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Home » ColumnsCEB spokesman’s resignation sheds light on bad PR
The Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) already battered reputation took another serious hit this week of its own making, after its “spokesperson,” Noel Priyantha’s comments during a live discussion on a private television channel. Mr. Priyantha’s tirade came when he was asked to comment on the recent tragedy where a father of two children died from [...]
Explosive goings-on
My Dear Field Marshal, I wanted to write to you because you are still making headlines, some 15 years after the end of the war. Some would say it is for all the wrong reasons. This time, the man who fought with and defeated Velu is fighting with Sajith, the leader of his own party, [...]
Differing views on the prevailing situation
By Sandun Jayawardana An adjournment debate on the “Current Situation of the Country” on Wednesday (21) saw vastly differing views on the prevailing situation and forecasts for the future from the government and opposition MPs. Moving the debate for the opposition, Kurunegala District Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Thushara Indunil Amarasena questioned whether the Government [...]
Controversial remarks by Govt. spokesmen result in Govt. scrambling to ensure damage control
Two Sri Lankan Government spokesmen made remarks that placed the Government in an embarrassing situation last week and had the Government scrambling to ensure damage control. The first was the Assistant General Manager and Media spokesman for the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Noel Priyantha who made some rather insensitive remarks in a Television programme on [...]
Higher tea production vital for enhancing exports and improving trade balance
Increasing tea production and exports is vital for improving the country’s exports and trade balance. Reversing the declining trend in tea production with a long-term investment plan is imperative to achieve this. Tea production Last year’s tea production of only 260 million kilograms was the lowest since 1994. It was a decrease of 34 million [...]
The Sri Lanka Supreme Court and the anti-terrorism bill
As much as lawyers, activists and civic conscious citizens, South Asia’s judges seem to be fighting with their backs proverbially against the wall in these extraordinarily fraught times. Concerns on judicial independence across South Asia At a forum of constitutional lawyers in Katmandu last week, a Nepali legal practitioner confessed deep standing concerns regarding executive [...]
The Central Bank’s own utopian state where pampered Jades rule absolute
Revelation that bank served staff staggering pay rises invokes envious outrage Next time you stroll down Galle Face Green, lengthen your walk to pass the old Parliamentary building where 76-year-old icons stand helplessly cemented to their pedestals, unable to dismount and express their dismay over the direction the nation is heading without compass or map, [...]
Going once, going twice… sold to India—but not quite, it seems
This column should have appeared last Sunday. But my technological illiteracy, among other things, intervened while I was writing this. My initial foray into Minister Harin Fernando’s sudden and unexpected announcement that Serendipity had parted with part of its real estate and appeared to be conjoined to Modi-land came unstuck. My first reaction to hearing [...]