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Home » ColumnsA speech that made it clear that here is a President who intends settling in for the long haul
By Sandun Jayawardana Two weeks after being elected to office by Parliament, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday (3) delivered a wide-ranging policy statement to the legislature where he outlined a series of political and economic reforms. He also renewed his appeal for parties in Parliament to come together to form an all-party government to resolve [...]
The task of keeping Ranil on the straight and narrow
My dear Sajith, Anura, Champika, the Field Marshall and Aiyo Sirisena, I thought I should write to you this week after hearing that Uncle Ranil had extended an invitation to all of you to join him in an ‘all-party government’. He has been saying this for some time. He repeated this in Parliament on Wednesday. [...]
Lanka’s envoy in high profile observer team for Kenya’s polls
Businessman and diplomat Velupillai Kana Kananathan, our man in Nairobi is going places, well he’s not going anywhere, but he has been selected to be a member of an elite group of former Presidents and other high profile African and European persons as an Election Observer at the forthcoming general elections in Kenya next week. [...]
Putting food on the table and the challenges in forming a multi-party government
While the most compelling and immediate challenge before the Government remains “putting food on the table” there are at the same time several other issues that the Government has on its plate. While the campaign to force former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down originated in the unprecedented hardships faced by the people in obtaining [...]
Great excesses committed against protestors but where is the civic response?
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s nonchalant claim that the law operates equitably in Sri Lanka (‘the law is the same for you, me and everyone’) in a carefully calibrated address at the ceremonial opening of the ninth session of Parliament this week, bears an uncanny resemblance to what his Presidential predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been fond of [...]
President Wickremesinghe determined to address fundamental structural economic weaknesses
In his address to Parliament on Wednesday, President Wickremesinghe said he is determined to end the hardships people are facing and he said his mission and challenge was to resolve the fundamental structural economic weaknesses that have plagued the country for decades. Vision His vision for the country was to attain the status of a [...]
Lanka caught in middle of Indo-Sino tug of war
High Noon at Hambantota as controversial ship sails to muddy Lankan waters Lanka is caught badly between the devil and the deep blue sea as the Indo-Sino tussle over the Indian Ocean brews to a full-blown storm, threatening to wreak havoc on the nation’s plans for early economic recovery. At the epicentre of the crisis [...]
Facing Geneva with the good, bad and horribly ugly
So President Ranil Wickremesinghe made his pitch. It was his first formal effort as president to set forth his vision for the future. It relates to economic policy and his intended ‘system changes’. He is no doubt hoping that this package will win over MPs from the multiplicity of political parties and rather loosely-tied groups [...]
President makes major effort to form all-party Govt.
Shows signs of veering away from Rajapaksas and not keen to see early return of Gotabaya Ranil holds extensive talks with TNA, but argument over whether any TNA MPs voted for new President About turn by Sajith; SJB meets Ranil for talks which bring about positive mindset towards APG Human Rights Council delegation coming here [...]
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