Columns
Home » ColumnsPresident proposes Code of Ethics for ministers
President Maithripala Sirisena has told the ministers there was a timely need to formulate a Code of Ethics to be followed voluntarily by them. The move comes in the wake of a Code of Ethics being introduced for Members of Parliament. The Code of Ethics for Ministers, President Sirisena has noted, should be “in keeping with [...]
Dubai Court refuses to freeze account of VVIP’s son
Weliamuna spearheads Government campaign to find loot hidden abroad Secret accounts held by at least seven others linked to former regime; Govt. now pursues fresh strategy through local probe Ministers and public not told what is happening in Government bid to track paper trail It was ten days before parliamentary elections on August 17 when [...]
Yearning for some publicity
My dear Mahinda maama, I thought I must write to you because it seems impossible to keep you out of the news these days even though you are out of office. Any publicity is not good publicity though because they seem to be accusing you of all kinds of misdeeds and hauling you and your [...]
Policies and reforms to cope with demographic changes; extension of retirement age essential
The policies and reforms to cope with the emerging socio economic issues of an ageing population and a large old age dependency are inadequate. There is an inbuilt difficulty to reform past practices and inadequate finances for providing needed institutional capacity. Ageing Population Profile The population is projected to grow continuously till around 2031 when [...]
Our profound failures have resulted in national shame
In its September 2015 report on Sri Lanka, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) quotes immensely interesting asides from the (yet unpublished) report of the Udalagama Commission of Inquiry (2006). We have been promised by the Prime Minister that the Udalagama report will be tabled in Parliament next week. [...]
So where do we go from here?
At last. The Speaker Hon Karu Jayasuriya is reported to have told a group of civil society organizations that he would introduce a Code of Conduct for members of parliament. Of course this is not the first time in recent times that we have heard about an impending code intended to keep our law makers [...]
Hang him not jail him for lifeWhere would YOU put the comma?
The nation can already hear the sound of nails being driven into the scaffolding by the prison governor to hang the man who raped and killed little Seya following President Sirisena’s announcement last month that the death penalty would be carried out next year if Parliament is of the same opinion as he is. In [...]