News
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| President
wants John, Imtiaz to be sworn in again
The Sunday Times learns that this letter suggests that apart from former Defence Minister Tilak Marapana, the other two ministers -- former Interior Minister John Amaratunga and former Mass Communication Minister Imtiaz Bakeer-Markar -- have been asked to present themselves for a fresh swearing-in ceremony before President Kumaratunga. These two ministers are to be sworn-in as Minister of Christian Affairs and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. A spokesman for the President's Office confirmed that a letter had been sent to the Prime Minister to this effect saying "this is legal requirement - there is no problem with Mr. Marapana's portfolio of Transport and Highways". He did not elaborate. Legal circles said this may be as a result of the President having reshuffled the subjects and functions of the ministries taken over by her, but they were not clear about her making changes to the Ministry of Christian Affairs. The UNF government had no comment to make about the Presidential Secretariat letter requesting the two Ministers to submit themselves to another swearing-in ceremony except to say that there were no immediate moves to submit the Ministers to such a swearing-in by President Kumaratunga. The return of the three ministries taken over by President Kumaratunga in November last year is at the root of the constitutional crisis and discussions among officials from the PA and the UNF. This move by the President effectively indicates the President is not willing to return at least two of the portfolios back to the former Ministers. Meanwhile, the UNF government has refrained from naming its representatives to the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Defence Ministry in protest against the Presidential take-over of the Ministry. The Committee now comprise only members from the opposition viz., Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sumedha Jayasena, M.K.D.S. Gunawardene, Arjuna Ranatunga, A. Vinayagamoorthy, Wimal Weerawansa, R. Sambandan and Ranjit Siyambalapitiya. Usually, the Consultative Committee must have 11 government MPs and nine from the opposition. No Consultative Committees have been set-up for the new Ministry of Internal Security or the new Ministry of Information and Telecommunication. There are now two Ministries of Telecommunication with Imtiaz Bakeer-Markar remaining Minister of Telecommunication as well. No deputy ministers have been appointed to any of the new ministries, resulting in the Parliamentary Consultative Committees being headless without chairpersons to preside. The absence of deputy ministers for the three portfolios taken over the President had led to the accumulation of unanswered oral questions which now stand at 800. |
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