Sri Lanka’s Parliament Speaker Ashoka Ranwala has resigned from the post citing the concerns over the credentials of his doctorate degree, local media said.
The resignation comes after the parliament website early this week removed ‘Dr’ title from the Speaker’s name following the allegations.
Ranwala’s resignation letter said he had not done anything wrong.
“In the last few days, an issue about my educational qualification has been raised in the society. I have not made any false statement about my educational qualification,” the letter read.
“But as I do not have some of the documents required to confirm the educational qualifications at the moment, and I have to get them from the relevant institutions, it has become difficult to submit those documents promptly at the moment.”
“The research institute affiliated to Waseda University in Japan, where I received my Ph.D., has the ability to submit relevant educational documents and I intend to submit them as soon as possible.”
“However, in view of the situation that has arisen, I hereby inform that I have decided to resign from the position of Speaker that I currently hold in order to avoid inconvenience to the people who have placed their trust in us.”