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Home » ColumnsPremadasa makes ‘U’ turn on PTA
In Sri Lankan politics, changing party colours often or making ‘U’ turns on critical policies for one’s own political convenience is not something new when the ultimate goal is securing votes and retaining your seat. It could be one of the reasons why we have had only a handful of statespersons and plentiful of run [...]
Bye bye Warnie; you have left the grounds, forever!
My dear Shane Warne, I thought of writing to you this week after hearing of your sudden departure to the Land of No Return. Some may wonder why I am writing to you when so much is happening in Paradise. Yet, while your demise is so sad, Paradise too seems to be dying a slow [...]
Seething Opposition hits out at Basil’s no show to answer burning questions
In a chaotic week where the country’s already weakened economy took an absolute hammering, angry Opposition lawmakers repeatedly attacked Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa over his failure to brief Parliament on the situation. Under the Constitution, it is Parliament that has powers over public finances. With the country undergoing its gravest economic crisis in decades, MPs [...]
Government takes its time as helpless people face blow after blow
While a hapless people struggle with the daily dose of economic hardships, the Government for its part shows no urgency in taking steps to mitigate the woes of the people. On the contrary the Government seems to take a lackadaisical approach to problem solving in the economic sector. When it eventually gets down to doing [...]
Are we at a turning point in resolving the economic crisis?
Recent changes in policy raise the question whether these would resolve or even mitigate the deepening economic crisis. A related issue is whether there is a new resolve to mitigate the economic crisis? Are we at a turning point in policies to resolve the growing economic crisis? Changes in policy Two recent statements by the [...]
GSP plus, the PTA and Sri Lanka’s painful contortions
The Supreme Court’s Determination on amendments to Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA, 1979) announced by the Speaker in the House on Tuesday 8th March 2022 is largely predictable, some would mutter sotto voce, pedestrian even. Not timorous amendments but solid revisions needed Undoubtedly the Court itself was limited by the patent lack of [...]
Hush! Keep it in the well: Not a whisper to the world
On the night Cardinal Malcom Ranjith took flight to Rome to see his Pope, the Chancellor of the Colombo University, Muruttettuwe Ananda Thera, lectured on the evening TV news bulletin, saying he thought it improper for the Cardinal to betray his Motherland by airing his grievances to the Pope and at Geneva without keeping it [...]
Beware, economic whizz-kids at work
If it is not one thing it is another. For quite some time now the current Government and its Viyath magarians have found a reason which some might call an over dramatised excuse, to blame the Covid pandemic for the country’s speedy descent to economic chaos. One was made to think that before President Xi [...]
Middle-income groups also join protests against huge fuel and food price hikes
Mostly women take part in protest outside President’s private residence; Hirunika claims she is being followed by unknown men on motorcycles Big protest march by main opposition SJB on Tuesday; secrecy maintained, but crowds expected in Colombo from different assembly points Govt. desperately dependent on India for one-billion-dollar aid package and addressing India’s concerns on [...]
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