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Impeachment: Minister Keheliya avoids media
The weekly Cabinet news briefing presided over by Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has not been held since the one that was held soon after the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayke was handed over in early November to the Speaker. In the past two weeks, journalists were informed that the news briefings would be [...]
Political Column
Govt. toughens its stand on CJ issue as crisis grows
Cabinet ministers received urgent telephone calls last Wednesday to turn up at “Temple Trees,” now the official residence of the President, an hour ahead of the weekly meeting that evening. Soon after they gathered at 6 p.m. a strategy session on how to cope with matters relating to the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake [...]
5th Column
From fiery leftists to feeble lambs
My Dear Vasu, Tissa and Dew, I thought I must write to you when I heard that you had written a letter to the Leader of the House, Nimal, saying that you didn’t agree with the way the Chief Justice was being ‘tried’ by Parliament following the impeachment that has been submitted against her by [...]
The Economic Analysis
Is food self-sufficiency an attainable goal?
The attainment of self-sufficiency in food is an important government policy objective. In fact achieving food self-sufficiency has been a central concern in Sri Lanka since the early decades of the 20th century. Self-sufficiency in food is considered essential to ensure food security in the country. An underlying reason for this is that Sri Lanka [...]
From the sidelines
A woman’s place is in the House!
Mrs. Anumaana is at a loss to understand the goings-on in that supposedly august assembly known as Parliament. She had at one time harboured the naïve idea that the people’s representatives who gathered there were duty bound to conduct themselves with a sense of dignity befitting their office. Wasn’t that the least that she, as [...]
Focus on Rights
The constitution and the president’s conscience
Is the Constitution or the President’s conscience paramount in deciding the notion of legality in Sri Lanka? Abandoning the courts and the law books A person’s conscience is of course, variable. A Presidential conscience cannot certainly be any different. In contrast, the very core of the concept known as the Rule of Law is its fixed [...]