Family rule

DPL plum posts gone to ruling party relatives and cronies Namini Wijedasa An unprecedented number of positions in Sri Lanka’s once-respected diplomatic corps has been parcelled out to friends, relatives and loyalists of the ruling party, the Sunday Times has found. This extraordinary rise in nepotism and political favouritism has spawned conspiracy theories with several […]

Meera SrinivasanA white, rectangular board with Sinhala and Tamil letters appears once every few metres along the iron fence around a huge expanse of land in the sea-facing town. ‘Ilangai Minsara Sabaikkuriya Kaaniyaagum. Utpravesithal thadai’ [This land belongs to the Ceylon Electricity Board. Entry is banned] reads the board. This is where a 500-MW capacity, […]

By Ashwin Hemmathagama The Mahinda Rajap-aksa International Cricket Stadium at Sooriyawewa became the subject of heated debate in Parliament yesterday after the United National Party charged that the Government had stopped repaying loans borrowed to construct what he called a white elephant stadium. UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake said four mega development projects in Hambantota opened […]

Eran drops bombshell in P’ment over public finance     No evidence of Parliamentary control over finance, says Eran     UNP MP charges Article 148 has been violated in Legislature for four years     Claims bloating public sector stifling private sector growth, projects incorrect picture of unemployment figures     Budget split half and half between Cabinet […]

Sri Lanka’s ruling family are mingling with the Commonwealth’s elite as they host this week’s summit in Colombo. Yet some of them have been accused of war crimes. So who are the Rajapaksas? President Rajapaksa has been president of Sri Lanka since 2005, having been elected with just over half the country’s votes. Since then […]

The centre wants to hold TUGGING on a red curtain, the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, opened a gleaming new toll road late last month. The $290m motorway links Colombo’s airport to the capital, 26 kilometres (16 miles) away, and like so much in Sri Lanka these days, it is funded by China. Soon it will be […]

Left: Sri Lanka’s defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Right: President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Photo: GETTY IMAGES/REUTERS The four Rajapaksa brothers rule Sri Lanka, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the top     By David Blair, Colombo Sri Lanka is a country ruled by four brothers who have turned their country’s government into a family business. At the apex sits […]

Lands Development Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon’s son Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon secured the highest number of votes from the Matale District while the Minister’s cousin, Thilina Bandara Tennakoon, was elected from the Kandy District.Deputy Minister Nandimitra Ekanayake’s son Chinthaka was elected from the Matale District. Ekanayake’s brother, former Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake, clinched the second position […]

The political arena has got agitated with the topic of government politicos’ relatives who have been given nomination for the Central and North – Western PC elections. We publish here a list of such relatives for the amusement of our viewers. The son of Deputy Minister of Education Nandimithra Ekanayaka is contesting for Matale District […]

”Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa, called for forgiveness from the public over the attack on the people’s protest in Ratupaswala, Weliweriya demanding clean drinking water.” – Basil Rajapaksha“There is a procedure for deployment of security forces in the absence of emergency. And, on any occasion, the mere presence of troops at trouble spots was […]

Norochcolai exclusive eThe Government Servants Against Corruption organization says with great responsibility that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had taken a 50% commission from the Chinese company that was assigned the project to construct the Norochcholai coal power plant.Several senior government officials and some senior state officials who are now in retirement have formed a group that […]

 Dean Nelson Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross aid worker from Rochdale, had been in Sri Lanka to rest after an assignment in Gaza, when he and his Russian girlfriend were attacked by eight men in a hotel bar in Tangalle, on the south coast. One of the men accused of the attack is a prominent […]

Sri Lanka’s decline seen through the lens of international standards seems obvious and inevitable. The economic optics reflects the ‘real’ situation as opposed to those that are vigorously and spuriously marketed by the Central Bank and its ‘pundits.’ Over the last few years, the Central Bank has been floating statistics for public consumption, which though […]

Tisaranee Gunasekara“Nemesis, the goddess of measure and not of revenge, keeps watch. All those who overstep the limits are pitilessly punished by her”.- Albert Camus (Helen’s Exile)One of the most incisive analyses about Rajapaksa modus operandi was made not by a Sri Lankan but by an American Ambassador Robert Blake. Mr. Blake’s observations about how […]

MR Air Port: Planes only in the drawing Chrishanthi ChristopherIn recent times, National Freedom Front Leader, and Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities, Wimal Weerawansa, has been vociferously attacking Treasury Secretary, P.B. Jayasundera, blaming him for all the economic woes of the government, alleging high levels of corruption in the Finance Ministry. […]

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa looks on during the presentation of the 2012 Central Bank of Sri Lanka annual report, in Colombo April 9, 2013.Credit: Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) – President Mahinda Rajapaksa is under fire from the U.N. Human Rights Council, which has adopted a second United States-sponsored resolution demanding that Sri […]

 Thrishantha NanayakkaraAfter nearly 7 years of postgraduate education and independent research experience abroad, I returned to Sri Lanka in mid 2003, to work in my mother country Sri Lanka that gave me free education all the way upto university level. When I left Johns Hopkins University in USA, some of my friends cautioned me of […]

Missions sons: will Gotabhaya answer? A grieving mother of two teenage sons who were abducted by the Army in 1989, narrates how she was stopped and sent back when she went to meet then Military Coordinating Officer (MCO) for Matale, Lt. Col. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. By Ranga JayasuriyaThe two teenage sons of K.G. Kamalawathi were snatched […]

Over 100 politicians representing the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) are in police custody at present, facing rape, robbery and murder charges, sources from the Police Headquarters said.About 50 politicians accused in several such cases are in remand custody at present and another 10 are serving prison sentences. Others are currently facing court trials.Most of […]

Shashendra Rajapaksa, the nephew of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and son of the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, has been given the opportunity of continuing as the Basnayake Nilame of Ruhunu Maha Katharagama Devalaya through an extra special gazette No. 1807/39 issued on 15th March without any election. The gazette with the signature of Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne […]

Tisaranee Gunasekara“Of course he won’t give up power…. What were we thinking? The old man isn’t going anywhere, he’ll die in office”. –  Peter Godwin (The Fear: The Last Days of Robert Mugabe)Another milestone in the Rajapaksa plan to control every aspect of Lankan life has been reached. 4,000 school principals have been ordered to […]

It is doubtful that much progress will be made on political solution. Isolated terrorist attacks could occur across the islandRajapaksa  will be strongly placed to win a third termRelations between the UPFA and Western governments will remain tense Sri Lanka: Outlook for 2013-17 by Economist Intelligence UnitPolitical stabilityThe president, Mahinda Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka […]

And then they came for the judges HIS foes accuse Mahinda Rajapaksa of many sins during his seven years as Sri Lanka’s president. They blame him for the savagery that cost so many civilian lives as his army defeated the rebel Tamil Tigers in 2009. They bridle at how he has carved up the government […]

AFP /His sacking of Sri Lanka’s chief justice may have prompted new international condemnation, but analysts say President Mahinda Rajapakse is not merely impervious to foreign criticism — he thrives off it.Already cold-shouldered by the West after the bloody end to an ethnic conflict, Rajapakse drew further flak this weekend by sealing the impeachment of […]

This morning, according to reports, the main gates leading to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka remained closed and heavily guarded in order to prevent the Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake from entering in order to continue to function as the legitimate holder of the post of Chief Justice. She has rejected the ouster by […]

FUTA Statement on Impeachment of Chief Justice FUTA’s recent 100 day trade union action on education sought to draw attention to the link between the role of education in fostering values that are integral to sustaining a democratic society. The democratic society we continue to fight for requires each branch of the state to function with […]

Note on the Divineguma Bill By Centre for Policy AlternativesJanuary 2013Media reports in December 2012 indicated that the Divineguma Bill (referred to here as the Bill) is to be taken upfor a vote by Parliament in January 2013. This note has been prepared by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA),with the objective of raising key […]

M.P. Anura Kumara The government that levies high taxes from masses is having car races with the money that is plundered and the real state of this fraudulent government should be exposed to the country says JVP Parliamentarian Anura Dissanayake.Speaking at a press conference held at the JVP head office at Pelawatta today (17th) Mr. […]

Night Races – a pet project of Namal Rajapaksa Tisaranee Gunasekara“Please. How will we live if you steal from us?” -Dave Eggers (What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng)The price of petrol went up, again, as Colombo was being geared up, on presidential orders, by the military for the Night Races – a […]

Tisaranee Gunasekara“We were like people marooned on a dissolving floe of ice; we dare not think of the moment when it would melt away”. Czeslaw Milosz (The Captive Mind) President Mahinda Rajapaksa is lying. The President is lying when he says that he was not in favour of the impeachment, initially. The President is lying when […]