Columns

Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) members are concerned over social media reports that the new Government is planning to replace the council with a special commissioner because it believes that there has been mismanagement by the council.

According to the reports Colombo’s Mayor Rosy Senanayake had been summoned by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to discuss various issues, including collection of garbage and rates.

The reports said the president’s office had sent a letter to the mayor. But, Ms Senanayake yesterday dismissed the reports as ‘baseless’ and accused her own party members of trying to create a rift between her and the new Government.

“I have received no such letter or nor have I been called for a meeting by the President’s office”, Ms Senanayake told The Sunday Times.

However, her party members who had read the social media reports expressed confusion regarding the situation.

Who paid more than Rs. 9m to transport voters from Puttalam to Mannar

There was controversy over transporting voters from Puttalam to Mannar on the day of the presidential election.

In the centre of the controversy was Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. He denied involvement in the move.

However this week it came to light that an institution which came under the then Rehabilitation and Resettlement Minister Bathiudeen had paid for the transportation of voters. It was revealed that some 220 Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses were used for this purpose and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Ministry Secretary had paid the SLTB through a Bank of Ceylon cheque to the value of Rs 9,529,060.

Politics in a mess  in the North

In the recent years the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has come under heavy criticism with political opponents accusing it of merely passing resolutions but doing little work. There were also corruption allegations against provincial ministers.

This week, the Northern Province’s former Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran appeared before the Supreme Court on charges of contempt of court. A minister had accused Mr Wigneswaran of arbitrarily removing him from the Provincial Cabinet. Significantly, Mr Wigneswaran is a former judge of the Supreme Court.

There is another crisis in the North. The Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) has also been accused of under-performance and inefficiency.  The JMC Secretary has accused the council of failing to generate adequate revenue, but it paid Rs 5.7 million as total telephone expenses for its 45 councillors. Each member was given Rs 6000 to pay their telephone bills.

As outlined in the 2019 budget the JMC’s expenditure was Rs 217 million, but its revenue was only Rs 59 million as of now. Around Rs 12 million that was allocated for a separate project was returned to the Treasury due to administrative lapses.   An Opposition Councillor was heard saying in the Council meeting: “what is the point of demanding more powers to PCs when we cannot utilise the available powers for the betterment of the people?”  On November 28 the JMC is to debate the annual budget for 2020. But many members have expressed reservations on how funds were utilised by the council run by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Does the eagle look like the swan?

Confusion over the election symbols appeared to have helped at least one of the candidates at the November 16 presidential election.

It happened mainly in the Jaffna, Vanni and the Batticaloa districts where the candidate gained votes, though he was not so successful in the rest of the country.

The Democratic National Movement’s (DNM) candidate Ariyawansha Dissanayaka had the symbol of an ‘eagle’.

But some of the voters who believed they were voting for the swan had eventually voted for the eagle.

It was only after they had voted and returned home that many of them realised they had cast their vote for the wrong people.

In the Jaffna District candidate Dissanayake received 6,790 votes or 1.82 percent , where as the National People’s Power (NPP) Alliance candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, who came third in the national vote, got only 1375 votes.

In the Vanni district the DNM candidate recived 1.2 percent of the vote and in Batticaloa 0.78 per cent.

In several other districts his percentage was less than 0.25 percent, while in Gampaha it was only 0.02 per cent.

However, Mr Dissanayaka claims that his campaign in the north helped him to attract votes.

“I campaigned mainly in the North and East. I also gave an interview to a Tamil news paper. That maybe the reason why I received a large number of votes in those areas,” he said.

Rival parties clash: Innocent politician’s house damaged, son injured

There was political rivalry between two groups in the Puttalam district but the dispute ended at the door step of a politician not connected to the two parties.  The rivalry caused damage to the house while the politician’s son was injured.

The two political groups, one of them supporting M.L.A.M.  Hizbullah and the other supporting former minister Rishad Bathiudeen, attacked each others vehicles on the streets in Puttalam last Sunday. As the incident escalated the Hizbullah support group retreated and hid in a house. They were unaware that the house they took refuge in was the residence of former North Western Provincial Council member Chinthaka Amal Mayadunne.

However the other group barged into the house, damaged it and assaulted the son of the former provincial council member.The former provincial councilor’s supporters came to his rescue. This lead to another clash which left more
vehicles damaged.

Threat of suicide over portfolio  

A former Central Province minister accompanying Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Dalada Maligawa was asked by a journalist as to why he was not among the cabinet of ministers sworn in this week.

“How could they have, when one of our own party members (also a former minister from the province) said he would commit suicide if I was given a portfolio.”