Corruption continues: President must reverse the trend

President Sirisena having a friendly discussion with the Ven. Muruthhetuwe Ananda Thera during an Abhayarama Temple ceremony on Wednesday. At this ceremony, the President and Ven. Bellanwila Wimalaratne Thera exchanged strong views regarding corruption allegations.

• Bellanwila prelate bluntly tells Sirisena the people feel let down because of continuing fraud and other misdeeds
• Sirisena responds strongly, assures that all bond issues will be probed and those found guilty punished
• Cabinet reshuffle likely soon; four UNP ministers may face change of portfolios
• Rajapaksa rejects plea by CMs to support SLFP at polls, says Nugegoda rally proof of where the people are

By Our Political Editor-Sunday, January 29, 2017

The many challenges for President Maithripala Sirisena, now in the early days of his third year in office, seem unprecedented if not too burdensome.

Since assuming the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) leadership in 2015, his highest priority has been to reunify the party. That turned out to be a futile exercise. Thus, he urged SLFP Ministers who were summoned on January 3 to be told of his plans for 2017 to publicly “expose” the “misdeeds” of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and members of his family. He began to offer plum jobs to incompetent Rajapaksa loyalists saying they should be separated from the former President before “dealing a hard blow at him.” He offered diplomatic postings to those who were close to Rajapaksa. The reality that every such appointment angered hundreds of his own supporters, and his countrymen, to say the least, was lost on him.

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