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Home » ColumnsSlower than snail: Govt.’s answers to MPs’ questions
When it comes to question-answer sessions in Parliament, there have been some concerns about the conduct of the government. First is the long delay in responding to questions submitted by the Opposition. Raising the issue in Parliament this week, Opposition member Chamara Sampath Dassanayake said he had asked a question six months ago and was [...]
The man for the job?
My dear Ranga, I thought of writing to you because you seem to have suddenly become the focus of attention, especially among opposition politicians, even though you are a mere public servant who is only trying to do his job. It is a reflection of what you are doing, and how worried some people are [...]
Opposition brickbats and Govt pat on the back for ‘realisation’ of NPP manifesto
By Sandun Jayawardana A year into President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s term, opposition parties sought to highlight matters in his manifesto that had not yet been fulfilled, with the government countering that it has had to prioritise matters due to the country’s situation. In moving the adjournment motion titled “Matters highlighted in the Government Policy Statement [...]
Right questions, wrong answers on our economic and social development
Often discussions on Sri Lanka lead to the question as to what the country has achieved in more than seven and a half decades after independence. Often, people tacitly agree that the country has achieved little. Government members and their supporters keep asking what post-independence governments did in the 77 years after independence. On the [...]
Are these tasteless charades of democratic governance?
Assessed on jaundiced experiences of Sri Lanka’s political history, the manner in which a Government responds to protecting the institutional independence of the country’s National Police Commission (NPC) has always been an early warning test to judge how rhetoric on democracy measures to reality. An ‘interventionist‘ NPC The best example to date remains the fate [...]
Culture of trial by media undermines rule of law and will not serve the ends of justice
The question as to who was the mastermind behind the devastating Easter Sunday attack of April 21, 2019, resurfaced last week, after a statement made in Parliament reignited public debate and predictably social media speculation. But amidst the swirl of leaks, and political finger-pointing, the real issue remains the integrity and confidentiality of the ongoing [...]
‘Peace in our time’ for Palestine
THE PEOPLE THE HELPLESS WORLD PERFORCE FORGOT Trump ends Gaza war but is denied Nobel Prize for Peace Tomorrow, as the smoke of battle slowly drifts away from this godforsaken strip of land in the Middle East, millions of Palestinians will emerge from their squalid dens of fear and go down on their knees and [...]
NPP Govt. and its balanced foreign policy
Well, it must get something balanced, shouldn’t it? After all, if everything is ship-shape, as our comrades seem to think and say now and then at the end of a first year at the helm, there could still be a thing or two that must have escaped their eagle eyes. It is not that one [...]
Foreign policy cost cutting proves costly in Geneva
Govt. offers no challenge to resolution after hotly disputing its questionable contents, includingcalls for sanctions and ICC prosecution OHCHR mandate on Sri Lanka probe extended by two years; foreign minister delivered lengthy statement on accountability Opposition MP Jayasekera raises issues in Parliament, alleging irregularity in CIABOC chief’s appointment Bimal’s loss of port portfolio fuels speculation over his role [...]
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