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The weekly Cabinet meeting was advanced to 5 p.m. last Wednesday. This was because President Mahinda Rajapaksa was hosting a gala dinner for delegates of the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) meeting that ended on Friday.

There was some distraction to an otherwise routine session where ministers were rushing through Cabinet Papers. They were also anxious to go for the dinner.

Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva rose to his feet. He apologised to President Rajapaksa for not being able to attend the dinner.

The reason – Silva said was the possibility that he would be mistaken for his namesake who was a man of letters. Hence, if he were to speak out, it would have given a wrong signal. Silva on the other hand is the recipient of an honorary degree.
It evoked laughter among the ministers as well as President Rajapaksa. His apology was accepted.

Namal wants to see Sirikotha

A few days ago, Opposition United National Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was at the residence of Minister Bandula Gunawardena to pay his last respects to the minister’s beloved mother.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake and President Mahinda Rajapksa were already there.When Wickremesinghe joined in the conversation, Rajapaksa said there was a message for him from his son.

“Namal kiyanne aluthen hadapu Sirikotha balanna eyata asai kiyala (Namal is saying that he would like to visit the rebuilt Sirikotha),” he said. Sri Kotha was damaged after some party supporters attacked it during the election of officials on December 19 last year.

“Ape maha lekamthumata katha karala ona welwaka enna kiyanna (Please ask him to come at any time after informing our General Secretary),” Wickremesinghe replied.

Elephants add flavour to C’wealth meal

After the inaugural session of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association at Nelum Pokuna, guests were escorted for the lunch at nearby Victoria Park.

A temporary shelter was built for the guests from around 54 countries to enjoy their meal comfortably.
There were some stilt walkers and elephants near the venue to entertain the foreign dignitaries.

Gayantha Karunathilaka, UNP MP from Galle, while walking towards the venue for lunch with some Parliamentary colleagues was to remark, “Onema deyak lassana wennai al inna oney (To make anything attractive, elephants should be there).”

Privileged queue longer than normal one

Many people tried to get passes to see the Kapilavastu relics without standing in the long queues.  When the relics were moved to Kelaniya, Minister Mervyn Silva issued 25,000 passes, each of which was valid for five people.

Some of those who took the passes and went to Kelaniya found that the “pass” queue was longer than the other queue and decided to join the shorter line. However some just decided to return home disappointed.

Bored Mervyn wants to build rest houses

The Cabinet has rejected a proposal by Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva seeking Rs. 298 million to build rest houses in Hambantota, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Madhu, Mahiyangana and Polonnaruwa.

After going through the Cabinet Paper, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had declared that he could not approve it.
“Aney Sir, man nikan kammelikamata inna nisai mehema wedak karanna heduwe.(Sir, I want to do this because I am bored),” explained Mervyn Silva.

However, later Silva was to tell his Cabinet colleagues he has been asked to resubmit his proposal with details of how funds could be generated through other sources. In other words, the Government would not set apart any funds.

British delegates can’t see what they want

Attempts by the British High Commission in Colombo to arrange helicopter rides for members of the UK branch of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) came a cropper this week.

The arrangements had been made with the commercial arm of the Sri Lanka Air Force, the Helitours, after approval from the Ministry of Defence was obtained.

That was for the British team members to see British funded projects in Kilinochchi. Projects from the British Department of International Development were being carried out by the Halo Trust.

The BHC was told that the helicopter assigned to the British team had been re-assigned for other missions. A source involved in arrangements for the CPA said the British team was told to join other delegates and travel to the North under programmes already formulated. But the British delegates argued it did not cover their projects.

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