Columns

Though it is two months now since the general election, some scandals relating to certain parties and their candidates are coming to light.

It has transpired that higher-ups of a newly formed political party that contested the general elections had offered Rs. 4 million to a teacher to contest the election from their party ticket in the Colombo district.

The teacher, who was in government service, had, however, found that there was not enough time for her to resign from her position before signing the nomination papers. As such, she had reached out to a lawyer known to her and made a deal—the lawyer would sign nominations and contest from the party and would get Rs. 3 million while the teacher would get a “facilitator’s fee” of Rs. 1 million.

The lawyer had accordingly signed the nomination papers and been given the Rs. 4 million. Once the election was over (the lawyer lost), the teacher had gone and asked for her Rs. 1 million fee, only to be given just Rs. 30,000 by the lawyer, who had claimed she had unfortunately had to spend the rest of the money on her election campaign.

The teacher is now known to be making a fuss, telling all those known to her that she had been swindled out of her fee.

Meanwhile, a millionaire businessman had recently stormed the office of a leading political party in the opposition, claiming that a party high-up had taken Rs. 50 million from him on the promise of giving him a national list seat in Parliament.

The businessman had kicked up a ruckus at the party office, demanding that he be given his money back. Those at the office had told the businessman that they had no idea what he was talking about and that he had best find the person to whom he gave the money and ask him
to return it.

PM’s seat: Taking no chances

With a maverick MP occupying the opposition leader’s seat and causing a ruckus in Parliament not too long ago, this woman security officer for Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya appears to be taking no chances. She is seen seated in the premier’s chair next to United States Ambassador Julie Chung until she arrives for the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year event. The Prime Minister was the chief guest at the event held on Tuesday at the Hilton Hotel in Colombo. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara

India, China propose closer parliamentary ties with Lanka

MPs elected to the new Parliament are likely to benefit from undertakings from both China and India to strengthen ties between these two countries’ legislative bodies and the Sri Lankan Parliament.

Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha, who called on Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne this week, said India plans to support the Parliament of Sri Lanka through training and capacity-building programmes for the newly elected members and parliamentary staff.

Mr. Jha also spoke on the importance of fostering closer interactions between the women parliamentarian groups of the two parliaments
to strengthen collaboration and enhance the role of women in effective policy-making.

Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong, who called on the Speaker last week, also highlighted the importance of strengthening ties between the two legislative bodies, particularly through exchange programmes.

One presidential residence renovation cost Rs. 472 million over three years

More than Rs. 472 million in public funds had been spent over three years for the renovation of the official residence of a former president.

Documents seen by the Sunday Times reveal that the funds had been spent in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

More than Rs. 252 million had been spent in 2021. Renovations continued in 2022, even as the country was rocked by an unprecedented economic crisis and mass street protests. More than Rs. 181 million had been spent in 2022 for these renovations. Nearly Rs. 39 million had been spent on the renovations in 2023.

Govt’s digitalisation drive and damp squibs

While President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been at the forefront of the government’s digitalisation drive, some of the websites that used to work well before he took office have suddenly gone into maintenance mode and cannot be accessed.

They include the Government Printer’s www.documents.lk, a vital website for accessing government gazettes, bills, and other important notices. For over a week now, those trying to access the website get a message saying, “We’re performing some maintenance at the moment. We’ll be back online shortly!”

The Right to Information (RTI) portal on the President’s Office website has also been down for more than a month with the message “Coming Soon” across the home page, reminding one of movies about to be released. “Next Attraction” would even be better said. If the government is serious about digitalisation, the government websites must remain running and not be taken down for weeks for maintenance, especially those that were running perfectly well in the past.

Missing PMD equipment: Ex-DG takes to social media to clarify position

The Presidential Media Division’s (PMD) former director general, Danushka Ramanayake, has issued a statement, answering allegations that equipment worth over Rs. 160 million is missing from the PMD.

The police have also begun an investigation into the matter.

In his statement posted on his social media accounts, Mr. Ramanayake, who served as the PMD’s Director General from 2022 to 2024, claimed that the first thing he did after assuming office on July 26, 2022, was to compile an inventory of the PMD’s equipment and the officials in charge of them. However, since this showed a discrepancy between the equipment supposed to be at the main engineering storage facility and those held under the name of each official, Mr. Ramanayake said he obtained permission from then-Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake to conduct an internal audit on all the equipment available to the PMD.

The internal audit was conducted under the PMD’s administration officer and director of engineering, with the support of nine security forces personnel who had expertise in the necessary technical and engineering aspects, said Mr. Ramanayake. The two-month-long audit properly identified all the PMD equipment and items that were deemed functional or nonfunctional.

“Copies of these inventories, along with inventories of all equipment purchased for the PMD subject to the due procurement process during the time I was its DG, were submitted to the current President’s Secretary when I left office,” Mr. Ramanayake said, adding that he possessed all documents regarding this matter.

He stressed that he could not be held responsible for any issues with the PMD’s activities or its technical or non-technical equipment that occurred before he assumed duties as DG or after he resigned from his post.

The long march to a doctorate

It’s been close to a month since Parliamentarian Asoka Ranwala resigned from the post of Speaker of Parliament with a promise to submit the documents necessary to prove he actually has a PhD degree from a Japanese university but has yet to make any such documents public.

This delay has led to many memes on his supposed journey to Japan to obtain the documents and return to Sri Lanka. Among them was one by an enterprising Lankan who calculated that it takes 260 days to walk to Japan and return by foot. On a serious note, it is unlikely Mr. Ranwala will be walking to Japan to get his documents, but whatever mode of travel he chooses, the longer he delays proving he does hold a doctorate as he claimed in his curriculum vitae, and while resigning, the more he will remain exposed to ridicule.

Hakeem seeks PSC probe on Covid cremations

A proposal by Samagi Jana Balawegaya Parliamentarian and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem calling for the appointment of a parliamentary select committee to investigate and make appropriate recommendations regarding the cremation, instead of burial, of the bodies of COVID-19 pandemic victims has been included in the Order Paper of Parliament.

Mr. Hakeem wants the Select Committee to be appointed to investigate the serious mistakes on the part of the then government in making cremation mandatory for COVID-19 victims and to make recommendations, considering the need to do justice to the families and the next of kin of the deceased and considering the requests on the part of the general public.