such vigour, justice is yet to be served.

Minister Samaraweera further said that the message from the people has sunk deep into the UNP, and that they are committed to taking drastic measures to fulfil the promises they made three years ago and maintain the public trust.

Full statement by Minister Mangala Samaraweera:

"On the 8th of January 2015, fifty one percent of Sri Lankans voted for the vision put forth to them by our unity candidate Maithripala Sirisena: that the time for dictatorship in our country was over, and that those committed to re-establishing democracy in Sri Lanka must unite to ensure that government serves all of the people, and not a single family and their loyal disciples.

On that day, the United National Party, several stalwarts of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the People’s Liberation Front, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the Tamil National Alliance, the Democratic People’s Front, and all together over 30 political and civic bodies came together to prove that Sri Lankans shared their vision of a Sri Lanka that was ruled by law and not through fear.

We promised to amend the constitution to restore independence to the public service, abolish the executive presidency, and enshrine the rights of all Sri Lankans into the legal bedrock of our legal system. We promised to bring those who robbed the coffers of the treasury to justice. We promised to hold accountable those who quenched their thirst for power with the blood of brave journalists and peaceful protestors. Most of all, we promised you a government that would be free of the rampant corruption that defined the decade that came before us.

Today, the people told us that we have not done enough. Despite the sincerest of efforts to inject haste and independence into a dilapidated justice system over the last three years and empower the police with the tools they need to successfully investigate complex crimes, murderers and fraudsters remain at large. Despite our government being the first in the nation’s history to insist that ministers must resign from the cabinet at the first sign of wrongdoing, and indeed the first to investigate allegations of corruption within its ranks with such vigour, justice is yet to be served.

This message from the people has sunk deep into the UNP, and we are committed to taking drastic measures to fulfil the promises we made three years ago and maintain the public trust. As we embark on this chapter in the story of our democracy, Sri Lanka can be proud of two remarkable things we saw last Saturday.

The first is the conduct of an election under the auspices of an independent elections commission and police service. Never before has a government shied from manipulating public personnel, funds, resources and state media into an organ of their political ends. We hope that under these independent bodies, Sri Lanka has seen the last of corruption, intimidation and violence marring our elections.

Finally, it is evident that the same Mahinda Rajapaksa who in January 2015 commanded 5.77 million votes (47.6%) as his presidency waned, last week was not even able to muster 4.95 million votes or even 44.7% of voters. The UNP has a solemn duty not just to the 46% of the electorate who voted for us and President Sirisena’s SLFP last Saturday, but to the entire resounding majority of our citizens, all 6.1 million of them (55.3%) who marched to the polls last Saturday and voted against a return to Rajapaksa rule. Our duty is to broaden our own voter base by delivering results, while joining hands with all honest and democratic political forces to uplift our motherland and ensure that Sri Lanka never again returns to rule by the sword. That is our calling and we must not fail. Our democracy, our republic, depends on it."