Features

DS pilots ship of state, unlucky 13 at Senate refreshment room on Mar. 20, 1952

Published

3 years ago

2023/06/25

(Excerpted from the Memoirs of a Cabinet Secretary by BP Peiris)

It is time to get back to D.S. It was early 1950. The Prime Minister was firm that the de facto communist Government in China should be recognized. Some of his colleagues disagreed, but in the end gave way to the Prime Minister’s wish.

There then arose the controversy over the moving of a section of the Supreme Court out of Hultsdorp because of the congestion there. The Minister of Justice informed the Cabinet that he had consulted the Chief Justice, Sir John Howard, the General Council of Advocates and the Law Society. Only the Chief Justice had been helpful. The Minister had personally inspected many sites and had decided on a site at Bambalapitiya. A majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court were in favour of this site.

He had accordingly ordered that steps be taken for the acquisition of the land. Acquisition proceedings had, however, to be stopped when the General Council of Advocates and the Law Society made certain representations. The Council of Advocates had asked for an interview with the Prime Minister and, at this interview, had put forward a rebuilding scheme which the Public Works Department had described as an architectural monstrosity.

Apart from this, the scheme could not be carried out as the building operations would disturb the work of the courts. No alternative accommodation for the court building was available. As a compromise and a gesture of goodwill, he was prepared to retain in Hultsdorp the Assize Courts as well as the Election Courts in addition to the District Courts, and remove to the new site only the Supreme Court in its Appellate jurisdiction. In the end, the proposal was abandoned and the site used for the erection of flats to ease the housing problem.

In February 1950, Jayah, Minister of Labour and Social Services, left the Cabinet to take up the appointment as High Commissioner for Ceylon in Pakistan. He was succeeded by M. D. Banda.

There was much agitation at this time that education should be free, and the Cabinet was compelled to consider the problem and decide on the policy to be adopted. They came to several important decisions after many days of deliberation.

It was agreed that no tuition fees should be levied in Government Primary, Post Primary and Training Schools, in Government Vocational Schools, Training Colleges and in the University, In Primary Schools, the medium of instruction was directed to be the mother tongue, but English should be taught throughout the primary course as a second language. In Post Primary Classes of Sinhalese and Tamil Schools, as regards the medium of instruction, there was to be no change; but where it was not possible to teach certain necessary subjects through their existing medium, English might be used for these subjects.

In standards VI, VII, and VIII of English Schools, Sinhalese and Tamil, for pupils whose parents are Sinhalese speaking and Tamil speaking, should be introduced subject by subject, if necessary, as the media of instruction, in three successive years, as soon as the Government was satisfied that there was a sufficiency of teachers and books for carrying on the work adequately. Children were to be compelled to attend school from the age of five to 14, subject to exemption by the Minister in suitable cases after the age 12, and the exemptions were to be as few as possible.

Schools were divided into two grades – primary and secondary. Children assigned to post primary practical classes and those assigned to vocational schools were permitted to continue their academic education on payment of fees, if their parents wished, but were not provided for in the Government Schools. Scholarships and bursaries were to be provided in the University and other Government institutions for higher education.

The next important matter that the Government had to consider was the Report of Dr Cumpston on the Medical and Public Health Organization. Vital decisions were reached which gave rise to much agitation and controversy many years afterwards and had to be reconsidered by later Cabinets. One of the most controversial decisions was that all private practice by departmental doctors should cease and that all services given to the public by government salaried and pensionable doctors should be free.

This decision could not be implemented immediately. The Minister was therefore requested to formulate a scheme which would lead ultimately to the complete abolition of private practice for government doctors. At the date of writing, a half-hearted and unsatisfactory scheme of channeling a doctor’s practice is in force.

In August 1950, the Cabinet approved the National Flag. A Committee had been appointed to consider and report on this matter over which there were divergent views. Some sections did not approve of the predominance given to the Lion Flag. Hindus and Muslims wanted themselves represented in the flag In the end, to please all sections, different colours were added, as stripes alongside the Lion Flag to represent the different communities in the country.

In spite of the efforts of the Cost of Living Committee the cost of living was rising further, and the Government was compelled to increase the dearness allowance, and to subsidize rice to the extent of five cents a measure from December 1, 1950.

D.S., as I said before, was an amazing man. He was a hard worker and had no fixed hours of work. He forgot that the Government offices closed on Saturdays at 1 p.m. He did not know that a particular day was a Public Holiday. On such a day, he would arrive at his office to find it closed and would inquire, after getting back to Temple Trees, why the office was not open.

One incident, in which I was involved, is typical of the man. It was a Saturday, and I went to the Senate Refreshment Room for an aperitif. There were three others there – Senator Colonel T. Y. Wright, Senator Sarath Wijesinghe, my classmate at the Royal College, and my friend E. V. R. Samarawickreme, Clerk to the Senate.

I was making my way to another table when Col. Wright said, “Come and join us, young man”. I had a few drinks with my eye on the time. Even when one o’clock came along, I did not feel too easy because I knew that D.S. was working in his office. At a quarter past two (Saturday afternoon) we were still in the Senate when the Prime Minister’s peon walked in and said that I was wanted.

The Prime Minister had a problem and wanted my advice. In the Constitution and the Parliamentary Elections Order in Council, reference had been made to ‘British subject’. The Prime Minister desired to have this altered to ‘Ceylon citizen’ as regards the Election Order in Council, and wanted to know whether, if the amendment was made in that Order, a corresponding amendment would have to be made in the Constitution Order.

His purpose was to restrict the Indian estate labour vote. His difficulty was that an amendment of the Constitution required a two-thirds majority in parliament, and he had not the requisite majority. I answered “Yes, Sir” without reference to either of the two Orders in Council. He called for somebody’s opinion, which his secretary Atukorale brought in, and proceeded to read it out to me. The opinion was to the effect that the Elections Order could be amended without a corresponding amendment having to be made in the Constitution Order.

I said bluntly that the opinion was wrong. He said that I had given an opinion without reference to any books, and that what he had just read was the opinion of a King’s Counsel who had wanted a week’s time to give it.

I told him that, with all respect to the learned King’s Counsel, I was still of the view that the opinion was incorrect. He asked me for my reasons, and I said, still without reference to the Order in Council, that it was because of three words in section so and so in the Constitution Order (I remember using the words “umbilical cord”) which connected the two Orders, the significance of which the learned King’s Counsel had probably missed.

I also advised that if he was proceeding with the amendments, the Constitution amendment should be introduced first because it required a two-thirds majority to become law. “What do I do when you lawyers disagree?” asked the Prime Minister, and I replied that the question ought to be referred to the Law Officers of the Crown. Later, that was done; and the Law Officers agreed with me.

At that time however, the Prime Minister did not accept my advice. He introduced the amendment to the Elections Order first and got it through. He then introduced the amendment to the Constitution Order and failed to get the required majority. The result – the Elections Order today refers to ‘Ceylon citizen’ and the Constitution Order to ‘British subject’.

On another day, I went to the Senate Refreshment Room with Alexis Roberts to find a long lunch table laid for about 60 persons, and on inquiry, was told that it was the Judicial Officer’s lunch, that the Prime Minister was Chief Guest, and that he was due at 12.50 p.m. We drew two chairs and ordered drinks. The time was about 12 noon. The Judges were in conference upstairs. The Prime Minister had mistaken the time and arrived in the Refreshment Room at twelve-thirty.

There was no other guest present and we saw him approaching our table; he joined us and I introduced my friend. The Prime Minister inquired whether he was any relation of the late Dr Emmanuel Roberts, a general medical practitioner whose name is still respected and revered throughout the Island. When he heard that Alexis was the doctor’s youngest son, he was very happy because he had known the doctor well.

They talked of old times. We finished our drink but could not leave, as it would have been discourteous to leave the Prime Minister alone. I therefore asked him whether he could give me permission to order another drink (during office hours) and he said “Certainly, certainly, don’t mind me.” We took leave of him when we saw the Judges coming down the stairs to the lunch room and he thanked us for having kept him company all that time.

D.S. could be firm at times, but he was always polite. I once heard him tell a Permanent Secretary “If you can’t do your job, get out.” His telephone rang one day when I was doing some work with him and someone wanted to speak to one of his clerks, but, by a mistake, had dialed the Prime Minister’s direct number. Patiently, he put his work aside, turned up the directory and gave the caller the correct number. Can you imagine the Office Assistant to the Petrol Controller, referred to earlier, behaving in this dignified manner?

The Government had now to take some positive steps to deal with the problem of the rising cost of living. Several measures were considered. As a first step, it was decided to take over the control and distribution of essential foodstuffs like rice, flour and sugar. This was, I believe, the beginning of what later turned out to be virtual monopoly vested in the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment over the import and distribution of the Island’s principal essential commodities.

Came 1952. On February 6, I was attending a funeral at Kanatte when I heard someone, whom I did not know, say that the King was dead. The news had been announced from Radio Ceylon. The Prime Minister was a patient in the Merchant’s Ward of the General Hospital. I left the funeral and hurried back home as I knew that there would have to be an emergency meeting of the Cabinet. I called on the Prime Minister at the hospital and was directed to summon the Ministers to meet in his hospital room at nine o’clock the next morning.

There is no fixed place of meeting for the Cabinet. It has, apart from the Cabinet Room, met in the Prime Minister’s bedroom at Temple Trees, at Kandawela, at the Senate, in the Prime Minister’s room at the House of Representatives, and the Lodge at Nuwara Eliya.

Next morning, all the Ministers were present at the General Hospital. In attendance, there were Basnayake, Attorney-General, Sir Kanthiah Vaithianathan, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and External Affairs, Sir Ivor Jennings, Vice-Chancellor of the University, and the Clerks to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

On behalf of his colleagues and on his own behalf, the Prime Minister placed on record their sense of the sad loss suffered by the death of His Majesty George VI. He had already dispatched a message of sympathy from the Government of Ceylon. The Cabinet recognized the succession to the Throne and agreed that the following Proclamation should be issued:

Whereas by the decease of our late Sovereign Lord King George the Sixth, the Crown is by our laws solely and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; We, the Governor-General, the Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Crown in Ceylon do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim that the High and Mighty Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary is now by the death of our late Sovereign of happy memory, become our Sovereign Queen by the name and style of Elizabeth the Second, to whom her lieges do acknowledge all faith and constant obedience with hearty and humble affection.

On previous occasions, the Proclamation acknowledging a new Sovereign had been signed by the Governor and ‘Other gentlemen of Quality’. On this occasion, it was decided that it should be signed only by the members of the Cabinet. The Governor-General, Lord Soulbury exercised his right to head the proclamation with his signature.

The Proclamation was read from the steps of the House of Representatives on February 8. In recording the minutes of the meeting held at the hospital, I marked the attendance of the lawyer Ministers as being Queen’s Counsel, instead of King’s Counsel which they were the previous day, and asked Sir Ivor whether I was correct. He said, “Yes. See the Demise of the Crown Act.”

March 20, 1952, was Mr D.S. Senanayake’s last Cabinet meeting. On that day, after the meeting, he entertained the Ministers and the Secretaries to lunch in the Senate Refreshment Room. Some Ministers were absent and I pointed out that 13 were sitting to table. I was sent out to bring somebody, some extra person, to make the number 14, but everyone I met appeared to have had his lunch. And so, 13 of us sat down to lunch. Minister Nugawela did not like it at all and said so.

Next morning, while on horseback, the Prime Minister fell off his horse although he was a good horseman. He had apparently had a stroke. He passed away the next day. Her Majesty the Queen was one of the first persons to send a message of sympathy.

Ceylon had lost the Father of the Nation. His wise leadership gave us peace and prosperity. There were no communal differences and controversies in his time. He had Muslims and Hindus in his Cabinet. He was not out for cheap notoriety. There was nothing mean or common in his nature, and his qualities of sincerity, good faith, and love of his native land have generally been accepted by the country. I have attempted to draw a vignette. Some future historian or research worker must give us his biography.

J. L. F.’ writing in the Ceylon Observer of March 23, 1952, said:

“Mr Senanayake was not merely a Prime Minister of a country: he was a leader of men. It was this quality both inborn and matured by experience which gave our country stability when he piloted the ship of state. His was not the leadership buttressed by bayonets and concentration camps in a country’s hinterland. The people followed him, and even his political critics admired him because he was known to be just. And a country of different communities, different religions and different castes needs at the helm someone whom they can all trust as a just man.”

Sir Alan Rose, Acting Governor-General, said:

“During my seven years in this country I have had the opportunity and happiness of seeing Mr Senanayake at very close quarters and from a variety of aspects. Quite apart from his many personal kindnesses, his inflexible courage, his power of mind and his breadth of outlook have combined to create an impression of greatness which I shall always remember.”

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Features

Defend civic space upon which peace is built

Published

2 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

by Jehan Perera

International Peace Day was observed on 21 September. It finds Sri Lanka with a genuine achievement to record and a demanding test to meet. The UN’s theme this year was “Invest in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.” It also honoured the “everyday architects of peace”—people driving local action and building a lasting peace from the ground up. In the 2026 Global Peace Index, Sri Lanka rose 30 places, from 97th to 67th among 163 countries. Over the same period, global peacefulness declined for the twelfth consecutive year to its lowest level since the index began, and South Asia suffered the sharpest regional deterioration. The test is whether the government will protect the civic space in which those architects of peace work.

Sri Lanka’s improvement is real and deserves acknowledgement. In this year’s review, issued a few weeks ago, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights acknowledged progress in the form of action against corruption, arrests and investigations linked to political killings, enforced disappearances and the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, and continued official denunciation of racism. A ranking, however, records conditions at a particular moment. It does not guarantee that they will last. Sustainable peace will depend on three factors. These are whether the government addresses the unresolved causes of conflict, whether it strengthens accountability for past and present abuses, and whether it protects the civic space in which peace is built from below. On the first two the record is incomplete. On the third, the draft NGO law threatens to weaken the very organisations that press for the other two.

What holds Sri Lanka back from a higher place are the same things that fed the war at home and also feed international conflict that rages elsewhere in the world. These are racism or ethnic nationalism that is narrow-focused, corruption and lawlessness. Equality, accountability and the rule of law are their remedies. The present government has committed itself to these, and is a significant improvement over governments of the recent past. But these pillars are not held up by governments alone. Peace is made in villages, workplaces and university campuses. It is made by families who insist on the truth about their disappeared, by journalists and lawyers who expose abuse, and by community organisations that bring Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese into practical cooperation.

Unfinished Work

The UN High Commissioner’s report to the current Human Rights Council session, covering October 2025 to July 2026, shows how much remains to be done. The Prevention of Terrorism Act is still being applied, producing arbitrary arrests and long detention without charge. The report calls for a moratorium pending repeal and for the release of long-term detainees. Military-occupied land has not been released, memorialisation lacks support, and tensions over land and religious sites persist. The Batticaloa district illustrates how such problems endure. In the past three years, two Presidents, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, have visited and instructed that the dispute over grazing land in Mailaththamadu and Mathavanai be resolved. It is a dispute between Tamil cattle farmers and outside Sinhala cultivators, and it has not been resolved. When two Presidents issue instructions and nothing changes, the fault lies in the machinery of State. An unresolved dispute does not stand still. It hardens into the next grievance.

Accountability shows the same pattern. The report documents torture and deaths in custody, and surveillance and intimidation of activists, journalists and civil society. Serious cases remain stalled for years, among them the killing of seventeen aid workers of Action Contre la Faim in Muttur two decades ago. Sharper still is the case of the Eastern University refugee camp at Vantharamoolai, where in 1990 the army took away 158 persons in a single day. They were never seen again. The camp’s officer-in-charge, Dr T. Jayasingam, later Vice Chancellor of the university, identified the officers responsible. More than three decades on, those officers have not been questioned. These cases are still remembered because families, survivors and independent witnesses have refused to let them be forgotten. Meanwhile several commissions of inquiry have completed their investigations but nothing further has happened.

What South Africa, Argentina and other post-conflict societies have found indispensable are four pillars of what is called “Transitional Justice” which are truth, accountability, reparations and non-recurrence. In Sri Lanka’s circumstances, truth means credible, independent investigation of what happened to the disappeared, and support for memorialisation. Accountability means prosecuting Muttur, Vantharamoolai and comparable cases, and removing credibly accused persons from senior office. Reparations mean compensation for victims and the return of military-held land. Non-recurrence means repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, releasing those held under it in the meantime, and resolving local disputes such as Mailaththamadu before delay hardens them. A country that buries its past does not escape it. The past returns in the next generation.

Civil Society

It is against this background that the draft NGO law is most troubling. The proposed legislation contains sweeping provisions for State oversight and control of civil society organisations. Among these are enforcing a licensing requirement on NGOs, which is to be renewed every three years, and severe penalties for not submitting reports on time, or for spending on emergency flood relief (for instance) when the NGOs mandate is peacebuilding (as an example) with possible sanctions including deregistration and having to shut down. Civil society groups have warned that it would confer excessive discretion over their registration and operations. Officials in Sri Lanka have abused such powers in the past. Additional power without effective checks invites further abuse. Sound regulation would have clear criteria for registration, an independent registrar and a right of appeal to the courts. What cannot be justified is a regime in which registration becomes a licence to be withheld from organisations that scrutinise policy, expose abuses or advocate for the rights of citizens.

Democracy is based on checks and balances. Those who press for accountability are part of those checks. The contradiction is plain. A government that has pledged accountability, equality and the rule of law ought not to be preparing to weaken the very organisations that press for their fulfilment. The organisations most exposed are those working on disappearances, land, memorialisation and reconciliation in the North and East, where the State’s record is weakest and the need for independent witnesses greatest. Silencing them would not remove the grievances they document. It would remove the channel through which those grievances are addressed peacefully. The government appears to be relenting, which is welcome, but a pause is not a withdrawal. The bill should be withdrawn and any replacement drafted in genuine consultation with those it would govern.

Investment in peace as called for by the UN in its International Peace Day theme implies commitment over time, with returns that come slowly. Sri Lanka’s 30-place rise on the Global Peace Index is a first dividend and nothing more. It can be built upon only if the government matches its commitments with action: withdrawing or fundamentally redrafting the NGO law, repealing or suspending the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and bringing Muttur, Vantharamoolai and Mailaththamadu to resolution. A higher place in a global index is not a certificate of success. Sri Lanka’s higher ranking is an encouraging start, but it will endure only if the space in which citizens speak, question and organise is protected. Peace is built from below, and a government that is serious about it will treat civil society as a partner rather than a threat.

Features

Africa is buying: Sri Lanka must start selling

Published

2 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

A call to Sri Lankan exporters and agencies: Can Sri Lanka compete with China and India in Africa?

By Kana V. Kananathan
Former Ambassador

Sri Lanka has spent decades concentrating its exports on traditional markets in Europe, North America and Asia. Yet across the Indian Ocean lies a rapidly expanding market that remains significantly underdeveloped by Sri Lankan exporters: Africa.

The opportunity is not theoretical. Sri Lanka already exports packaging, textiles, rubber products, pharmaceuticals, paper, machinery and electrical goods to African markets. The question is whether these modest beginnings can be transformed into a serious export strategy—and whether Sri Lanka can compete against the enormous commercial presence of China and India.

The answer is yes—but Sri Lanka must compete differently.

Kenya: Gateway to East Africa

Kenya should be the starting point.

Sri Lanka exported approximately US$32.08 million to Kenya in 2025, while importing US$11.41 million. But US$32 million is tiny compared with the opportunity: Kenya imported more than US$24 billion in 2025. Even a 1% share of that market would represent nearly US$240 million in annual exports.

And the commercial base already exists. Sri Lanka’s 2025 exports to Kenya included approximately US$9.99 million in paper and paperboard products, US$9.73 million in knitted fabrics, US$3.64 million in pharmaceuticals, US$1.24 million in rubber products and US$1.20 million in machinery.

Kenya’s import structure is equally revealing. In the third quarter of 2025, industrial supplies represented 34.4% of imports, machinery and capital equipment 19.2%, food and beverages 9.0%, and consumer goods 7.3%. The opportunity for Sri Lanka, therefore, extends well beyond consumer goods—we can become a supplier to African industry.

But competition is fierce. Asia supplied around 70% of Kenya’s imports in 2025, with imports from China rising 16.5% and those from India 11.3%.

Sri Lanka cannot challenge China and India across every product category. Nor should it try. We must target sectors where quality, specialisation, reliability, technical capability, smaller production runs and flexibility matter more than simply offering the lowest price.

Where Can Sri Lanka Compete?

Packaging is an obvious starting point. Cartons, boxes, bags and labels are already among Sri Lanka’s exports to Kenya. Importantly, some Sri Lankan companies operating in Kenya are themselves importing these products from Sri Lanka. The market already exists; the challenge is to scale it.

As Africa’s food-processing, pharmaceutical, apparel and consumer-goods industries expand, demand for sophisticated packaging will grow with them. Sri Lanka already possesses the manufacturing capability and industry experience to capture a larger share.

Industrial rubber products, tyres, gloves and specialised rubber components offer another opportunity where Sri Lanka has established manufacturing expertise.

The apparel supply chain is equally promising. Rather than competing directly with African garment factories, Sri Lanka can supply fabrics, elastics, labels, packaging and specialised textile inputs.

Some Sri Lankan apparel manufacturing and export companies already established in Kenya, Togo, Ghana and Ethiopia are importing several of these inputs from Sri Lanka. The supply chain, therefore, already exists. The next step is to move beyond supplying Sri Lankan-owned factories and become a competitive input supplier to the wider African apparel industry.

Other sectors deserving systematic market development include pharmaceuticals and medical consumables, processed foods, biscuits and confectionery, coconut products, cinnamon and spices, electrical products and cables, industrial chemicals, ceramics, light engineering, agricultural equipment and food-processing machinery.

Sri Lanka should also look beyond physical goods. IT, fintech, banking technology, engineering, healthcare, hospitality management and professional services largely escape the freight disadvantage confronting merchandise exports.

The Tariff Problem Can Become an Opportunity

Market access cannot be discussed without tariffs.The East African Community applies a Common External Tariff with bands of 0%, 10%, 25% and 35%, while certain sensitive products attract still higher protection. Simply filling containers in Colombo with finished consumer goods will therefore not always be commercially competitive.

But that obstacle points towards a bigger opportunity: manufacture in Africa.

Sri Lankan businesses could export intermediate materials while undertaking final assembly, manufacturing, processing or packaging in Kenya. Packaging companies could establish converting plants; electrical manufacturers could assemble locally; pharmaceutical companies could explore manufacturing or packaging partnerships; and food companies could undertake final processing closer to consumers.

Kenya would then become more than an export destination. It could become Sri Lanka’s manufacturing and distribution gateway into East and Central Africa.

With the East African Community now comprising eight partner states and extending geographically from the Indian Ocean towards the Atlantic, establishing a regional presence is increasingly more important than viewing each African country in isolation.

West Africa Cannot Be Ignored

Sri Lanka simultaneously needs a West African strategy.

Ghana offers potential as an English-speaking commercial gateway and host of the AfCFTA Secretariat. Nigeria, with its enormous population and consumer economy, should be approached as a major market in its own right, despite its greater regulatory, currency and operational complexity.

ECOWAS tariff bands of 0%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 35% again make product selection critical. Sri Lanka should concentrate on products with sufficient differentiation and margins to absorb freight, tariffs and distributor costs.

Pharmaceuticals demonstrate both the opportunity and the challenge. Nigeria imported approximately US$766 million in pharmaceuticals in 2025, with India supplying roughly US$394 million and China US$131 million. Ghana imported approximately US$301 million, with India supplying about US$140 million.

Sri Lanka cannot simply offer another generic product and expect to beat India on price. We must identify specialised products, reliable supply arrangements, partnerships and, where commercially justified, local production or packaging.

Stop Promoting Sectors—Identify Products

Sri Lanka now needs an Africa Export Opportunity Study based on individual products, not broad sectors.

The Export Development Board, Foreign Ministry, chambers and private sector should jointly identify 15–20 priority products. For each product, Sri Lanka should calculate the HS code, African annual import demand, principal suppliers, Chinese and Indian market shares, applicable duties, freight from Colombo, regulatory requirements, distributor margins and final landed price.

That will tell us where Sri Lanka genuinely has a competitive advantage.

The Commercial Test

Before spending resources promoting a product, apply one simple test:

African import demand + Sri Lankan production capability + tariff + freight + distributor margin + regulatory cost = final landed competitiveness against China, India and local African production.

Only products that pass this test should receive concentrated export-promotion resources.

This would move Sri Lanka away from exhibitions, delegations and general discussions towards what ultimately matters: specific products, specific buyers, specific distributors and actual export orders.

Give Our Missions Targets

Commercial diplomacy must become results-driven. The Government should set clear annual trade and investment targets for every Sri Lankan mission in Africa.

Missions should be evaluated not merely on diplomatic activity, but on buyers and distributors identified, business introductions made, investments facilitated, market barriers resolved and measurable exports generated.

In a competitive Africa, our missions must become active economic frontlines not merely diplomatic outposts.

A practical strategy could operate through three commercial gateways: Nairobi for East and Central Africa, Accra for selected West African markets and Lagos for Nigeria.

Sri Lanka’s total exports of goods and services reached approximately US$17.25 billion in 2025. Capturing even a small additional share of Africa’s enormous import market could, therefore, make a meaningful contribution to export earnings, investment and foreign-exchange generation.

Africa Will Not Wait

Sri Lankan exporters must stop looking at Africa as a distant or difficult market and start treating it as a strategic growth market.

We cannot compete with China and India on scale, but we can compete on quality, specialisation, flexibility and reliability. Exporters must identify country-specific opportunities, establish strong local distributors, build partnerships with African businesses and use Sri Lankan companies already operating on the continent as gateways into regional supply chains.

Where freight and tariffs weaken competitiveness, businesses must be prepared to move towards local assembly, joint ventures and manufacturing in Africa. Exporters cannot do it alone. They need aggressive, measurable and results-driven commercial diplomacy from Sri Lanka’s missions.

Africa is buying. Its markets are being captured now. Sri Lanka must stop watching from the sidelines. We must enter, compete, build our presence and secure our share.

(Ambassador Kana Kananathan is a businessman, Diplomat, lobbyist and an expert in African affairs, with over four decades of experience on the African continent. A long-time resident of Africa, he served as Sri Lanka’s envoy to Uganda and Kenya, with concurrent accreditation to 22 African Nations, and was the permanent representative to UN Habitat and UN environmental Programme. Over the years, he has been the Elections Monitor across the continent, working closely with African governments, and built enduring partnerships with African leaders. He also served as Economic and Investments Advisor to former President Professor Alpha Condé of the Republic of Guinea)

Features

Memories and Midnight Magic: Recipe for a perfect 31st Night dance

Published

2 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

The heart of a great 31st Night dance is memory, and memories come rushing back when those 70s, 80s and 90s golden oldies begin to play — those timeless tunes that make revellers, young and old, rush to the floor and dance the night away.

A perfect 31st Night is not just a party. It is a journey. A journey through time.

The music should flow like a love story. Start slow, start soft. Let couples glide into a waltz for romance. Let the floor come alive with a twist, a rock ‘n’ roll, a jive. Let nostalgia build with beautiful sing-along oldies generally associated with a New Year’s Eve dance.

This is the art that many of our entertainers seem to have forgotten.

The final hour, before midnight, is sacred. It should be collective energy at its peak. The entire crowd, on the dance floor, linking arms, swaying together, singing, at the top of their voices, those sing-along favourites.

Yes, I’m referring to those immortal, nostalgic favourites that unite the world: ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ ‘When The Saints Go Marching In,’ ‘Roll Out The Barrel,’ ‘Celebration,’ ‘She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain,’ ‘Happy Days Are Here Again,’ and so many more.

One wonders if some of our modern entertainers have even heard of these nostalgia anthems that traditionally lead up to the dawning of the New Year! This is not just music; this is ritual.

Then comes THE moment: Lights dim. Music pauses. A hush falls. The countdown begins — 10, 9, 8… — hugs, wishes, tears of joy, and then … ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ Hands crossed, voices united, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. That moment makes or breaks the night.

Here is the truth that many genuine 31st Night revellers feel but hesitate to say — an overdose of baila music at New Year’s Eve events is NOT welcome.

Of course, baila is required. Baila is our Sri Lankan heartbeat! But a 31st Night dance is for everyone.

When it’s ONLY baila, the twist and rock n’ roll lovers, the waltz kings and queens feel left out. And they are the very people who MADE nostalgia! They are the die-hard revellers who have kept the 31st Night spirit alive for decades.

A family mentioned to me that they went along with friends for a 31st Night dance, in the city, to usher in 2026, and were thoroughly disappointed with the setup.

The bands in attendance, they said, failed to generate the excitement generally associated with a 31st Night event.

If given a free hand, the music at certain Colombo venues will be mostly baila, and that is going to disappoint many. Some are already worried that it will be just a baila scene this year, as well.

A memorable 31st Night respects all rhythms … yes, a waltz for romance, a twist and rock n’ roll for that 60s magic, a cha-cha, a slow foxtrot, and then the baila, after the countdown anthem.

That balance is what makes it inclusive, classy, and truly fun-filled.

Organisers, especially in Colombo, should keep this in mind: let it be 70% nostalgia – Western, and 30% baila, with the last hour left for pure baila madness, after the New Year is in!

Organisers must work out the programme for their 31st Night and instruct the entertainers to follow those instructions. The band should not dictate the night; the spirit of nostalgia should.

This New Year, let’s give Colombo what it truly wants — memories, midnight magic, and music for every soul on the floor.

Let’s dance into 2027 with class.