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Home » ColumnsMinister says officials didn’t tell him about scanners not working
Health Ministry officials were galvanised into action to ensure that spare parts and materials needed for vital medical equipment at the Colombo National Hospital were obtained after the Sunday Times questioned them about the non-functioning of these equipment. This newspaper asked Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella this week about the lengthy delay in repairing the Positron [...]
Heated words and poles apart as initial polls date comes and goes
By Sandun Jayawardana Alleged attempts by President Ranil Wickremesinghe and his government to stop the 2023 local government election came under a barrage of criticism from opposition parties in Parliament throughout the week. The matter was repeatedly brought up during a two-day adjournment debate on “Franchise” moved by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and often [...]
An election gambit
My dear Maco Nimal, I am writing to you after a couple of months because the date for the elections you promised us has come and gone – and no elections have been held. If anything, this whole issue about the election has got ‘curioser and curioser’ even though yet another date in April has [...]
Expression of dissent enriches democratic governance
As the country battles the economic crisis, a spate of protests, demonstrations and expressions of dissent have dotted the political landscape during the last several months. Many of these have been related to various steps taken by the Government to address some of the issues related to the economic crisis, while some relate to other [...]
Improvement in external finances enhanced by IMF facility
The improvement in external finances this year has led to a positive expectation in the balance of payments and the external reserves by the end of the year. However, there is uncertainty in achieving this, owing to political protests and social upheavals. External finances A significant improvement in the external finances is likely in the [...]
Casting independent institutions as villains in Sri Lanka’s political dramas
The recent Supreme Court interim order to the Secretary, Ministry of Finance preventing him from withholding allocated funds in the 2023 Budget for the local government polls, has been interpreted as a ‘breach of the privileges of Parliament’ by some enthusiastic worthies in the Government. Constitutional parameters and the public interest The fact that the [...]
IMF egg starts to hatch but is it too early to count the chickens?
The President made a welcome departure from being the habitual harbinger of bad news to become the herald of approaching good times when he told Parliament this week that the IMF egg was beginning to hatch. Making a special statement on Wednesday, the President announced that Lanka had received the all-important financial assurance from China’s [...]
Roadblocks on Lanka’s path to democratic change
While some Air Force cadets and invitees who attended the passing out parade in Trincomalee recently might still be pondering President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s homily on parliamentary democracy how it cannot be achieved by public protestations on the highways and byways, in the capital city university students were being doused by water cannons and tear-gassed, possibly [...]
SLPP falls in line with President’s policies
Basil and others learn to grin, embrace and move forward with Wickremesinghe’s approach Moves to revive SLPP at grassroots level for local council polls and big May Day rally President explains plans to reinvigorate the once-bankrupt economy and expresses confidence of major improvements in coming months JVP cites its own projections and claims it can [...]
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