Editorial
Home » EditorialHambantota Port; a Concession (like no other) Agreement
The photographs that appeared in last weekend’s newspapers after the signing of the tripartite agreement between China Merchant Port (CMP), the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and the Ministry of Ports and Shipping to lease the debt-ridden Hambantota port, said it all. On the prompting of the vice chairman of CMP for a cross handshake [...]
Bring in the Animal Welfare Bill
It was only last week we wrote in this space about the culture of torture prevailing in Sri Lanka. Just then, news broke out that there was cruelty to animals taking place as well following the extermination of stray cats and dogs within the premises of the University of Moratuwa. The incident brought into focus, [...]
Torture: Truth, twists and turns
UN Special Rapporteurs are taking turns visiting Sri Lanka; last week the envoy on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights came and made waves with his critical report on existing torture practices. The report would have come as a rude shock to many, almost to the point of disbelief. The fallout in officialdom seems to be [...]
Changing pillows for FDI headache won’t do
The sudden resignation of the Board of Directors of the Board of Investment (BOI) this week was not so sudden in a sense; it was a long time coming. Friction within the country’s ‘One stop shop’ for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and the Minister in charge had dogged the Government’s desperate search for foreign investors. [...]
GMOA bows to saner counsel
Senior officers of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) like to feel they are a cut above the rest, so to say; that due to the marks they received at the A-Level exam and because they heal the sick, they are entitled to be treated preferentially by governments and society. While not all who got [...]
SriLankan: Going down; not up
One of the key promises of the electoral campaigns of the then Opposition in 2015 was that a new administration under Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe would, not only eliminate corruption, but hold those suspected of it in the past to account. On both counts, this Government has failed. The promised transparency in procurement has [...]