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Home » ColumnsHC designate Bogollagama receives his Agrement finally
Sri Lanka’s next High Commissioner to Britain, former Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, has finally received his Agrement from the host country after some unexplained delay in accepting him. The one-time UNP Minister also served in the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa administrations and as Governor of the Eastern Province. He is expected to assume [...]
The state of our state universities and taxing questions
By Sandun Jayawardana Attention was drawn to the crisis facing the country’s state universities during this week’s Parliament sessions. Speaking in Parliament on Thursday (19) as it debated several regulations and orders related to finance and tax revenue, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Galle District MP Gayantha Karunathilaka highlighted the “bitter reality” of the situation at [...]
Abolition of the Executive Presidency— can the country seize the moment?
After the Aragalaya of 2022 the cry for system change has repeatedly been heard in political circles as well as from various quarters of society. There are diverse views as to what form the system change should take, but all the suggestions relate to improving governance in which area the country is believed to have [...]
The lady doth talk too much
My dear Diana, I thought of writing to you this week after noticing that you are in the news again. It is somehwat like hearing about our cricket team because the first question that comes to mind is “what disaster is it this time?”. Anyway, after hearing all about you, I thought I shouldn’t be [...]
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery undermined by two wars disrupting global economic conditions
The Gaza war and the Ukraine war are serious setbacks to the Sri Lankan economy, which was striving to recover from the worst economic crisis that the nation has faced. The war between Israel and Palestine that began on October 10th and the Russian-Ukrainian war of over a year have disrupted and destabilised the global [...]
Will the saloon door of political parties swing more cautiously now?
Sri Lanka’s political establishment continues to be in unusually excited tumult following this month’s Supreme Court decision in the Nazeer Ahamed case, upholding the opposition Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC)’s expulsion of a dissident member of parliament for voting against the party whip in Parliament. Amusing repercussions of the Court ruling He has now forfeited [...]
Question the world still asks: ‘Who bombed Gaza hospital?’
‘Eye for an eye’ makes Israel-Hamas both blind to the full horror of war Israel showed on Tuesday it had lost none of its Judaist zeal to claim an eye for an eye in revenge for Hamas’ first strike against Israeli civilians on their day of fast following the nightfall end to the Jewish religious [...]
To the edge of hell and back — for how long though
Never in the history of independent Sri Lanka has a single government with such a short history and a dubious mandate, drawn up such a battery of obnoxious bills in such a short time to turn so many millions of people against it. That, friends, Sri Lankans and countrymen—to make a minor change to Mark [...]
President appoints special commission to drastically change election laws
Other Government leaders surprised by move with questions over delay in elections Controversy over IGP’s third extension; JVP challenges President’s power to do so after CC’s rejection By Our Political Editor In a fast-changing political landscape, the prospects of any early election have receded after President Ranil Wickremesinghe named a nine-member Commission of Inquiry [...]
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