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During Friday’s parliamentary committee stage debate on the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, New Democratic Front (NDF) Badulla district MP Chamara Sampath Dassanayake found himself speaking immediately after Deputy Defence Minister Major General (Retd.) Aruna Jayasekara.

In his speech, the deputy minister stated that the government “cannot joke around” (vihilu karanna bahe) with the mandate given by the people.

When it came to his own speech, the combative Mr. Dassanayake could not resist a jab at the deputy minister’s comment, reminding the House of the now infamous clip of Deputy Minister Jayasekara, while on the campaign trail, claiming an NPP government needed only two months to eradicate the drug menace and inviting opponents to come with some desks and chairs to obtain “tuition” from him on national security.

The MP from the central highlands referred to Ishara Sewwandi, the young woman suspected to be the mastermind of the killing of alleged underworld figure ‘Ganemulla Sanjeewa’ at the Magistrate’s Court in Hulftsdorp.

Mr. Dassanayake pointed out that Ms. Sewwandi continued to evade police, despite a massive country-wide manhunt. “It is not to him (Jayasekara) who we need to go with desks and chairs to obtain tuition on national security, but to Ishara Sewwandi,” Mr. Dassanayake quipped.

Grave scandal: CMC worker runs funeral parlour in Borella cemetery

Since 1994, a Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) employee had been maintaining an unauthorised funeral parlour on a council property assigned to Borella General Cemetery, the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) was told.

COPA learned that the funeral parlour had been operating illegally from an office and land within the cemetery property. Although it did not have a licence to operate, it had been registered as a company with the Company Registrar, officials revealed.

COPA Chairman, MP Aravinda Senarath, questioned how a funeral parlour had been allowed to operate for more than 30 years without even an environmental licence.

The CMC’s then Municipal Commissioner testified that the employee had produced forged documents to try and claim ownership of the building where the funeral parlour is situated. She added she had faced threats to her life for continuing to investigate the matter.

She said the CMC had suffered a loss of Rs. 41 million due to the scandal. Given that it is illegal for a government employee to engage in a business, she added that the employee had continued with the business by fraudulently changing the name of the business on a frequent basis.

COPA ordered authorities to take immediate steps to close down the unauthorised funeral parlour and recommended that legal action be taken against the CMC employee under the Public Property Act. It also observed that a single person could not continue such a large-scale fraud for so long without the involvement of other officials. The Western Province Chief Secretary was ordered to submit a report on the matter within two weeks.

Modi admires Ranil

These days, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is busy taking part in think tank discussions and delivering keynote talks in reputed regional institutions on global diplomacy and governance.

The former President was in India on Friday to deliver a keynote address on global issues at an event where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also took part and spoke. This would be his third visit to India in recent months.

The meeting that led to Modi's tweet on Ranil

President Wickremesinghe’s address focused on South Asia’s geopolitical landscape, economic challenges, and regional cooperation. Following the official engagement, President Wickremesinghe held discussions with Indian Premier Modi.

“At the NXT Conclave, met my friend Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe. I have always looked forward to our interactions and have admired his perspective on various issues,” the official handle of the Indian Prime Minister tweeted on platform X.

Ranil’s Ferrari won’t go with L-boarders

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe met with some professionals supportive of the United National Party (UNP) this week at his office on Sir Ernest de Silva Mw (Flower Road), Colombo.

Many who attended the meeting wanted to confirm rumours that Mr. Wickremesinghe would enter Parliament later this year. Posing the question to Mr. Wickremesinghe, one of them said they all believed it would be good if the former President were to enter Parliament once again.

“Why should someone who has a licence to drive a Ferrari spend time with those wearing ‘L’ boards?” Mr. Wickremesinghe shot back,
to chuckles from all around.

TN fisher leader cancels trip after son’s arrest in Lanka

Fisherfolk leaders from India’s Tamil Nadu state were ready to leave for Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) from Chennai International Airport to attend a fisheries-related regional conference when they heard that 38 Indian fishermen had been taken into custody for bottom trawling in the Mannar Sea.

One of them—a key fishing union leader from Rameshwaram—learnt a bit late that one of his bottom trawlers worth millions
of rupees was also among the seized vessels, along
with his son.

The union leader cancelled his travel to Colombo and returned to Rameswaram, where the fisherfolk community is on a week-long protest now demanding the immediate release of the arrested fishermen.

As usual, letters from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Secretariat were faxed to India’s External Affairs Ministry and other relevant institutions, calling on the Centre to take “tough action on Sri Lanka and protect India’s sovereignty.”

Meanwhile, the Fisheries Ministry in Colombo directed regional fisheries department offices in the North to dispose of some 37 seized Indian bottom trawlers by public auction. The saga continues.

Clean Sri Lanka draws more donations

The Budget 2025 allocated Rs. 5 billion to the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ programme and expects external financial contributions.

According to its official website, the initiative has received Rs 14,716,059 so far.

Namal: Let’s scrap the privilege to lie

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa on Friday proposed that the government add one more privilege given to MPs to the list of privileges it intends to scrap—the privilege afforded to MPs to lie in Parliament without fear of legal consequences.

“You are cutting down on the privileges of MPs. That is very good. You are not giving vehicle permits to MPs, and you are scrapping the insurance scheme for MPs. So, why don’t we all get together and scrap the privilege given to MPs to lie inside this House? Let’s scrap this privilege given to MPs to say anything directed at persons who are inside and outside Parliament,” he told government MPs.

Mr. Rajapaksa offered to bring a private member’s motion to scrap the privilege, or alternatively, he said the government could also sponsor a motion to this effect. “Let’s do this in good conscience. If we don’t do that, then we’ll continue to have a situation where a lie can be levelled from one side while the other says another lie in return. This has been the situation for many years,” he stressed.

Legal battle brewing in new party of Wijeweera’s son

The ‘Dewana Parapura’ (2nd Generation) party of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna founder leader Rohana Wijeweera’s son, Uvindu Wijeweera, has been thrown into a crisis owing to an internal dispute.

The party’s media secretary, Menaka Abeysinghe, has obtained a district court stay order, preventing seven national committee members, including General Secretary Uvindu Wijeweera and Chairman Senuka Primal, from convening a special general meeting of the party. The stay order issued by Mahara District Judge Saliya Channa Abeyratne is valid until March 7.

Appearing for Mr. Abeysinghe, Attorney-at-Law Kelum Kumarasinghe told court that Mr. Wijeweera was behaving in a manner unsuited for a political party leader, taking arbitrary decisions and acting in violation of the party’s constitution. He claimed that the special general meeting had been called with the aim of appointing his friends and associates to party positions and urged the court to issue a stay order preventing the party hierarchy from going ahead.

In response, Sanjeewa Dassanayake, instructed by Dhammika Jiminige, filed a motion on behalf of young Mr. Wijeweera to have the stay order lifted, but the court ordered them to present facts on March 7.

Passport queue may be short, but many shortcomings in new passport: SJB MP

The government claimed that the passport queue crisis has come to an end with the opening of around-the-clock counters at the Department of Immigration and Emigration, but an opposition MP brought up some of the key issues in the new passport, including security lapses.

Raising the issue in Parliament this week, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Mujibur Rahman said that the number of pages in the new passport was reduced from 64 to 48. Removed from the new book were the old passport’s pages for ‘Alterations and Observation’ and the pages used for foreign employment registration and foreign exchange details. The reduction of pages, the MP claimed, cost Rs 6,661 for citizens considering the new passport processing fee is fixed at Rs 20,000.

The misspelt travel document

The spellings of Thalai Mannar, Ratnapura, and Yapahuwa were misspelt on the new blue colour travel document as well.

Not only that, the MP said, there is no passport number printed on the first page of the passport, which is considered a special security feature. The front cover language sequence is also changed to “English, Sinhala, and Tamil.”

Treasury Secretary recalls painful recent past

Amidst ongoing budget debates and policy discussions at the Finance Ministry, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana had set aside some time to take part in the 46th Anniversary Celebration of Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation on Friday.

At the event, he reiterated the
need to learn from past mistakes when it comes to running a finance portfolio in a country.

The Secretary started his speech by recalling a familiar scenario three years ago: “Most of us would not have even been in this room. We would more likely have been in a queue for fuel or cooking gas. International trade could barely take place since it was near impossible to open a letter of credit. The bankers present today will recall how the interbank forex market was all but frozen in early 2022. Those days are now thankfully behind us. But I hope we never forget the pain that we went through.”

“I hope we never forget the policy errors that led us to the crisis and the incredible difficulty that had to be endured to get to where we are today.”

The saying “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it” would be true in Sri Lanka’s present context, the Treasury Secretary said, quoting Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana.