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Home » ColumnsQuestionable awards
My dear Harshana, I am writing to you because you seem to have somehow stolen the limelight this week by presenting an award to a former prison official who was convicted of murder and later acquitted by the highest court in the land. For many, this was more interesting than even Anura sahodaraya’s visit to [...]
Rising concern over lease of historic Govt. bungalows
The government’s move to lease out the presidential bungalows and ministerial residences to the private sector has raised concerns due to the historic value of these buildings. The government says a committee has been appointed to evaluate which properties should be handed over to private developers, but questions have been raised over how prudent such [...]
Random reflections of Sri Lanka’s political trajectory
As much as the economy of the country has declined in recent years so has the polity. The political landscape of Sri Lanka has undergone negative changes in recent years with the major political parties being virtually swept away from their earlier position of dominance. The country’s political scene, which was once dominated by two [...]
Challenges and complexity of achieving socio-political transformation
The government’s Clean Sri Lanka initiative has drawn a wide spectrum of views, ranging from criticism, scepticism, cautious optimism, and expectations. Difficult task Let us hope that it is not a distant dream but a new awakening of the country to unite its diverse people to achieve a nation with values and work ethics in [...]
The NPP’s ministers and public officials; who is leading whom astray?
When President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his National Peoples’ Power (NPP) Government point an accusing finger at the Department of the Attorney General asking as to why sensitive prosecutorial files get ‘lost in the dust’ for several years, four fingers are pointed right back at them. Running around in circles is not governance The priority [...]
There is more to foreign policy than India and China
So President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has completed his Indo-Pacific official tour with visits to India and China. It is now very much a habit for Sri Lanka’s presidents and prime ministers to head for the two countries once they have been anointed with the powers of office. It would not come as strange to some, [...]
Crisis-ridden SJB rocked by money-for-MP-post scandal
Disappointed businessmen demand their donations back; party secretary says they should ask the person to whom they gave them Lawyers’ caucus furious over National List distribution; its former head Upul Jayasuriya questions party leader Amid criticism over Premadasa’s leadership, moves are underway for SJB-UNP reunification despite reservations over Ranil’s ‘machinations’ Govt. elated over US$3.7 billion Sinopec deal [...]
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