Category: Featured

Making the 22nd Amendment true to the President’s 11 May commitment (Daily FT 4th July 2022 – Prof Rohan Samarajiva) In his address to the nation on 11 May, the President committed to “enact a Constitutional Amendment that would restore the substance of the 19th Amendment” (my translation from the video record, because this speech is missing from the President’s websites).1  By this time, he had seen the steadfastness of the Aragalaya and the nationwide support they had. It is reasonable to assume that former Finance Minister Sabry had briefed…

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Harsha says IMF cannot provide a loan if creditors discussions fail  (the Morning. 1-07-2022) By Imesh Ranasinghe  The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) hands are tied over helping help Sri Lanka, as it is unable to provide financing until the country comes to an agreement with its creditors, Opposition MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said. Speaking to reporters yesterday (30), he said that even though Sri Lanka had sought help from the IMF 16 times earlier, about four or five programmes have been abandoned midway. “However, this time it’s different from…

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US offers Rs 7b more to feed 800,000 children for 15 months Sunday Times 3-07-2022 By Kapila Bandara   More than 800,000 children and 27,000 pregnant and lactating women in Sri Lanka will get essential nutrition over the next 15 months through US$20 million (Rs 7.16 billion) more funding announced by the United States this week. The funds will go to support a school nutrition program. Farmers are also being supported to help improve food production in a country driven to unsustainable debt from a borrowing binge since 2007 by Mahinda…

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SJB renews call for Gota go home for new all-party Govt. to take SL out of crisis SJB renews call for Gota go home for new all-party Govt. to take SL out of crisis Says every day President stays in power constitutes an extra day of suffering forced on people Opines present President and Govt. has little credibility within local and international community Questions legality as it includes the very people who had made way for this crisis Says urgently needed political and deep economic reforms to resolve crisis can only…

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ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s newly gazetted 22nd amendment to the constitution bill does not curtail the powers of the president nor introduce checks and balances in any meaningful manner, contrary to the demands of the people of Sri Lanka, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) said. In the absence of any genuine attempt to address the inherent problems of governance, this attempt at reform will only worsen the existing political and economic crisis and destroy whatever little remaining faith citizens might have in constitutional governance, the organisation said in a…

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Thursday 30th June, 2022 Some Opposition politicians would have the public believe that the present crisis cannot be resolved unless a general election is held. They insist that they can save the economy and deliver the people from suffering if they are given a popular mandate to govern the country. There is hardly anything Sri Lankan politicians do not capitalise on, and therefore it is not surprising that they are making the most of the crisis. Chairman of the Election Commission (EC) Nimal Punchihewa has told them a home truth.…

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22nd Amendment to be gazetted today Justice Minister gets Cabinet approval to gazette Bill To be presented to Parliament within 7 days New Constitution too in the making By Chandani Kirinde The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution will be published in the Gazette today, following which it will be presented to Parliament after seven days, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said yesterday. He said that on Monday, the Cabinet had given approval to publish the Bill in the Gazette after the draft Bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman was cleared by…

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(The Island 24th June 2022) With the passing of Periyathamby Rajanayagam, another stalwart of the vintage days of left activism in Sri Lanka, is now gone. Rajanayagam was a trade unionist, human rights lawyer, journalist, writer and most importantly a life-long left political activist, to whom social justice, democracy and, with increasing authoritarianism, the right to dissent were consuming passions that he lived out daily until his health failed him in his 86th year. Born in Chunnakam, as the second child in a family of five, Raja’s political activism began…

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Daily FT 27th June 2022) Committee presents final report to House Makes 15 recommendations including guidelines for media during poll campaigns, steps to stop abuse of State resources Recommends more youth, women representation A Parliamentary Committee that looked into electoral reforms has recommended that legislation be introduced to control election expenses, a code of conduct for candidates and steps to prevent misuse of state resources during election campaigns. The final Report of the Select Committee of Parliament to Identify Appropriate Reforms of the Election Laws and the Electoral System and…

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(Daily FT 25th June 2022) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said that steps will be taken to legally grant land and house ownership to millions of people who do not have a deed to their own lands and homes. The program to hand over land ownership to landless families under the ‘Land for All’ program began yesterday at the Prime Minister’s Office. It is implemented by the Ministry of Tourism and Lands through the Land Reforms Commission and the Department of the Land Commissioner General. Minister Harin Fernando stated that…

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