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Montessori incident: Reply and rejoinder
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Montessori incident: Reply and rejoinder
Last week’s story headlined ‘President’s armed guards play havoc at Montessori’ has drawn a response from Brigadier H.D.G. Ranasinghe, USP for Commander, the President’s Guard. He said; ”Your kind attention is drawn to the above story in your newspaper of 16 Nov, 2014, in which a minor altercation has been exaggerated with factually wrong information”.
“Considering the serious nature of its contents, an inquiry was held by the President’s Guard into the alleged incident in cooperation with the Principal, Trinity College, responsible for management of the Trinity Montessori’.
“However, it was found that a reported threatening as such or entering of President’s Guard members with weapons into the Trinity Montessori or for that matter, any such search into the premises, had not at all taken place on that day, as claimed in the report. ”What really occurred in front of the said Montessori premises on the very narrow Thapowanaya Road, leading to the President’s House in Kandy, was as follows:
“On Thursday (13), two buses carrying troops of President’s Guard were proceeding to the President’s House to attend their duties in connection with the President’s arrival there.
“As the front bus was closing in on the President’s House at about 9.00 a.m., it was observed that a car with the driver’s door open to the middle of the road, was blocking the passage for the buses, right in front of the Trinity Montessori.
“The driver in the front bus sounded his horn repeatedly but the said car was not moved out, compelling the uniformed officer aboard, to alight from the bus and request the car be moved, allowing the two buses to proceed as planned. ”However, the driver of the car who had apparently brought his child to the Montessori, suddenly burst out shouting at the said officer using abusive language.
“It is stressed that except for one officer, one Military Police officer and a Senior Non Commissioned Officer, rest of the members of the President’s Guard aboard both buses, were in civvies at the time of the incident. Therefore, the question of carrying weapons by uniformed staff does not arise.”
Jamis Banda adds: Firstly, the letter confirms the incident. The report published on this page last week was based on eyewitness accounts. In this instance the car driver was told that his car would be rammed with one of the buses if it was not moved away.
Polls on Bandaranaike Day: Questions on Pope’s visit
Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga engaged in some light hearted banter over her successor, Mahinda Rajapaksa seeking astrological advice to conduct the Presidential poll on January 8. ”Whichever astrologer made that forecast, the date is even more auspicious for us. That was the day my father was born,” she told a meeting at the Opposition Leader’s office at Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha on Friday evening.
For Kumaratunga and Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, among others, the event came after she had ended a televised news conference at the New Town Hall. Wickremesinghe was there after he chaired a meeting of his party’s Working Committee at Siri Kotha. Her late father S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was born on January 8, 1899 and was assassinated on September 26, 1959.
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has officially declared December 8 as Nomination Day with the Presidential polls on January 8. At least two top dignitaries in the UPFA had wanted the poll on either January 2 or 3 on the grounds that it would give sufficient ‘lead time’ for the visit of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka. In terms of the Presidential Elections Act, nominations have to be called for within 16 to 21 days of a proclamation being issued. The period between nominations and polls is four to six weeks.
Fixing the polls date for January 8 has once again raised an all important question – the visit of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka from January 13 to 15. Whilst not speculating on the outcome, it may be recalled that the Vatican did request considerable time, possibly at least ten days, before such a visit would finally be given the go ahead. Last week, the Church here said the visit was thus far on schedule.
Gota wants supplement with Govt. newspapers
Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a visitor to the Editorial offices of the state publisher, Lake House, this week.
He discussed the possibility of publishing a pullout titled Lassana Ratak (Beautiful Country) as a supplement to the Sinhala, English and Tamil newspapers put out by the group.
The publication will inform readers of the different development programmes carried out by the Government. They are to be issued free, an official said.
Cure for posters – more posters
One of the concerns about the main opposition parties has been the cutouts and posters of the President coming up after the Presidential election was announced this week.
On Friday the JVP representative and lawyer Sunil Watagala raised the issue with Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya when political party representatives were invited for a meeting regarding the preparations for the elections.
The Commissioner’s response was that he could only act after the nominations were received, but his temporary solution was ‘You can put up similar posters and cutouts’. UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha also attending the meeting endorsed the suggestion, saying ‘yes you too can put up posters’.
But the question from the public as to who spends for these posters and cutouts remains unanswered.
House that?
The National Housing Development Authority chose to raise money for a housing project.
It gave 100 tickets, each worth Rs. 20, to its field officers. Some accepted the offer since three rupees from every ticket would be added to their monthly salaries. Yet others said it was not attractive enough.
When the tickets were not moving, one bright spark decided on a way to sell more. He told the field officers if they did not sell 100 tickets each, the money would be deducted from their salaries.
Namal takes stock of crisis
Social media were heavily active as news broke that Maithripala Sirisena would be the common opposition candidate to contest against President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the January 8 poll.
MP Namal Rajapaksa who is rather active on Twitter chose not to involve himself in the frantic exchanges and instead chose to post this comment: “The Stock index fell 1.71% after news of common candidate. Investors see need for political & economic stability under @PresRajapaksa.”