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Home » ColumnsAn element of success is to keep them guessing
My dear Mahinda maama, I thought I must write to you because I heard that you had been entrusted with the job of choosing who the candidate of the ‘pohottuwa’ party would be for the next big race, which is due before the end of the year. I don’t envy your task, but then, you [...]
Budget 2019 sails through comfortably enough
Budget 2019, the 1st Budget of the United National Front (UNF) Government that came into being after the collapse of the Unity Government with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) last year, was passed by a comfortable majority of 45 votes in Parliament on Friday (5). The vote on the Third Reading held [...]
CC considers three nominees for post of CJ
The Constitutional Council will decide on a new Chief Justice from three names submitted by President Maithripala Sirisena. The names to be recommended in that order are Justice Buveneka Aluvihare, Justice Sisira de Abrew and Jayantha Jayasuriya, the present Attorney General. The present Chief Justice, Nalin Perera, will retire on April 29. A ceremonial farewell [...]
Hitting ‘deep pocket’ polluters where it hurts
The casually irreverent manner in which state entities such as the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and the Board of Investment (BOI) treat issuance of mandatory environmental approvals received a sharp reprimand by the Supreme Court in this week’s ruling on the pollution of ground water in Chunnakam as a result of a private company operating [...]
The great ‘Bak Maha promise’ farce
On a scorching hot April morn, three days after April Fool’s Day, The President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker and a whole host of government members of Parliament assembled at Independence Square to swear a solemn oath before the nation and before television cameras in a propaganda exercise which may have cost millions of taxpayers’ [...]
Reducing trade deficit crucial for strengthening external finances
A two-pronged strategy of reducing imports and increasing exports are vital for decreasing the large trade deficit, achieving a balance of payments surplus and strengthening external finances. Nevertheless, the immediate reduction of imports is critical for containing the trade deficit this year. While increasing exports significantly is the medium-to-long-term strategy, containing imports is the short [...]
Sirisena tells SLFP-SLPP MPs to be ready for anti-govt. protests
Says Budget is “not important” but ‘Aandu Virodhi’ or anti-Govt. campaign after Avurudu Prime Minister seeks more non-Cabinet rank ministers Gotabaya hands in papers to renounce US citizenship in Washington D.C. The jet-black Russian Mi-17 VIP helicopter with a satellite phone and television among on board systems glistened in the hot sunlight as it [...]
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