Columns

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 duties in mid-November. He goes to Britain at a time when the political parties there are scrambling for every vote and the Sri Lankan Diaspora is being wooed like other vote bases. This week, the ruling Conservative Party faced two defeats in by-elections at Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire turning seats they held to the Opposition Labour Party. It was a devastating defeat to the incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Tory party he leads.

Premier Sunak was in Israel this week as the by-election results were coming out, extending his support to Israel against what he called terrorism by the non-state actor, Hamas. He said Britain was on the side of Israel to defeat terrorism. Sri Lanka’s new envoy to the Court of St. James was Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister at the last stages of the armed conflict against terrorism by non-state actor LTTE. He may surely be someone from whom the Rt. Hon. Sunak and His Majesty’s Government may get some advice on the subject of how to defeat terrorism.

Alleged fraud by Lankan diplomat: CIABOC wants to know

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs drawing its attention to an incident where a senior staff member from the Sri Lanka Administrative Service serving in a diplomatic mission in a Western country was questioned by police in that country over an alleged fraud.

The CIABOC has asked the Foreign Ministry to respond to them by November 16 on the matter.

However, questions arise if the officer is subjected to a mud-slinging campaign or if the allegations are genuine as foreign police cannot usually question a diplomatic officer over a fraud.

Desperate Northern fishermen in a fundraising campaign for their boat trip to India

Northern fishermen plan boat trip to India to protest illegal trawling

A section of Tamil politicians are quite busy these days planning to write a letter to Indian Premier Narendra Modi on pressing issues here.

A group of Northern fisherfolk who are affected by ongoing Indian illegal bottom trawling (IUU) launched a crowdsourcing campaign this week collecting funds to organise a boat trip to Tamil Nadu to take up the issue.

At Munai in Point Pedro, a fishermen’s union began the campaign with tills urging the public to donate money so they can cover fuel and other costs of the trip since the Government and the traditional Northern politicians have failed to take up their issue and prevent Indian fishermen from engaging in trawling in Northern waters.

The initiative came with the blessings of Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda who told fishermen groups last week that the government had no plans to introduce a permit system to allow Indian fishermen to engage in fishing.

When the fishermen approached a veteran fisherman with their cause, the elderly man asked whether they could travel to India by the newly opened ferry service from Kankesanthurai to Nagapattinam- launched last week. The fishermen responded saying it is ‘very’ expensive for them, therefore, they are collecting funds to organise their own trip. After hearing them, the veteran fisherman put a ten rupee coin into the till as his contribution.

Meanwhile, across the Palk Strait, Indian fishermen groups in Rameswaram staged a protest this week against the arrest of 27 of their fishermen and the seizing of five trawlers last Saturday by the
Sri Lankan Navy.

Trade and investment: President’s Office warns of bogus officers

The Presidential Secretariat has warned the people to be vigilant over persons who claim to be from the President’s office and are posing as officials promoting trade and investment.

The bogus officials are going around handing out visiting cards claiming to have been appointed by the President’s office with the task of promoting trade and investment. They even boast appointment letters. All these are fake, sources at the Presidential Secretariat stressed.

Accordingly, the public and any potential investors are advised to be wary of such individuals who may contact them claiming to be from the President’s office.

Fake news warning by Palestine embassy in Colombo

As Palestinians are under attack in Gaza by Israeli forces following a surprise attack by Hamas militants earlier this month, it is fighting another war against fake news and propaganda over the conflict which has become the dominant topic in social media and digital platforms with targeted disinformation and misinformation campaigns.

The Palestinian Embassy in Colombo issued a statement this week to media institutions urging them to “be mindful of the sources you rely on and not follow fake news which is promoted by Israeli propaganda to cover up the grave and brutal human rights abuses they are inflicting on the civilians of Gaza.”

Pointing out that the Israeli intention is to create a humanitarian crisis by asking civilians to move South of Gaza towards Egypt, the embassy included a list of reputed news agency organisations and official channels reporting the conflict.

Children ushered out of Parliament before ugly scenes

The appalling standards of behaviour exhibited by the esteemed representatives of the people were again on show in this week’s Parliament sessions which saw one MP suspended for a month and an inquiry launched into an alleged assault on another.

On Thursday, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena suspended Gampaha District Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ajith Mannapperuma for four weeks for serious misconduct after the MP made an attempt to grab the Mace, the symbol of the authority of Parliament.

Mr. Mannapperuma became incensed when Public Security Minister Tiran Alles said he would table his answer to a question raised by the MP rather than read it out aloud. This was because the time allocated for oral questions and answers had elapsed.

The move to strictly adhere to the one-hour time limit for questions has been a bone of contention between the government and opposition benches for several weeks now, with the government insisting that its ministers will not be around to answer questions after the time allocated for questions had lapsed. Opposition MPs have argued that this violates their right to raise questions.

Mr. Mannapperuma and several opposition MPs gathered in the Well of the House in protest at the decision to table the answer and it was then that the incident occurred. The chaos played out in full view of Parliament’s public gallery, which was filled with dozens of children and teachers from several schools. As the situation was unfolding, Parliament staff acted quickly to usher the students and teachers out of the gallery, but the damage had already been done, further eroding the public’s respect for their representatives. It would have been a memorable outing anyway for the school children.

But this was not the end. On Friday, State Minister Diana Gamage accused SJB MP Sujith Sanjaya Perera of assaulting her in Parliament’s lobby during an altercation that also involved SJB MP Rohana Bandara.

The accusation prompted the Chair to suspend sittings for 10 minutes on a request by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Video of the alleged altercation, shot by MP Rohana Bandara, has now been released. Both sides have accused the other of starting the altercation. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has appointed a five-member committee chaired by Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapakshe to probe the matter.

Ironically, the clash came as Parliament was debating an adjournment motion on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and was urging the United Nations to call for an immediate ceasefire between all parties.

MPs playing truant at taxpayers’ expense

Gone are the days when Parliament used to be a vibrant platform where the elected representatives debated with dignity and engaged in healthy, insightful discussions on pressing issues.

If one were to follow the afternoon sessions these days, there were many empty seats both in government and in the opposition benches — hardly anyone was left in the chamber to listen to what other MPs were saying — even to the extent of lack of a quorum in the House.

When the proceedings began in the morning, most of the MPs marked their presence by making short speeches, engaging in something newsworthy, or were busy with their mobile phones.

When a journalist raised this concern with a backbencher MP from the government in the Parliament corridors, he had so many grievances lamenting that they hardly receive adequate time to address the House as party heavyweights ‘eat’ most of their time, despite their multiple requests to allocate reasonable time for the light weights.

He also stressed that many MPs leave the chamber due to other commitments such as scheduled committee hearings or other official matters, to which they are entitled to extra allowances in addition to attending parliamentary sessions.

Recalling his school days, the journalist observed there is a similarity between school and parliamentary sessions these days where students mark their presence in the morning and later in the afternoon ‘disappear’ before schools are closed. The MP said he could also relate to such incidents in his formative years, but the concerned journalist responded: “But when we did it at that time in [school], no one paid us from taxpayers’ money noh?” The MP left the scene with a smile nodding in apparent agreement.