The SLPP Parliamentarian, Chairman of the Parliamentary oversight committee – the Committee on Public Finance (CPF) – and former Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa shared his views on the current economic, political and social upheaval in the country with the Daily Mirror. EXCERPTS: QPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed a cabinet of 21 ministers but many of them including the President and Prime Minister have lost credibility among the public with their dubious past and questionable performance. Do you think President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could fulfil the aspirations…
Read MoreDay: 21 June 2022
Why Gotabaya should go? Why now?
Long cherished pillars of the welfare state, free education and free healthcare are crumbling. Child malnutrition is rising. Public transport is at a standstill. Commuters are crushed to death riding in overloaded trains. The elderly are dying in fuel queues Those who have followed this column might know that I have regularly expressed strong reservations about Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his previous stint as the secretary of defence and later his reincarnation as the president. Those concerns would be vindicated when the Sri Lankan judiciary is unshackled from routine political meddling…
Read MoreStrengthening parliamentary committees is critical for making 21A meaningful
The proposed 21 st. Constitutional Amendment (21A), which is meant to reduce the powers of the Executive President and enhance those of parliament, will be of no use if parliament continues to be lackadaisical in making use of the powers that it already has, or if the parliamentary committees have built-in weaknesses. One of the significant ideas mooted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is the need to strengthen parliament vis-à-vis the Executive Presidency in matters of public finance to enable it to exercise its constitutional prerogative to control public finance.…
Read More