U.S. ambassador speaks at constitutionalism seminar

Mar 30, 2016

Thank you so very much to all of you for attending. Honorable and respected Prime Minister, Honorable and respected Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Secretary-General, distinguished and Honorable Ministers and Members of Parliament, resource persons; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I wish you a very hearty good morning and I thank you very much for giving me the great honor of inviting me to speak at this meeting.

Sri Lankans are rightfully proud of their long democratic history, influenced by its own unique traditions, relationships, and working institutions. You have confronted challenges in terms of conflict and natural disaster, changed governments in a vibrant multi-party system, and embraced progress toward transparency.

Last year, the people of Sri Lanka exercised their democratic rights again and voted twice for good governance, accountability, and equal opportunities for all. Your Government has responded by passing laws and empowering independent commissions, journalists, and civil society for feedback and guidance.

The United States and Sri Lanka have a longstanding partnership dating back a hundred years before this country’s independence. This friendship is based on our peoples’ shared democratic values and strong economic and cultural ties. It is also the reason we have vowed – and I will quote Secretary of State John Kerry in this – to “stand with you by your side as you build a stronger democracy and a future that is marked by peace and prosperity after so many years of suffering and hardship.”

Like Sri Lankans, Americans believe certain human rights are universal, including the right for every child to an education; for the rule of law to prevent arbitrary detention, guarantee due process, and ensure justice; for every citizen to speak their mind or protest peacefully without fear; to practice their faith peacefully and publicly; and to freely choose their own elected leaders.

I wish to stress: we also recognize that every country must chart its own course and shape its own model as fitting its own history and culture. That is why all of you are gathered here today, representing the people who voted for you, to bolster accountability and transparency, strengthen the justice system, and determine your own path forward on constitutional reform.

The United States supports the people of Sri Lanka because we are linked by similar ideals about the basic rights of citizens. As President Barack Obama recently stated on his historic visit to Cuba, “those ideals find their truest expression in democracy. Not because American democracy is perfect, but precisely because we’re not. And we – like every country – need the space that democracy gives us in order to change. It gives individuals the capacity to be catalysts, to think in new ways, and to reimagine how our society should be, and to make it better.”

It is on these shared values that the United States Government – through its development arm, – the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – supports professional and technical training for Members of Parliament and their staff. We will partner with your public servants to help them increase responsiveness to citizens, more effectively deliver policy solutions, and carry out oversight responsibilities.

Our assistance builds on continued and consistent partnership with the people of Sri Lanka over the past 60 years. USAID programs have supported a wide range of sections, including agriculture, business development, environment, health, education, infrastructure, civil society, strengthening good governance, and humanitarian assistance.

The Government of Sri Lanka has already taken many commendable steps to promote and protect the civil and political rights of all Sri Lankans – including the right to freedom of expression, respecting the independence of government institutions, and upholding rule of law. There remain difficult challenges to address related to reconciliation, accountability, and a government that reflects the will of the people. But these are decisions for the people of Sri Lanka and for you as their elected representatives.

Friends, as a fellow democracy, the United States will be ready to support you as you chart a future for Sri Lanka that is peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous. U.S. assistance and cooperation should help forge new partnerships, new dialogues, new exchanges, and be based on mutual respect and inclusive consultation.

I wish you all a very highly successful seminar and I congratulate the Parliament of Sri Lanka and the Prime Minister’s Office on this fantastic initiative.

Thank you all so very much.

Prime witness in Ekneligoda murder receives death threats from Girithale camp – Complains to police

(Lanka-e-News -30.March.2016, 11.30PM)  Sergeant major Ran Banda the prime witness   in the murder of Prageeth Ekneligoda has receieved death threats from the  Girithale army camp, according to reports.

It was this sergeant major who received death threats yesterday , who interrogated Prageeth for two days while the latter was detained in the Girithale army camp after he was abducted by a group of army officers including Shammi Kumararatne of the Girithale army camp.

Ran Banda had stated to the CID that he questioned Prageeth on the book the latter wrote criticising the Rajapakse family. Accordingly the main witness  in this case is the retired sergeant major. 

Ran Banda has made a complaint to Nikaweratiya police yesterday , that a group of army officers of the Girithale army camp has planned to kill him.

The handwritten copy of the book of Prageeth on which he was questioned at that time by Ran Banda was given to Gotabaya by Ruwan Ferdinands who had undertaken to publish it . Ruwan Ferdinands was a Gotabaya’s secret  informant who was functioning as  co ordinating secretary to Mangala Samaraweera for a long time.

After the cat was out of the bag , and the incident came to light , via the website that belonged to Ruwan Ferdinands and the newspapers he  began maligning  Ekneliyagoda as  a ‘Tiger’ and gave publicity to that.  

After it became known that Ruwan Ferdinands had been a long time informant of Rajapakses , Mangala Samaraweera chased him out from  the post of co ordinating secretary .

Unbelievably and intriguingly   Ruwan Ferdinands who was  the epicenter  of Prageeth’s murder has not been questioned by the CID so far.

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by     (2016-03-30 21:37:16)

Prime Minister to tame the ‘bugs’ in Education

(March 30, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Useless unproductive officials should be removed and replaced with more efficient people drawn from the public service, private sector, Armed Forces, Police or any other service, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

“A major leap should be ensured in the country’s education sector by deploying efficient hands. Let us all dedicate ourselves to perform this task. A new system of education will be introduced before May this year after discussions with Provincial Councils and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education,” he said.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the opening of Royal MAS Arena – Sri Lanka’s first sporting arena for schools on Monday. “Many people will naturally oppose this as there are people who are against an educational revolution.

We will go forward with the new education system regardless of such meaningless opposition,” he said.

Trade Unions Call For Educational Reforms Free From Political Agendas

March 30, 2016

In the backdrop of several instances of political meddling within the education sector, the Steering Committee for Inquiring about the Education Sector of Sri Lanka, has proposed for educational reforms free of political agendas.

Minister Kiriella

The Steering Committee which comprises of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA), the Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union (CTSU) and the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) has also emphasized upon large-scale public participation for future educational reforms, if the system is to rid itself of the current chaos surrounding the sector.

“We reiterate and emphasize the need for educational reform that is free from political agendas,” the joint statement signed by Dr. R U Halwatura of FUTA, Joseph Starlin of CTU and Mahinda Jayasinghe of CTSU said.

The committee was formed as an initiative to find suitable solutions to the burning issues faced by the Sri Lankan education system at present. At the inaugural meeting of committee held on the 22 March 2016 at the University of Kelaniya, the discussion centred around several key points, including;

• The public is ignorant of the Government’s policy or vision on education which leads to uncertainties about the same

• These uncertainties have led to the creation of weaknesses and ambiguities which have developed into a force that is slowing the development of the education system

• The importance of educating the public and other stakeholders about the National Education Policy in a context where all educational reforms of the past have failed

• The risk of the public adopting erroneous and baseless practices due to failed educational reforms

• Uncertainties about the role and responsibilities of prominent institutes engaged in the formation of educational policy such as the National Education Commission (NEC) and  the National Institute of Education (NIE) in a social context where there is an incomplete and unclear understanding about the Government’s educational policy

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Now Mahinda faction favours Geneva!

WEDNESDAY, 30 MARCH 2016

Parliamentarians Dullas Alahapperuma, Bandula Gunawardene and Udaya Gammanpila left to Geneva yesterday (29th) to apprise the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) regarding unjust treatment meted out to Members of the 'Joint Opposition' in Parliament.

Before leaving the island Parliamentarian Dullas Alahapperuma speaking at a media conference had said they would meet the Secretary General of IPU tomorrow (31st) and apprise him of the unjust treatment meted out to 53 Members of Parliament of the joint opposition including denying sufficient time for them to express their views in Parliament. He said the Speaker has been informed regarding their move to hand over a document with 6 important matters to the Secretary General of IPU.

However, when Parliamentarians representing the opposition engaged in a foreign visit during Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, the likes of Dullas Allahapperuma, Bandula Gunawardene and Wimal Weerawansa always said the Parliamentarians from the opposition make foreign visits to belittle the country in front of the international community. Whatever was said about Sri Lanka many ministers in Mahinda Rajapaksa regime said it would bring discredit to Sri Lanka and it was a part of the imperialist conspiracy.

They also talked about an attempt to take Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Hague and the electric chair. However, the IPU, which Parliamentarians of the joint opposition visit now, has played an important part in setting up the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Will Gotabaya come to parliament through a national seat?

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Brazil president closer to impeachment as coalition partner quits

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Political reports substantiate senior members of the SLFP has proposed president to offer a national list post for the former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The senior SFLP members believes that this would be the best solution to foil the campaign taken by Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa to divide the Sri Lanka Freedom party. Therefore in order to present a parliament MP post a new MP elected to the parliament is planning to step down.

The senior SLFP’s believe that the president would also comply with this request. They point out although president Maithripala Sirisena showed his willingness to nominate Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the general election but due to the objection of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not given an opportunity. It is learnt that Prime Minister Ranil Wicramasinghe has no objection for taking Gotabaya in to the government. Meantime during the last phase of the Rajapaksa era, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has personally intervened and provided security to Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wicramasinghe. Due to this it appears they all have a special friendship.

However sources close to Gotabaya Rajapaksa substantiate that he is not reluctant to get a parliament MP post. He believes he can defeat all powers against him by entering the parliament as a representative for the former president and answer too allegations leveled by the field Marshall Sarath Fonseka who is hiding behind parliamentary privileges and castigating Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka leveled many allegations against the Rajapaksa’s recently.

Meanwhile during a discussion held at Mahinda Amaraweera’s house, John Senevirathna and Dilan Perera has given their opinion about taking Gotabaya Rajapaksa in to the government.

They emphasize when a position is given to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the current baseless allegations charged towards the government would be inhibited. They said there is a high welcome to Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the middle class society.

However the opinion of the intelligence unit formed for the immigration of Gotabaya Rajapaksa to the politics, say that Gotabaya Rajapaksa should still remain quiet for some time. They has substantiated that Gotabaya Rajapaksa should not participate any of the rallies organized by Mahinda Rajapaksa or the joint opposition. Therefore he refrained participating for any of the joint opposition gatherings recently. When we inquired about this he said “I am not in to any of this”. Meantime he said he would never join to any of the May Day rally or any other rallies organized by the joint opposition.

The desire of the racist members of the joint opposition is to appoint Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the leader of their group. Mahinda Rajapaksa has become against for this and told that all affairs should be implemented with the knowledge of Basil Rajapaksa. The joint opposition substantiate that Mahinda Rajapaksa have a strong desire to bring Namal Rajapaksa forward. The intention to create a division in the SLFP is also to exert pressure to Maithripala Sirisena and obtain a top position to Namal in the SLFP. News substantiates a special group has spoken with the Maithri party about this. In addition to a top post in the SLFP, Mahinda Rajapaksa has urged Maithri to give the deputy foreign minister post to Namal Rajapaksa. Apart this, dissolving the Financial Crime Investigating Unit (FCID) and to stop all the current investigations conducted against his family members. During last few weeks there were discussions between Namal Rajapaksa and this special agents and Namal Rajapaksa has been given a responsibility to manage Mahinda Rajapaksa. The attacks Mahinda Rajapaksa unleash against the president has hindered this discussions.

Subash Jayawardana

Source : Sathhanda

Translated by Azgar

Sri Lanka: Gotabaya Rajapaksa Is Still Dangerous

Taylor Dibbert- 03/29/2016

Could Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary (and brother of previous president Mahinda Rajapaksa), bring the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) together? Evidently a member of the country’s joint opposition has suggested that Rajapaksa be appointed to parliament, the implication being that this move would help to unify a political party that has remained divided since Maithripala Sirisena assumed the presidency in January 2015.

This is a very bad idea. After all, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is an alleged war criminal who played a pivotal role in the island nation’s slide towards autocracy. Ranga Jayasuriya, a journalist, has written a piece about this issue. Here’s part of that article:

Gota’s balance sheet is a jumble. On the plus side are his pivotal role in the military victory against terrorism, and of course, beautifying Colombo. Those are obviously notable achievements. But, on the minus side, his record is exceedingly dark. There are extra judiciary killings, white van abductions and disappearance of journalists, civil society activists and dissidents — all that took place under his watch as the Secretary of Defence.

Jayasuriya finishes with a strong concluding paragraph:

How he [Gotabaya Rajapaksa] can be a unifier of the SLFP is open to question, but the bigger question is how a President who pledged to redress the victims of the past and hold their abusers accountable for their evil could accommodate Gota without losing face. Also, such an accommodation is tantamount to appeasement. It would embolden his detractors within the Joint Opposition who would seek further concessions to advance their selfish ends. The impact of such a gesture on the on-going investigations into the abuses of power of the former regime would also be disastrous. Perhaps, the President would not be duped.

To be blunt, Sirisena’s tenure thus far has disappointed many people; clearly, he is not the savviest of politicians and his sincerity vis-à-vis reform remains an open question. Furthermore, politically speaking, the Rajapaksas and their allies look far from finished.

Nevertheless, for Sirisena, a rapprochement with the Rajapaksas is not a viable option. Doing so would not only undermine what’s left of his credibility and deal a major blow to the wide-ranging reform agenda, it would also undoubtedly weaken a president who still has years left in office. In the weeks ahead, it would behoove the president to keep all of this in mind. The Rajapaksas are not unifiers, now or ever.

Follow Taylor Dibbert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taylordibbert

Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa foreign policy from anti-West to anti-India

The issue of services sector needs to be carefully negotiated to ensure no loss to Sri Lankan professionals while opening up the giant Indian service sector to strong Sri Lankan businesses, especially for our larger listed companies, should have concessionary access to India.

by Harim Peiris 

( March 30, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Mahinda Rajapaksa administration especially in its post war, second term became fairly stridently anti West, especially in the run up to and during the presidential election of January 2015, which it comprehensively lost and thereby ending Rajapaksa rule in Sri Lanka. However despite being the first and only incumbent president to lose a re-election bid, Mahinda Rajapaksa has also become the only former president of the republic to choose not to retire from active politics and has desired to continue as a Member of Parliament, representing the Kurunegala District. He effectively functions as the political leader and the inspiration, of the minor party led joint opposition.

The foreign policy spokesman of the joint opposition is the former Foreign Minister, the learned professor from Panadura, (no kinsman I hasten to add), and whom despite not being in Parliament uses the opposition press conferences as his platform to articulate the views of the opposition and more particularly to be his master’s voice. (Pun intended).

Rajapaksa and allies have not learned from their twin defeats

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‘Shiranthi ruined my children’s future by sending them behind money’

 Mar 30, 2016

“I always told Shiranthi not to send the children behind money too much. When I was young, I did have five cents in my hands. I had a very hard life. That helped me to become the president at the age of 60. People want money. But, greed for money should have a limit. Small ones do not understand that. They are closer to the mother than me. See, what has happened in the end,” ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa has told a very close friend of his while contemplating about what has happened in the past.

That contemplation was very personal, but we decided to publish it as we believe that it could teach a lesson for all.

“When youths get too much of money, they become completely mad. They don’t know what they do. They get deceived. When the mother encourages them, they become madder. Now, it is pointless to repent or go to Devales. Truly, I do not wish to do politics again. What I want to do is to get my children saved. If the president gives me an assurance on that, I will retire from politics. From what I hear, Namal too, will be taken within days. So far, only Rohitha is without any accusation. The children are safe at least to this extent due to the people’s loyalty to me,” the former president said.

As the last presidential election had been nearing, the then defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had sent for Namal and asked him pointblank, “What’s wrong with you all? Why are you behaving like this? Do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison after losing power?” Namal had not replied, but kept on chatting via his phone with a smile. Understanding that Namal was not heeding his advice, Gotabhaya had sent him away. Later, he had related the incident to Mahinda with grave pain in mind.

The ex-president is contemplating all these now as he believes that very soon, another misfortune will befall his children.

Chief Justice And Three Other Former Chief Justices Charged For Judicial Corruption

March 30, 2016

In a Writ Application filed in the Supreme Court yesterday by the rights activist Nagananda Kodituwakkuunder the Corruption law, the Chief Justice Sripavan, former Chief Justices Shirani Bandaranayake, de facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieris and Sarath N. Silva have been charged for abuse of office of the Chief Justice to confer benefits or favour themselves or the Executive President which is an offence under Section 70 of the Bribery Act.

Chief Justice K. Sripavan

In this case, appearing in person, Public Interest Litigation Activist and Lawyer Nagananda Kodituwakku, challenges the failure of the Corruption Commission to initiate a credible and independent inquiry against the Chief Justice Sripavan and other Respondents reported to the Corruption Commission by him on 15th Feb 2016 for abusing the office of Chief Justice for committing an offence of Corruption.

Former President and now a Member of Parliament, Mahinda Rajapaksa who had been alleged to have benefited from the favours granted by the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, Sarath Silva and Mohan Pieris also has been cited as a Respondent in this case.

The Chief Justice Sripavan is charged for judicial corruption for intentionally ignoring and violating the Constitution to confer a favour to President Maitripala Sirisena, who had disregarded the National List duly published in the gazette under the law (Article 99A) by the Election Commissioner and instead appointed people loyal to him to the Parliament through the National List. It is alleged that this conduct by the Chief Justice is improper and amounts to commission of offence of Corruption under Section 70 of the Bribery act, which requires the Corruption Commission to conduct an independent inquiry under the law relating to Bribery and Corruption (Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption Act No 19 of 1994).

The National List case filed by the Activist Nagananda after the flawed National List appointments were made, is now idling before the Supreme Court for a considerable period with no action taken to hear the case. Therefore, in the corruption case filed in the Supreme Court today, the Chief Justice is also accused for abusing the office of Chief Justice for violation of the Constitution (article 104), that requires the Supreme Court to hear and determine the National list case within two months after filing before the Court.

The activist states that invoking the provisions of Article 132 of the Constitution, he had requested the Chief Justice to appoint the full bench of the Supreme Court to hear the National List case, considering the national importance attached to the matter, Yet, denying the said request CJ Sripavan had ruled that in his opinion abuse of the National List to appoint candidates rejected by the people at the general election held in August lasts year, is not a matter of National Importance.

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