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CBK's
term: Govt plans counter strategy
Remaining silent for three weeks after The Sunday Times and Lankadeepa broke the story that she had a secret swearing-in ceremony on November 11, 2000 for a second time, President Kumaratunga took the opportunity of an interview on state tv to confirm the story. President Kumaratunga said she was now entitled to remain in office till end of 2006, effectively adding the year she forfeited by calling for early elections in her first six-year term, and thus having a seven-year second-term. She said the second swearing-in ceremony in November 2000 was not a "secret ceremony" because it was done by Chief Justice Sarath Silva in the presence of her then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. However, Mr. Kadirgamar declined to comment on the matter yesterday, saying the President had confirmed the event. Minister Lokubandara told The Sunday Times yesterday the UNF might look towards acting through Parliament to question the constitutionality of the move by President Kumaratunga to add one year to her tenure in office. She told the ITN during her interview that she, however, did not want to continue in "this dirty politics", while her party in an official statement said the constitutionality question could be tested before the Supreme Court. Minister Lokubandara ruled out the possibility of the UNF going before the Supreme Court on the grounds that the Constitution provided the President legal immunity, and it was Parliament that had to tackle the issue. The UNF was preparing to issue a statement on the issue after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is now touring the Nuwara-Eliya district had studied the draft. The Presidential Secretariat in a statement on this dispute did not say why the public was not informed of the swearing-in ceremony in November 2000 for over three years until The Sunday Times and Lankadeepa broke the story. |
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