Day: 1 July 2015

Not the PM post, they should be in jail by now, says Chandrika

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Not the PM post, they should be in jail by now, says Chandrika Despite our lives are in danger, we will fight any battle for the sake of the country, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga said. The observation was made at a special event held in Negombo today (01). “It is the responsibility of the people to safeguard the freedom of this country. Despite our lives are in danger, we will fight any battle for the sake of the country,” she said.  Kumaratunga also pointed out that there is no political…

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Push To Free Tamil Detainees

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By Waruni Karunarathne The issue about Tamil political prisoners has remained a question for sometime now. Many Tamil political parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have been calling upon the previous government and even the present government to address this issue meaningfully. Speaking in parliament last week TNA Batticaloa District Parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran called upon the government to free Tamil political prisoners before holding a festival for the Sri Lankan Diaspora which is proposed to be held in December in Sri Lanka. According to him, the government has kept saying that they…

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People will consign Mahinda to the dustbin

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People will consign MR to the dustbin: Navin In a response to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s speech today, Tourism and Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake said people would reject Mr. Rajapaksa and consign him into the dustbin of history. The minister in a message posted in his Facebook page said  the speech was an old tape and was nothing new for the people. “Mahinda same old stuff…old tape…nothing new for the people…people will put you in dustbin of history…sad to see you fall step by step like this…,” the post said. MR…

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Sri Lankan voters urged to shun ‘candidates of disrepute’

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COLOMBO (EconomyNext) – Sri Lanka’s business community and professionals organisations have thrown their weight behind calls for voters to elect only ‘candidates of repute’ and against those involved in frauds, violence and crime at forthcoming polls.  A statement said they plan to launch an islandwide campaign asking political parties “to refrain from nominating candidates of disrepute’. They also endorsed the ‘March 12th Declaration’ an initiative of PAFFREL (People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections) and the ‘Citizens’ Collective’, which identifies a set of minimum criteria that the political parties should…

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We will go it alone unless threat from MR arises: SF

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UNP to hold talks with Fonseka on polls The United National Party (UNP) is to hold talks with Fie… While claiming they would contest alone at the upcoming General Election, Democratic Party Leader, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka said they would only join a common political front if there was a real threat of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa returning to power. “If a threat arises where Mahinda Rajapaksa and his associates could return to power, we will join an alliance that would defeat it. That is the only scenario that would compel…

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Looking to Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary Election

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Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena recently dissolved parliament. The election will be held on August 17; a new parliament will gather on September 1. Yet what happens next is still far from clear. To complicate matters, Mahinda Rajapaksa could contest in the country’s upcoming parliamentary election. Rajapaksa has stated that he’d only be interested in contesting as a member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and has indicated that he’d like to become prime minister. There’s also been talk of Rajapaksa forming a new political party, but a clear…

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More than 100,000 persons jobless in Eastern Province

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By Ifham Nizam, reporting from Batticaloa More than 100,000 people of the Eastern Province, of some 600,000 persons categorized as the working class, do nothing for a living, which is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the development of the area, a senior politician said. However, Eastern Province Chief Minister Naseer Ahamed praised the timely initiative of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and National Geographic Society to develop a comprehensive online guide for tourism attractions and services in the Eastern Province, which he strongly believes would give the province…

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General election 2015: The Diaspora factor, foreign policy issues

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by Shamindra Ferdinando President Maithripala Sirisena has set the stage for an early general election, ahead of the next session of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in early September. The UNHRC holds three regular sessions a year, for a total of ten weeks. The sessions take place in March (four weeks), June (three weeks) and September (three weeks). However, in case, one third of the 47-member nations requested for a special session to address accountability issues, there is provision for that. Nominations will be accepted from the…

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Creates confusion within MR Camp

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Statement issued by President’s Media Unit Creates confusion within MR Camp MR likely to announce plan “B” today President Sirisena endorses proposal to accommodate MR MR initially agrees to consider offer to contest under SLFP ticket A strong sense of uncertainty looms large over the Sri Lanka Freedom Party with conflicting statements coming from different parties over former President Mahinda Rajapaksa getting nominations from the SLFP to contest the Parliamentary election. During the discussion held between President Maithripala Sirisena, SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and UPFA General Secretary Susil…

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BBS to represent Sinhalese at Parliament polls

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The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) said that they will be contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on August 17 and will represent the Sinhalese community. BBS General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnasara Thero said that his group will contest the elections under the party titled Bodu Jana Peramuna (BJP) and their main objective will be to represent the Sinhalese majority in parliament. The party symbol will be cobra. “While we have many small parties representing the Tamils and the Muslims, we do not have any one representing the Sinhalese. A…

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Mahinda breaks his silence, says he will contest

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Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today broke his silence with regards to the August 17 Parliament elections and formally announced that he will be contesting the polls. Speaking in front of a large crowd at his home town in Madamulana, the former President said that he is not in a position to reject the request of his supporters for him to contest. “We cannot reject the request you have put before us. We will contest and look to form the next Government,” Rajapaksa said. Rajapaksa however did not say under which…

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MAHINDA’s camp confirms MAITHIRI refused to give PM post

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Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s camp has confirmed that President Maithripala Sirisena has refused to name Rajapaksa as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). A United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) politician who is supporting Rajapaksa, said that Sirisena’s stand had been communicated to Rajapaksa by opposition leader and SLFP member Nimal Siripala de Silva in Kandy today. Sirisena had agreed to give nominations to Rajapaksa from the UPFA or SLFP but not the Prime Minister post. Sources said that the UPFA members who are supporting Rajapaksa will meet…

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Lands being sold to LTTE – BBS

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The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) warned that the there were plans underway by the government, to sell areas of strategic importance to national security in the North and East, to a pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Tamil Diaspora group for US$ 450 million. General Secretary of the BBS Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera said that the government, especially United National Party (UNP) Leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the Tamil Diaspora and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, had already decided to go ahead with the deal for the establishment…

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Hyatt hotels in Colpetty and Hambantota – Many of the contracts were handed on personal basis without open tenders, the audit report found

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Initial cost of Rs. 13 b doubles due to massive mismanagement including  Rs. 5 b EPF funds Former board had no formal meetings, contracts doled out with no tender procedure  Rs. 300 m spent on H’tota Hyatt even before start, project to be cancelled by new officials  Colombo Hyatt to open by 2017 after three-year delay By Uditha Jayasinghe   A forensic audit into the Hyatt hotels in Colpetty and Hambantota has uncovered mass fraud resulting in initial cost estimates more than doubling from Rs. 13 billion to Rs. 27…

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President Maithripala has said the UPFA will not field Rajapaksa as its prime ministerial candidate!

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Present, Past Presidents & Care Taker Prime Minister Who will the climb to the top in the greasy polls after the cross pollinations in the nation after all these character assasination? The count down has begun this time without gun, fingers crossed till the voters cross their ballots papers and votes are counted. The morale is high among voters in exercising their franchise and trust there will be no rigmarole! There is a strong notion the election will be fair and truly democratic…………………..  REAd ALL President Maithripala has said the UPFA will…

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