Sri Lanka's top chamber says political leadership should respect integrity

Sri Lanka’s top business chamber on Thursday said it “holds the President and the Prime Minister responsible and accountable for the choice of Ministers.”

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) public statement came after a new cabinet was sworn in by President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday morning, ending a near 2-month constitutional crisis. The key position of finance was retained by Mangala Samaraweera, who was the minister before the October 26 sacking of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his government.

The CCC statement said:
“A new Cabinet has been appointed and the expectation of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce remains, as always, that the political leadership will focus on the development of the country. We have serious challenges to overcome including the challenge of meaningful implementation of the development agenda. We want to see that happen and we want to see the policy makers take action to achieve results. We expect the political leadership to respect the need for integrity in all of their actions and also call on them to provide the space for the public officers to carry out their duties and functions without unwarranted political interference. It’s our fervent hope that political parties will refrain from creating issues that will distract from the focus on serving the people.” -- ENDS -