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The Sri Lanka Electricity Bill, which was gazetted on Friday, was plagued with errors, it was pointed out in Parliament.

Opposition MPs, who claimed the publication of the Bill, with the courts due to go on vacation on December 15, had been timed to limit the period citizens had to legally challenge it. They also noted the horrendous list of errors in the draft.

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Dr. Harsha de Silva said the Bill’s Sinhala version also included English words. He pointed out this would create issues since it is the Sinhala version of an Act that would prevail under the law.  

“We need an important discussion on this Bill, which is why we are asking the Government to regazette it,” said Dr de Silva.

“You can not have Singlish in the draft,” said National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He said the errors also showed that the Government was in an undue haste to push the Bill through Parliament.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara said some of the words in the draft “are not even used in any of the languages in Sri Lanka,” and he asked the Government what its intention was in publishing gazettes without any scrutiny beforehand.

SLPP dissident Parliamentarian Prof. Charitha Herath, who now represents the Freedom People’s Congress, pointed out several glaring translation errors in the Sinhala draft.

“Some of these words have been translated using Google Translate,” he added. He said it was the responsibility of the government to present such Bills properly in all three languages.

On Saturday, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara acknowledged there were errors in the draft, saying they had identified 42 such errors which they had pointed out to the Legal Draftsman’s Department. Nevertheless, he said these should not distract from the essential nature of the proposed law and the Bill would be presented to Parliament with amendments.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena delivering this year’s Lalith Athulathmudali Commemorative Freedom Speech at the BMICH

Left-wing PM pays tribute to “Aluth Mudalali“

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena delivered this year’s Lalith Athulathmudali Commemorative Freedom Speech at the BMICH on the 87th birth anniversary of the former minister. It was a rare occasion where a commemorative speech was delivered by someone who was politically on the opposite side.

The PM said from the time he first entered Parliament as an Opposition MP in 1983, he was intrigued and impressed with the intellectual abilities, prowess and implacable conduct on the floor of the House by Mr Athulathmudali, who was then a government minister. The Communist Party newspaper “Aththa” once reffered to Mr Athulathmudali as “Aluth Mudalali.”

The Premier also used the occasion to draw attention to steps being taken to hand over lands to farmers who had lost ownership of their traditional lands during the British colonial era. After reinvesting in these lands, he said the new “Ape Gamen Lowata (Gateway of Exports) scheme the Government was launching would connect more than 14,000 Grama Niladhari Divisions, with each division being made up of three to four villages, coming to more than 40,000 villages across the country.

All of them would be engaged in contributing towards ensuring food security through the cultivation of these lands and exporting the surplus to earn valuable foreign exchange.

Museum visitors amazed by wall guns and canons taken from Lanka during Dutch period

The Colombo National Museum was crowded through the week with local visitors and foreign tourists coming to view “A lost heritage reclaimed” exhibition that showcased artifacts that were returned to Sri Lanka after being taken by Dutch forces some three centuries ago.

Most of the items were either looted after the Kandy palace was invaded by the Dutch in 1765, and they were taken as war trophies. Others were sent as gifts to the foreign rulers later.

Many visitors were amazed by the canons and wall guns that were showcased for their technical features and handicraft work that were made by Sri Lankan goldsmiths. The wall guns, which weigh around 27-28 kilogrammes, were used as infantry guns and were often carried by two persons on their shoulders. The special feature of these guns was their ‘detachable pans’ and the capability to increase fire power.

As a retired colonel who visited the exhibition with his family wrote in the visitor’s book, it was a proud moment to learn the history of the land and “witness the first handmade cannon Sri Lankans produced.”

Another government official who was busy taking photographs after admiring the minute decorative work on the swords used by late Kandyan kings and the guns, was heard telling his colleague about the craftsmanship of the Kandyan goldsmiths. He wondered how long it would take to finish the artistic work on these weapons.

His colleague who was stunned by the artistic beauty of these artifacts, asked his friend what happened to a demand back in the 1980s when the government prepared a list of similar stolen artifacts in foreign museums including the statue of the deity Tara that is now kept at the London Museum.

Closer ties between Lanka and Guinea-Bissau which commends Ranil’s Climate Justice Forum

Kana Kananathan, Sri Lanka’s first Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau, recently met President Umaro Sissoco Embalo at the Presidential Palace in Bissau. During the high-level discussions, the President of Guinea-Bissau lauded the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, for successfully steering and swiftly restoring stability to the nation.

Ambassador Kananathan with Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo

Expressing admiration for these accomplishments, the Guinea Bissau President also acknowledged and commended President Wickremesinghe’s recent launch of the Climate Justice Forum during COP28 in Dubai, in which the Guinea Bissau President also participated. He welcomed the Climate Justice Forum, asserting that it will serve as a potent force unifying nations for this endeavour and the initiative underscores Sri Lanka’s dedication to addressing pressing environmental issues on the international stage. Mr Kananathan thanked President Sissoco for the support Guinea-Bissau extended for Sri Lanka’s candidature at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Bug at the Sri Lanka high commission in London

Foreign Ministry corridors are buzzing over reports from London that a listening device, commonly known as a ‘bug’, had been found at the Sri Lankan High Commission.

Exactly who placed the device and for what purpose remains a mystery, though MI5, the British spy service, was ruled out as a suspect.

Foreign Ministry seniors have expressed amusement more than anything else and ordered a security clean of the premises with professional help. It is better to be safe than sorry seems to be the reason.

Top official must pay for his visit to Dubai for COP28

The President’s office has directed that action be taken to recover nearly Rs. 900,000 that a top official from an institution under the Environment Ministry, had spent on his trip to Dubai to attend the COP28 summit.

The official had gone to Dubai using funds from the institution, but had not obtained approval from its Board of Directors to use the institution’s funds for the visit.

Instead, he had gotten the funds released without any covering approval, claiming that his invitation to attend the summit had been received at short notice. After attending the conference held from December 1 to 7, he had returned and is now planning to submit a paper to the next Board of Directors meeting due to be held on December 16, asking the Board to approve the release of the funds retrospectively.

The matter had been referred to the Presidential Secretariat, which has made it clear the money should be returned to the government and all costs for the trip should be recovered from the officer responsible.

Sri Lanka-Palestine Committee calls for ending diplomatic ties with Israel

The Sri Lanka-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Committee met on Friday after a long hibernation, with members showing renewed enthusiasm to turn it into a dynamic and result-oriented body, given the unprecedented suffering Palestinian civilians, including children, are going through in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) dissident Parliamentarian Dilan Perera was unanimously elected secretary. This post had been vacant ever since Mujibur Rahman resigned to contest the Colombo Municipal Council election.

Mr. Perera, who, together with several pro-Palestinian MPs, came to Parliament last week wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, or scarf, and proposed the committee urge the government to stop sending Sri Lankans to work in Israeli farms until a solution to the Palestinian crisis was found.

Bringing an amendment to his own draft resolution, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Imtiaz Bakeer Markar said the committee should instead call on the government to sever relations with Israel until Israel agrees to abide by all United Nations resolutions on the Palestinian dispute. This was adopted unanimously.

The committee also passed a resolution proposed by SLPP Parliamentarian Yadamini Gunawardena with an amendment. It urged the government to call for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war. Soon after the meeting ended, Mr. Perera announced the resolutions passed by the committee.

Dozens of people rescued from floods in Kegalle town

The President’s office has been thanked for the quick action taken to rescue dozens of people trapped by rising flood waters during adverse weather in the Kegalle town.

After receiving a message that dozens of people, including those in several buses, were stuck as flood waters rose around them, the President’s office had immediately alerted the security forces and other agencies to the emergency and ensured that steps were taken to safely rescue those who were trapped.

Former Southern province Governor Kumari Balasuriya, who hails from Kegalle, had written to President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake thanking him and the Presidential Secretariat for their timely actions after she had alerted them to what was happening during recent torrential rains.