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Law: popular career of many MPs
By Apsara Kapukotuwa
Doctors, lawyers, engineers, former teachers, policemen and professionals sit in Parliament alongside those who have not declared their professional or educational qualifications.

The results of the query tabled by Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake recently hold many interesting answers. Interestingly, the most popular career for MPs of the 6th Parliament seems to be the legal profession with 37 holding either professional and/or academic qualifications in the legal field.

The well-known names from the government among this crowd are Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, Ministers Nimal Siripala De Silva, John Seneviratne, Susil Premjayantha, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Mrs. Pavithra Wanniaarachchi and Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi. From the opposition benches, the list includes G.L. Peiris, W.J.M. Lokubandara, John Amaratunga, K.N. Choksy, Rohitha Bogollagama, Lakshman Kiriella, Mahinda Wijesekera, Navin Dissanayake and Mrs. Thalatha Athukorala. Other MPs include Ganjendrakumar Ganeshar Ponnambalam.

Former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has completed only the preliminary year of Law College. The medical profession has Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Dr. Rajitha Seneratne and Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene while among those holding some sort of qualification in the engineering field, the names of Salinda Dissanayake (chemical engineer), Bimal Ratnayake, Abdul Rizard Badurdeen, Vajira Abeywardene, P. Dayaratne and Monoharan Ganeshan stand out.

Those who were in the education field include the likes of Athauda Seneviratne, Nihal Galapaththi, Segu Dawood, Lasantha Aligiyawanna and A.L.M. Athaulla. The former policemen among the MPs are Palitha Range Bandara, Chamal Rajapakse and Janaka Bandara Tennakoon.

The cross section of alternative qualifications include Agriculture diplomas (Maithripala Sirisena), Peace research (Segu Dawood), Chartered accountant/Chartered surveyor/Chartered marketer (Ravi Karunanayake) and membership of the Centre for International Affairs, USA (Milinda Moragoda). Those who haven’t submitted their credentials include Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Arjuna Ranatunga, Felix Perera, Jeewan Kumaratunga and Milroy Fernando.

JVP Parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa has stated his qualifications as being a journalist, while three others have indicated academic qualifications in the same field.

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