The National Election Commission is reportedly scheduled to meet on Thursday (25), in order to discuss regarding the holding of the upcoming Presidential Election.
The discussions will be preliminarily focused on deciding the date for the 2024 Presidential Election and following that, the election date will be announced.
However, a spokesperson from the Election Commission stated that the Gazette notification related to announcing the Presidential Poll will be published before this weekend.
USS Michael Murphy of the United States Navy arrived at the port of Colombo on a formal visit today (23).
The Sri Lanka Navy welcomed the visiting ship in compliance with naval traditions.
The 155m – long Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer is manned by a crew of 323 and she is commanded by Commander Jonathan B. Greenwald.
Meanwhile, Commander Jonathan B. Greenwald called on Rear Admiral Chinthaka Kumarasinghe, Commander Western Naval Area at the Western Naval Command Headquarters today. The cordial interaction came to an end with an exchange of mementoes.
During the stay of USS Michael Murphy in the island, her crew members are expected to visit some of the tourist attractions in the country. The ship is scheduled to depart the island on 26th July.
A Right to Information (RTI) request has revealed that the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) funded the final departure of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as President of Sri Lanka, to the Maldives via an Air Force aircraft on 13 July 2022.
The former President fled to the Maldives a few days after protesters occupied both the President’s House and the Presidential Secretariat in Fort on 9 July 2022, following a mass public protest in Colombo.
“The movement was carried out using an aircraft of the SLAF, maintained by funds allocated to the Air Force, via the Ministry of Defence, through the Treasury,” the SLAF stated. However, when asked in the RTI request, the SLAF did not disclose the cost of this trip.
The SLAF explained that they facilitated the movement due to the President’s role as the Head of State, Head of the Executive, Government, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, at that time (as per Article 30(1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka).
The SLAF noted that the movement was approved by the Ministry of Defence, but stated they could not disclose the details of the approval document due to the confidential nature of this air transit.
“As per existing practice, we do not calculate the fuel consumption for the air transport of the President, as he is the Head of State and falls under the VVIP category,” the SLAF said.
According to an SLAF press release on 13 July 2022, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards boarded an Air Force flight to the Maldives early that day.
Earlier in 2022, both the Information Officer and Designated Officer of the SLAF rejected the RTI application, stating the requested details could not be released under Section 5(1)(b)(i) of the Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016.
Following the rejection, an appeal was filed with the RTI Commission. After three hearings, the Commission concluded that Section 5(1)(b)(i) did not apply to the information request and ordered the SLAF to release the information to the appellant by 4 July 2023.
However, the SLAF did not release the information and submitted 26 extension requests to the Commission. The RTI Act does not provide for extensions to implement the Commission’s order.
An affidavit was submitted to the Commission to initiate legal proceedings under Section 39 of the RTI Act. The Commission called both parties for a non-compliance inquiry on 16 May 2024 and ordered the SLAF to announce their decision on the matter at the next hearing on 7 August 2024. Finally, the SLAF released the information on 12 July 2024.
-The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government made the wrong decision to forcefully cremate the COVID dead, after recent research found that the virus had not spread in the surface water.
In a cabinet paper released today, it stated that in July 2021, a study was commenced by the Ministry of Water Supply with the assistance of the University of Jayawardenapura to identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus in aquatic environments in Colombo and Kandy including the river water, the water released from the hospitals, other quarantine places and other potential places where the waste water was discharged. It was revealed in this studies that there is no virus in the surface water.
A second study was also completed in March 2024 by the China-Sri Lanka joint research and demonstration center for water technology under the Ministry of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development that investigated the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to water resources, including ground water, and it was confirmed that the faeces and urine were the primary sources of the transmission of the virus but not with safe burial.
Accordingly, the cabinet of ministers has approved the joint proposal presented by the Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitution Reforms, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development to plead an apology on behalf of the government to all the communities effected as a consequence of the compulsory cremation policy enacted in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
Several Tamil political parties and a group of civil society representatives have reached an agreement to nominate a common candidate for the forthcoming Presidential Election.
Accordingly, seven Tamil political parties including the Tamil People’s Alliance and seven civil society representatives have signed this agreement in Jaffna this morning (22).
The signatories include C. V. Vigneswaran of Tamil People’s Alliance, Selvam Adaikkalanathan of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), D. Siddharthan of People’s Liberation Organisation Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Srikantha of Tamil National Party and Suresh Premachandran of Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).
Tamil civil society groups also signed the memorandum of understanding.
The Tamil parries and Tamil civil society noted that past Presidents had not met the expectations of the Tamils despite obtaining their support.
As a result it has been decided to put forward a candidate who will address the issues faced by the Tamils.
Chairman of the Elections Commission, R.M.A.L Ratnayake said the certified 2024 Electoral List is now published on the official website of the Elections Commission.
He added that if necessary, the Electoral List will be printed.
Meanwhile, the Elections Commission says the date of the Presidential Election will be announced before the end of this week.
A senior spokesperson said the Presidential Election date has been decided.
He further confirmed that the relevant date will be announced before the end of this week.
Meanwhile, the members of the National Elections Commission are scheduled to meet next Wednesday or Thursday for a special discussion on the Presidential Election.
Five days have passed since the Election Commission was vested with the power to proclaim the date for the Presidential Election.
China has come forward to grant 1,000 smart boards to Sri Lankan schools across the country, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said, two weeks after an Indian grant project distributed the digital equipment for establishing 200 smart classrooms with 2,200 smart tablets in the Southern Province.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government has fast tracked digitization of the education sector along with planned teacher training for the latest technology-based education system, amid opposition leader Sajith Premadasa’s move to grant smart classrooms for schools ahead of presidential polls later this year.
“Digitization of education sector is one of the reforms we have planned. We have already started it. Accordingly, there will be 1,250 clusters established. All the school systems will be included in these 1,250 clusters; one cluster will consist of 8-10 schools,” Minister Premajayantha told reporters at a news briefing in Colombo.
“We will be providing with 2,500 high-tech smart boards for all the key schools enabled with internet before September. We have taken initial steps for that. We are getting a grant for that from China.”
The Minister did not disclose the Chinese grant amount.
“The President through TRC (Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) from the Ministry of Technology will be providing 1,500 (smart boards) and 1,000 will be from the grant,” he said.
President Wickremesinghe is eyeing to contest in a grand independent coalition possibly with Premadasa as his main rival. The island nation’s Election Commission is expected to announce the date for the presidential poll before end-July.
President Wickremesinghe on July 8 distributed digital equipment under an Indian grant project worth 300 million Sri Lanka rupees ($1 million) for establishing 200 smart classrooms in Southern Province.
Premadasa, the leader of the main opposition center-right Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has already distributed around 350 smart classrooms worth over 300 million rupees for schools across the country which his aides expect to win him more votes in the upcoming election.
President Wickremesinghe, the leader of center-right United National Party (UNP) which backs liberal policies, has yet to officially declare his candidature for the presidential poll which is likely to be scheduled between September 17 and October 16.
Minister Premajayantha said the government’s smart boards will be of high quality.
“The 1,250 schools will be connected to internet in the first phase. In the next phase, we will be connecting the rest of the schools. So within the next three years we will be completing the digitization. More than half (of the schools) are already given fiber optics. We have been planning with teacher training to prepare for this,” he said.
The establishment of Smart Classrooms in Southern Province is being implemented under the Indian bilateral High Impact Community Development Project framework which includes 18 grant projects cutting across sectors in all the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka with a total value of around 5.5 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($18.3 million).
Some informal and non-transparent surveys have suggested that Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, the leader of Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) and Premadasa are leading in terms of popularity followed by Wickremesinghe.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) leadership is being put under pressure by a number of SLPP MPs to back Ranil Wickremsinghe at the Presidential elections.
Wickremsinghe has had talks with the SLPP leadership in an attempt to reach a consensus ahead of the elections.
However, some SLPP MPs want their own candidate to be put forward instead of Wickremesinghe.
A number of SLPP MPs holding Cabinet or State Minister portfolios and some SLPP MPs have told the leadership to back Wickremesinghe at the polls, Colombo Gazette learns.
Ministers Kanchana Wijesekera, Prasanna Ranatunga and Shehan Semasinghe have already indicated they will back Wickremesinghe despite their party, the SLPP, not taking a formal decision.
SLPP MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage has also spoken in support of Wickremesinghe and called for the unconditional backing of the SLPP.
Wickremesinghe himself has not yet announced if he will contest at the elections as he is still gathering support before making a formal announcement.
The Nuwara-Eliya Magistrate’s Court has ordered the arrest of Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Jeevan Thondaman over an incident at Kelani Valley Plantations PLC.
Lawyers representing Kelani Valley Plantations PLC said that the court had issued the order based on a case filed by the company.
The Minister was accused of storming Kelani Valley Plantations in May together with a group of others over an issue with regards to the daily wage of plantation workers.
Thondaman and the other accused were instructed to appear in court today but they failed to do so.
Accordingly, the Nuwara-Eliya Magistrate’s Court ordered the Police to arrest the suspects and produce them in court on 26th July.
Former Member of Parliament Hirunika Premachandra, who was sentenced to 3 years in jail in June, was granted bail, Monday.
The Colombo High Court granted the former MP bail after considering her bail application.
She was sentenced to three years in jail over the alleged abduction of a youth in 2015.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) member has been sentenced to 3 years rigorous imprisonment by the Colombo High Court on 28th June.
She was found guilty of being involved in the abduction of a youth in the Dematagoda area on December 21, 2015 using a Defender jeep and his wrongful detention.
According to reports, Premachandra was found guilty of 18 charges and was also imposed a fine of Rs. 20,000 for each charge.
The youth had alleged that when he was abducted while being employed at a textile shop in the Dematagoda area.
