Columns

• Controversy after controversy—first when the President was not scheduled to attend the ceremony, and then when he attended and made a speech
• NPP seems to be moving towards taking control, but is seen to be compromising policies
• Appointment of next Auditor General: Attempt to bring in outsider sparks warnings from trade union; questions over President’s pledge to depoliticise state institutions
• New twist in Govt.’s fight against organised crime as Public Security Minister alleges links between mainstream opposition parties with underworld, vows to reveal more details

By our political desk

Indeed, when journalists from this newspaper were covering the election, it was quite clear that the NPP was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition when it came to its ground game. Party cadres told us how they had been organising at village level months before the date of the presidential election was announced. During the election campaign, party members went canvassing house-to-house in the same neighbourhood several times. This was so that they would be able to talk to inmates of houses who may not have been present when they had gone earlier. By this method, they made sure to cover every home. It was old-fashioned campaigning perfected to a fine art, apart from the glitzy mass rallies that attracted media coverage.

Another facet of this organisational ability was the party’s communication strategy, which was also far ahead of the others. Social media, in particular, was used expertly to advance its narrative. Official statements from the party leadership in response to various matters were also mostly fast, clear and to the point. Everyone appeared to be on the same page.

President taking part at the War Heroes ceremony on Monday. Pic by Indika Handuwala

Contrast this with the shambles seen since the NPP assumed power, most notably after its sweeping win at November’s parliamentary election. One misstep has followed another, with the party digging itself into an ever-deepening hole. Indeed, the main saving grace for the NPP, now in government, is that much of the opposition is in an even greater state of disarray.

Controversy over War Heroes’
commemoration

The latest controversy that resulted in such embarrassment and showed just how inept the government’s communication strategy has become came during this week’s national event to honour armed forces personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice during the 30-year war against the LTTE. What should have been a solemn and dignified ceremony to honour the fallen was overshadowed by a controversy of the government’s own making. It all started during a news conference convened by the Defence Ministry on May 16 to explain preparations for the “16th National War Heroes Commemoration Ceremony” due to take place the following Monday (19). Addressing the media briefing, Ranaviru Seva Authority Chairman Brigadier (Retd) Senarath Kohona said the commemoration ceremony at the National War Memorial in Battaramulla would be held under the patronage of Deputy Defence Minister Major General (Retd) Aruna Jayasekara, who would be representing the President. The media accordingly reported that the Deputy Minister of Defence would preside over the ceremony as the representative of the President. The official statement on the media briefing available on the Defence Ministry’s website too confirmed that the ceremony “will be held on the 19th from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm with the gracious presence of the Deputy Minister of Defence Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd) representing the honourable President.” The invitation card for the event also said the same thing. The natural assumption was that the President, who is Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces, would not attend.

The news created an uproar, with some opposition politicians and even retired senior officers of the armed forces accusing the President of disrespecting the memory of the men and women in uniform who made the ultimate sacrifice to safeguard the Motherland. Some also pointed out that the President had attended the 60th anniversary of the JVP, which led two armed insurrections against the State and its armed forces, just the week before. Reaction on social media was even more critical of the government. Public appeals were made to President Dissanayake to reverse his decision tantamount to a boycott and attend the ceremony. On Sunday (18), while addressing the media during rehearsals for the commemoration event scheduled for the following day, the Ranaviru Seva Authority Chairman told journalists that President Dissanayake would indeed attend the ceremony as the chief guest.

The decision by the President to apparently reverse course in the face of public criticism was widely welcomed, though the government then muddied the waters further by claiming he had intended to attend the ceremony all along. When asked about the controversy during a popular TV talk show, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath put it all down to a “miscommunication”. That explanation, however, raises some serious questions. Is the government’s communication machinery now so bad that it cannot even properly explain that the President and commander-in-chief of the armed forces would preside over the ceremony to honour fallen servicemen and women? Why did the government wait more than a day to correct this so-called “miscommunication” and say the President would indeed attend? And what of the President’s Media Division (PMD), the official department tasked with communicating developments concerning the presidency? The PMD normally sends out immediate “corrections” over what it perceives as false or misleading news items that appear in the media, yet it did not so much as utter a word about the matter even as President Dissanayake was being savaged on mainstream and social media over his apparent reluctance to take part in the commemoration ceremony. All the excuses by the government about a ‘miscommunication’ therefore needed to be taken with a pinch of salt, except that salt is also in short supply these days.

President speaks on the “tragedy of war” and thus garners more controversy

To his credit, when President Dissanayake did attend Monday’s commemoration event, he spoke eloquently on the tragedy of war and stressed that the highest form of justice the country could provide for those who gave their lives was to create “enduring peace in this nation”. Following are excerpts of the President’s speech:

“This commemoration is not merely a remembrance of the war’s conclusion but also a pledge to unite all communities, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher and Malay, in building a nation rooted in brotherhood and harmony, rather than allowing divisions to reignite.

“War is a tragedy. As a nation that has endured this immense sorrow, it is our duty to ensure that such a conflict does not arise again. We must strive to build a society characterised by peace, unity and compassion, replacing suspicion, anger and hatred with brotherhood and love.

“Not only in the South, but also in the North, people hold up photographs of their husbands and children on the streets and mourn their deaths. To every parent, their child is precious. So, as a country that has faced such a massive tragedy, our responsibility today is to prevent such a war from happening again in our country.

“This memorial reminds us that true homage lies in forging unity. Let us vow never to permit division again. Instead, let us build a society where brotherhood triumphs over enmity.

“We must build a society where our children will no longer live in fear of war. This is an incredibly difficult task, yet it is one we must successfully accomplish. Although this may not be the ideal moment, I feel compelled to say that in both the North and the South, the flames of ethnic conflict have been rekindled, fuelled not by any cause other than the struggle for power. The true freedom of our homeland remains elusive; even after ending the war, we have yet to fully secure the complete liberation of our motherland.”

President Dissanayake concluded his speech by calling on all to unite to launch a new struggle “for peace and progress”.

If the government believed that the President’s attendance at Monday’s ceremony had put paid to the controversy, a new one reared its head over words he used in his speech. Instead of addressing armed forces personnel as “Ranaviruwo” (War Heroes), President Dissanayake repeatedly referred to them as “Soldaduwo” (Soldiers), attracting the ire of Sinhala nationalist elements in particular. Accusations flew thick and fast that he had further disrespected the fallen by not referring to them as “war heroes”. It seemed a concerted decision of the party to downgrade the title given to these brave warriors. When Minister Herath was pointedly asked at that interview what he would call these fallen troops, he too said “soldiers” and “armed force officers”, a refusal to call them by what they have long been given the nation’s honour to be called.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila charged that the President initially chose not to attend the commemoration ceremony due to pressure from the Tamil Diaspora and racist political forces. “His own conscience also would have weighed on him because the JVP is an organisation which fought our military twice: once in 1971 and again in 1987,” he said. Mr Gammanpila pointed out that the JVP also annually celebrates its members who died during these two insurrections, hailing them as “Viruwo” (Heroes). “If the insurgents are heroes, in turn, the military, who suppressed those insurgents, become traitors. So how can a person respect and commemorate both types at once?”

Official government communiqués released after the ceremony, however, did use the term “War Heroes” to refer to the fallen. The official release issued by the PMD noted that the President’s remarks came during the “16th War Heroes’ Commemoration Ceremony”. The Sinhala press release also used the same term in Sinhala: “Ranaviru Samarum Uthsawaya”. The government has insisted there is no official policy to not use the term “war hero” to refer to fallen armed forces personnel. The President was no doubt in a bind. His party cadres were killed by the armed forces. Now he is the commander-in-chief of the same armed forces. It was a catch-22 situation. In the process, the use of the words resulted in accusations that he was trying to please the Tamil diaspora, which is still hounding the armed forces for defeating the LTTE. The fiasco surrounding the whole event, however, should serve as a warning to the government that every word it says, every nuance in its meaning, will be microscopically analysed and dissected.

Battle for control over CMC intensifies

Meanwhile, as the June 2 deadline looms for the first meeting of the newly formed local councils, no clarity has emerged on who will ultimately obtain power in more than 170 local councils where no party or group has an outright majority.

The Election Commission (EC) has stressed that there are no issues surrounding the appointment of the chairperson and deputy chairperson of 161 local councils out of the 339 to which polls were held on May 6. This is because a political party or independent group has won 50 per cent or more of the vote in those councils. The EC is expected to issue a gazette notification with regard to these councils soon. Questions remain over the other 178 because no political party or independent group has secured an outright majority of 50 per cent or more in them. The appointment of chairpersons and deputy chairpersons or mayors or deputy mayors of these councils can only be made once members of these councils convene for a meeting called by the respective local government commissioner.

The battle between the ruling NPP and a collection of main opposition parties on forming the administration of these contested local councils has intensified over the past two weeks. The NPP insists that it will form the administration of all 267 local councils where it claims victory. The opposition parties, in turn, have been in intensive discussions over the past fortnight to reach an arrangement where they can support each other to form administrations in local councils where the NPP does not have an outright majority. Party representatives have held separate discussions with both former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. Despite several rounds of discussions, nothing concrete has so far been decided beyond the parties agreeing to continue talks.

For the NPP, still smarting from a brutal result showing just how badly its popularity has fallen among voters over just six months, gaining control of every single local council where the party obtained the most or equal number of seats has become a matter of pride. Nowhere is this more evident than at the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), where the NPP’s record number of 48 seats has still left the party 11 members shy of the 59 seats needed for an outright majority in the 117-member council. The NPP’s negotiators have been busy talking to independent groups and smaller political parties. Though the NPP has ruled out collaborating with opposition political parties such as the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the United National Party (UNP) when forming the councils, it has nevertheless approached individual members of these parties in some councils, including the CMC. This has led to accusations that the NPP is also playing the same game that it has accused other parties of playing in the past: that of offering inducements in different forms to members of rival parties to entice crossovers. They have also repeatedly pointed out that some in the NPP had branded those who contested from independent groups as “thieves” prior to the election but were now actively courting their support.

Unsurprisingly, the CMC, the richest and most important local authority in the country, remains the main focus among all the major parties when forming administrations in local councils. Talks between opposition parties have been centred on installing one of their own as the mayor of Colombo, with the SJB and UNP having already come to an agreement to back an SJB nominee for mayor if, as widely expected, a vote is held on June 2 to elect a member for the post.

Just how much importance the NPP too attaches to the CMC was made evident last Monday (19) when President Dissanayake himself met with representatives of several independent groups and smaller political parties that had members elected to the CMC. Given the NPP’s 11-member deficit to obtain an outright majority, support from such elements is crucial for the party to install one of its own as the new mayor of Colombo. Victory in the battle for control of the CMC has almost become an obsession for the NPP in recent weeks, as evidenced by the unusual step of the President also getting involved in negotiations on behalf of his party.

Some of the political parties and independent groups whose representatives met with the President on Monday have now decided to throw their support behind the NPP. One of these is the Democratic National Alliance (DNA). The party has one seat in the CMC, and it will support the NPP in the council, DNA Leader and former MP Praba Ganesan stated. “Our executive committee met, and we decided to support the NPP for the CMC,” said Mr. Ganesan, stressing that the arrangement will only be for the CMC for now. He added that the DNA has five seats in Vavuniya and four in Nuwara Eliya, and in both areas, it had contested as part of an alliance. “We have to consider the views of our partners also before deciding if we will support the NPP in these areas,” he said.

Mr. Ganesan said the biggest, long-standing problem with the CMC was rampant corruption that has plagued the council for many years. “Our condition to the President for supporting the NPP at the CMC is that it stamps out the corruption in the CMC. If corruption continues, we will withdraw our support. The President personally assured us that corruption will be stopped,” said Mr Ganesan.

However, not everyone had made a final decision. The United Peace Alliance (UPA) has two seats in the new CMC. Party chairman Miflal Moulavi and General Secretary Kaleelur Rahman were among those in attendance at the meeting with the President. Mr. Rahman says they have also received separate invitations to meet former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa next week. “Our party’s leadership council and supreme council met and decided to postpone taking any decision on who we will support until after these two meetings. That way, we will have heard from all sides, and our decision will be fair by everyone and we can inform this to our party members.” He added that whatever decision the party takes will cover every council the UPA has members in.

Regarding their meeting with President Dissanayake, Mr Rahman said they stuck to local issues concerning Colombo rather than focus on “national issues”.

“Our politics is focused on Colombo North and Colombo Central, which is where the majority of the city’s poorest people live. They have serious issues, such as difficulty in garbage disposal, lack of infrastructure facilities, lack of community halls and problems with drugs. There’s also a mafia that has built up over the sale of meat owing to various parties abusing the tender process,” he explained.

He added that many people in these areas had earlier been forcefully evicted from their homes and moved into flats. These people are now facing issues such as lack of library facilities, community halls, lack of cemeteries to bury their dead, as well as playgrounds for children and youths. They also have transport difficulties now since they had been moved from their original homes and placed somewhere else, while their workplaces and the schools of their children are now far from their homes, meaning they have to spend a lot of money for transport. “We have asked for more school buses for the convenience of the children,” he said.

Mr. Rahman also points out that a significant number of buildings belonging to the CMC that could be utilised for the betterment of the city’s residents have been left to decay or given to private entities. Others have been taken over by squatters. In some areas, hawkers have moved in permanently onto pavements, obstructing the movement of pedestrians.

However, Mr. Rahman said his party still had a serious issue with the NPP government over the absence of a single representative of the Muslim community in the Cabinet. “We did not raise this issue with the President, but it is a matter that has caused serious frustration among the Muslims. Yet we chose to meet the NPP leadership despite this serious problem we have with them,” he said.

Minister links unnamed opposition
politicians to organised crime

Amid criticism that it has failed to tackle deadly shootings related to organised crime that has claimed at least 30 lives so far this year, the government this week also laid out measures it has so far taken to crack down on organised criminal gangs. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala claimed in Parliament during his speech on the matter that intelligence agencies have uncovered links between 10 organised criminal gangs and some politicians from the SJB, SLPP and UNP. The politicians included former ministers, deputy ministers, parliamentarians, and former and current local government members, the minister alleged. These links have also contributed to a rise in organised crime, he claimed, adding that several teams have been deployed to investigate the matter and arrest those involved.

Opposition parties immediately challenged Minister Wijepala to name the politicians involved rather than stop at the mention of political parties, noting that failure to do so risks painting all politicians in those parties with the same brush. The minister said he was taking responsibility for his allegations and would name those involved in Parliament once investigations have concluded.

Government on the defensive over
Auditor General’s appointment

The rejection of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s nominee as the next Auditor General of Sri Lanka by the Constitutional Council this week also put the government in a sticky situation, and it now faces possible legal as well as trade union action if any further attempt is made to place a political appointee as AG. The President’s nominee, who serves on the director board of a subsidiary of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, with no experience in the government sector, was rejected by a majority of members of the ten-member CC when it met on Wednesday.

The three government members on the CC namely Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, Minister Bimal Rathnayake and NPP MP Aboobucker Athambawa had voted in favour of the President’s nominee but there were up against five members who rejected the President’s man. Those who opposed the nominee were Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa who is an ex-officio member as well as MPs Ajith Perera and the three civil society members of the CC: Dr. Prathap Ramanujam, Dr Dilkushi Anula Wijesundere and Dr.Dinesha Samararatne. ITAK MP S.Sritharan, who is also a member of the CC, was absent when the vote was taken.

When the CC met again on Thursday, it was decided to grant a six-month extension to Senior Deputy Auditor General G.H.D. Dharmapala who has been in the post in an acting capacity since Chulantha Wickramaratne, the former AG retired on April 8, 2025.

Prior to the meeting of the CC to discuss the appointment of a new AG, the collective trade unions of the Audit Office wrote to the CC members requesting them to reject any nominee who is not drawn from within the service as such an appointment would seriously undermine the independence and the impartiality of the Auditor General’s Office and go against the government’s own undertaking to desist from political interference and fight corruption in the country.

In the letter seen by us, the Trade Unions Collective also pointed out that in the 225-year history of the AG department, 41 Auditors General have served in the post, and except for two who were drawn from outside the service, all others were officers of the department. In the two instances where there were exceptions to the rule, there had been no officers with the necessary professional qualification to take up the post of the AG, the trade unions said in the letter. They also said that G.H.D. Dharmapala who holds the Acting AG post, is the most suitable person to be the next Auditor General, with over 30 years’ experience and an impeccable record in service.

Any attempt to tamper with the appointment of the Auditor General could be costly, not only to the government but also for the country. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its country report issued last year called for the strengthening of the office with more powers vested in it than at present. One of the measures the IMF recommended to enhance transparency and accountability in managing public assets is an amendment to the National Audit Act to enable the Auditor General to levy fines on officials, including Chief Accounting Officers, who fail to fulfil their responsibilities in overseeing and managing the public assets. Appointing anyone outside the National Audit Service to the post of AG will certainly cost the government heavily given the uncertainty over the next tranche from the IMF.

Politically too for the President and the government, a deadlock with the CC would not go well. Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe locked horns with the CC over the appointment of a new IGP, and it took months of wrangling to have Deshabandu Tennakoon’s name confirmed in the post, only to have the Supreme Court issue an interim order preventing Mr. Tennakoon from performing duties as the IGP a few months later. This itself is a warning to the government that it could face such legal challenges ahead if they force an unsuitable person into a high government position.

Sources in the Auditor General’s office said a six-month acting appointment given to Mr. Dharmapala was disingenuous as he is the most qualified for the post and should be confirmed in the post immediately. They point out that an acting appointment of several months will also adversely impact the work of the department.

Till now, all of President Dissanayake’s nominees who needed confirmation from the Constitutional Council have not faced any problem, but this could be the start of a pushback from the Council against attempts to appoint politically aligned persons to institutions that need to work independently and with impartiality. This move by the President to bring in an outsider also goes against the NPP’s very campaign pledge to depoliticise state institutions.

Meanwhile, the government has kept up with its crackdown on politicians and bureaucrats who have been allegedly involved in corruption in the past. This week former minister Duminda Dissanayake and Ramith Rambukwella, son of former minister Keheliya Rambukwella, were arrested over various charges and remanded. Several officials, including three from the Motor Traffic Department, too, were arrested for accepting bribes. The police have also sought permission from courts to gain access to the bank accounts of several former ministers and MPs, including some who received massive amounts from the President’s Fund for medical treatment.

Hence, while on one hand the government has kept to its pledge to punish those involved in corruption, however high or mighty they are, attempts to tamper with the appointment of the Auditor General leave a bad taste and raise questions on whether the anti-corruption drive is only directed at political opponents while attempts are underway to shield those engaged in corruption under this government.

CMC: How it all beganThe fight for the control of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) between the ruling party and opposition has become a battle for prestige, with both sides eager to hold onto the most pre-eminent local government body in the country.The CMC has a long history, with many influential and prominent political leaders of post-independence Sri Lanka serving on the Council before entering national politics. Among those who have served as Mayor of Colombo are: A.E. Goonesinghe, George R. de Silva, R.A. De Mel, N.M. Perera, V.A. Sugathdasa and Karu Jayasuriya. The late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who began his political career in the CMC , served as Deputy Mayor in 1955. The Colombo Municipal Council’s civic reception to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, and his daughter, Indra Gandhi. In the background: V.A. Sugathadasa, Mayor, and William Gopallawa, Municipal Commissioner This year marks 160 years since the then Legislative Council of Ceylon passed in 1865 a bill constituting the CMC, which met for the first time on January 16, 1866. Those elected to the first council were from eight wards in Colombo, while five members were nominated by the Governor General. On the first day of sittings, the Council passed by-laws setting up the Office of the Sec-retary to the Municipal Council, the Office of the Sanitary Officer and the Office of the Superin-tendent of Roads. The landmark in Colombo where the current CMC is housed is not the original location of the CMC. The CMC first met in a building in the Pettah, which opened in 1873. However, by 1907, the old Town Hall had completely outgrown the accommodation, with the municipal offices stretched to the utmost capacity, according to a report submitted by the Chairman of the Municipal Council at the time, E.M. de Courcy Short. The expansion of the Pettah building was also impossible. The CMC, by resolution passed on December 13, 1907, recognised the necessity of erecting a building on a new site. After much deliberation it was decided that the new Town Hall would be built at what was the ‘most geographical centre of the city’. The site overlooked Victoria Park (now Vihara Maha Devi Park) and the Cinnamon Gardens residential area. It was formally opened on August 9, 1928. The CMC, which started off with 13 members, now elects 117 councillors to manage the affairs of the country’s most populous city and remains the crowning glory among local authorities. The political battle is on—in full swing for the mayor’s chair.

Political Editor on leave,  Our regular political commentary by the Political Editor is not appearing today as he is on leave.