The pot-pourri of Ministers

In addition to new entrants to the government from the UNP, SLMC and the JHU who were appointed as Cabinet Ministers; several members of the first Mahinda Rajapaksa government who were Non Cabinet Ministers were promoted to the rank of Cabinet Ministers, while Deputy Ministers became Non Cabinet Ministers, in last Sunday’s Cabinet reshuffle.

Among those promoted to Cabinet rank were Pavithra Wanniarachchi (Youth Affairs), Tissa Karaliyadda (Indigenous Medicine), Dulles Allahaperuma (Transport), Jeevan Kumaratunga (Lands and Land Development), Felix Perera (Fisheries), Chamal Rajapakse (Irrigation and Water Management), Wiswa Waranapala (Higher Education), Milroy Fernando (Public Estate Management and Development), Keheliya Rambukwella (Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare), C.B. Ratnayaka (Livestock Development), Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena (Cultural Affairs), Kumar Welgama( Industrial Development).

Several Deputy Ministers also became Non Cabinet ministers. They are Dilan Perera (Justice) Pandu Bandaranaike (Religious Affairs), Mahindananda Aluthgamage (Power), Mervyn Silva (Labour), Jayaratne Herath (Health Promotion and Disease Prevention), Dayashritha Tissera (Skills Development), Ranjith Siyambalapitya (State Revenue and Finance), Lasantha Alagiyawanna (Road Passenger Transport), Nirmala Kotalawala ( Education Services), Rohana Kumara Dissanayake ( Urban Development) Basheer Cegu Issadeen (Local Government), Duminda Dissanayake (Petroleum Resources) and H.R. Mithrapala (Consumer Affairs).

The remaining MPs in the government with no portfolios are only a handful.

In addition to the seven monk MPs of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) who will now sit with the government, the others with no portfolios are Wijedasa Rajapakse, Arjuna Ranatunga and Nirupama Rajapaksa Several subjects allocated to one Minister previously, have been split between two in the reshuffle. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage have gone to two Ministers now with the former going to Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and the latter to Anura Bandaranaike. The Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry too has gone to two separate ministers. Gamini Lokuge is the new Minister of Sports while Pavithra Wanniarachchi is the new Minister of Youth Affairs.

Some previous ministries were also dropped, among them being the Ministry for Promotion of Botanical and Zoological Gardens, New Railroad Development, Mahaweli Development and Samurdhi.

There are however four Non Cabinet Ministers for Nation Building namely Bandula Basnayake, D.M. Dasanayake, Jagath Pushpakumara and Rohitha Abeygunawardena. There are also two non Cabinet Ministers for Water Supply namely -S.M. Chandrasena and Mahinda Amaraweera.