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Home » ColumnsMedicine shortages, Online Safety Act raised during Health and Mass Media Ministry expenditure debate
The expenditure head of the Ministry of Health and Mass Media was debated yesterday, where claims by opposition MPs regarding shortages of certain essential medicines were hotly disputed by the government. Opening the debate for the opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Gampaha District MP Dr Kavinda Jayawardena said the country was facing a crisis owing [...]
Northern governor slams officials, NGOs for failure to uplift people
The Northern Province administration had been taken to task by residents and civil society members in the past for being inefficient and lethargic for obvious reasons. It was a damning moment when Northern Province Governor and former District Secretary N. Vedhanayahan publicly criticised senior officials in the higher rungs of the provincial officialdom, saying they [...]
Rallying force
My dear Mahinda maama, I am writing to send you belated birthday wishes as you celebrate your 80th birthday. I thought I would see you at Nugegoda because you said in Kandy that you would attend, but you weren’t there. Here’s hoping many more years of health and happiness because, at your age, that is [...]
Right turn: Reflections on change in Govt.’s economic policies
The debate on the second reading of the JVP/NPP government’s second budget dwelt on many diverse issues. As usual, many of the speeches had no relevance to the budget. Policy change One issue that was raised by opposition members was whether the JVP/NPP government’s economic policies have veered away from left-oriented Marxist–Leninist policies to a [...]
A beachfront café and a Buddha statue; Trincomalee simmers – or does it really?
In Sri Lanka, where engineered ‘community tensions’ can erupt out of the blue, so to speak and as suddenly subside, it was no surprise to see that, just two days after the so-called ‘unrest’ in Trincomalee this week between local monks aggravated by the rhetoric of political monks further aggravated by politicians of the Government [...]
Fair pay for MPs: A cornerstone of clean governance; voluntarism leads to dysfunctional governance
In the heat of the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections, few issues stirred public emotion as strongly as the question of political entitlements. Years of waste, privilege, and impunity had left voters deeply resentful of those in power. Against this backdrop, the National People’s Power (NPP) entered the campaign with a message that appealed to [...]
Buddha statue episode could well have set the country afire
More than two thousand years ago, the Buddha was asked by his chief disciple whether he could erect a statue of the Buddha for the benefit of those who came to worship him in his absence from the grove where he usually dwelled. The Buddha’s response to Ananda was a firm ‘no’. He said to [...]
Turning this nation into a vassal state
Speaking at the budget debate the other day, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath announced how within a year in office Sri Lanka had entered into 70 MoUs with countries across the globe. Though he did not employ the rhetorical skill of one of our distinguished foreign ministers, Lakshman Kadirgamar, perhaps for lack of the skills that [...]
Spotlight on Namal as joint opposition rally makes waves with first salvo
Meeting held amid obstacles — restrictions on the use of loudspeakers, a power cut, and inclement weather; Mahinda and Ranil notable absentees Govt. members dismiss the meeting as having little impact; SJB misses an opportunity to take the fight to the government President meets ITAK leaders; conflicting takes on the outcome of talk By [...]
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