Columns
Home » ColumnsWaiting in the weeds
My dear Karu, I thought I would write to you after hearing that you had offered yourself as a potential leader of the Green party. Apparently, this has led to some controversy, with some claiming that you are no longer a member of the Greens and others suggesting that they need a younger person to [...]
SLFP unhappy over Prof. Piyadasa’s ommission, blasts Dr Raghavan
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is to take up the cudgels with its parent counterpart, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), over its onetime Chairman and Secretary Rohana Luxman Piyadasa being overlooked for a National List appointment as MP. The SLFP’s grouse is that instead its partner had picked Dr Suren Raghavan, a former [...]
The speaker, rights of parliamentarians and the clash of power
Scarcely having sufficient time to properly settle into his Chair as Sri Lanka’s Parliament opened for business this week, the Speaker faced down two attempts to trespass on the ‘legislative power of the People,’ throwing up intriguing questions in regard to the country’s parliamentary process, or what is left of this. Freedoms of Speech in [...]
MPs quarrel over legality of state expenditure during four months prior to VOA
In the annals of Parliamentary history, 2020 will go down as one where the country did not have a fully-fledged Budget. Throughout this year, funds for State expenditure have been drawn from different Votes on Account (VoAs). The latest such VoA, presented to Parliament for debate this week, sought Rs 1.7 trillion to cover State [...]
Preconditions for Sri Lanka’s sustained economic development
Although the immediate task of the Government is to resolve the present economic crisis and stabilise the economy, people’s expectations are that the new Government with its massive mandate would navigate the economy from its current economic crisis to long term economic stability and growth. Immediate tasks The immediate macroeconomic tasks of the Government include [...]
Bid to rubbish 19A as biggest bar to country’s progress
Five years ago, the 19th Amendment, brought by the SLFP-UNP Government to repeal the Rajapaksa regime’s controversial 18th Amendment, had been the nation’s choicest meat. It had even been hailed as the democracy restorer. In Parliament 212 had slobbered all over it as the Dish of the Day, with only one finding it disagreeable. Today, [...]
Gets crazier by the day
I say, hell of a thing no, my neighbour during our college days used to say falling back on the colloquial when puzzled by political and bureaucrats actions cause him and others unnecessary confusion and the nation deprivation. Being badly governed and inured to lying (though I used to call them prevarications) are consequences for [...]
Resolving the ethnic conflict – making a difficult task that much more difficult
One of the most complex problems faced by the country after independence has been the “ethnic conflict” that resulted in a civil war that consumed the country for over three decades. Although the conflict was not between two ethnicities (the Sinhalese and Tamils), but in reality between the State and the Tamil community, the label [...]
Government goes into top gear with priority for economic revival and constitutional changes
Premier Rajapaksa working out relief package for the poor and reforms in the tax structure President wants 20th Amendment to be presented soon while new Constitution could be worked simultaneously Karu’s bid to become UNP leader may not succeed as Ranil pushes for a younger member President intervenes to settle row between Ramanathan and Devananda [...]
Read More