News
Sajith questions govt. on delay in abolishing executive presidency and holding PC polls
Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday demanded that the government disclose when it would introduce constitutional reforms and hold the long-delayed provincial council elections.
Making a special statement under Standing Order 27(2), the Opposition Leader raised a series of questions, including those related to the postponement of provincial elections, the status of promised constitutional reforms, and recent judicial transfers.
“We want the government to inform this House whether it intends to proceed with constitutional reforms, as pledged in its election manifesto, titled A Thriving Nation, a Beautiful Life, specifically on page 194,” Premadasa said.
“It must clarify whether it is still committed to this promise, and, if so, when it will be fulfilled. The government also promised to abolish the executive presidency, and we want to know when that will happen. Furthermore, the House deserves to know when the provincial council elections will be held,” he said.
Chief Government Whip and Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa responded by saying that the Prime Minister would address the questions raised by the Opposition Leader.
Premadasa: “These are very important questions, and I do not understand why the government needs time to answer them.”
Minister Jayatissa: “This is essentially a question paper. Someone needs to advise the Opposition Leader on how to raise questions under Standing Order 27(2). He has bundled multiple issues such as provincial elections, the executive presidency, judicial transfers and many others into one statement. These are complex matters that require time to prepare a comprehensive response.”
Kurunegala District SJB MP Dayasiri Jayasekara: “All we’re asking for are answers. We’ve raised our questions. If the government is unwilling to respond, it should just say so.”
Minister Jayatissa: “As I said, the Prime Minister will respond in due course. The Opposition Leader speaks of the urgency and national importance of provincial council elections but let me remind you that this government has been in office for just one year. You went three years without holding the same elections.”
By Saman Indrajith
An Australian woman has given birth to rare, naturally-conceived identical quadruplets after a pregnancy described as “extremely high risk” by the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
The four girls, who were delivered via caesarean section at 28 weeks and four days on 14 July, were monozygotic quadruplets – where a single fertilised egg splits into four embryos.
The hospital said the girls’ mother, 34-year-old Jenitar Na’amoana, and her husband Jortham, already had four children and were taken by “immense surprise” when told to expect quadruplets.
Dr Alexa Bendall, who cared for the mother from the start of her pregnancy, estimated identical quadruplets occur “at one in every 15 million pregnancies” and said “but to share the same placenta – this is unheard of”.
Bendall, who is a maternal foetal medicine specialist and obstetrician, said such a pregnancy was very high-risk, with the hospital admitting Na’amoana as an inpatient at 25 weeks so she could be monitored.
“We always said that if we could get her to 28 weeks, we would be doing well,” Bendall said.
“So the fact that we’ve got four beautiful, healthy babies born at 28 weeks and four days is incredible and we’re very happy to be a part of it,” she added.
“Jenitar has taken everything in her stride from day one… she has somehow dodged every complication and risk for both herself and her babies,” Bendall said.
The newborn girls have been named Emily, Harriet, Catherine, and also Alexa, after Alexa Bendall, who described it as “a beautiful tribute”.
The babies will stay in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit until they grow to full term and are “currently doing extremely well”, Bendall added.
The parents’ other children are between one and 10 years old and the mother has recently launched an online fundraising campaign to help buy a van with at least 10 seats.
In a message alongside the fundraiser, which has already received over A$37,000 (£19,261) in donations, Na’amoana wrote: “Our four precious miracles have arrived safely, and while our hearts are overflowing with gratitude, the reality of caring for four newborns at once has brought challenges we never could have imagined.”
Naturally conceived quadruplets are extremely rare, with doctors estimating the odds at about one in 700,000 births.
(BBC)
… bribe giver departs Colombo port
The Merchant Shipping Secretariat (MSS) is investigating a complaint received from the Captain of an Indonesian flagged vessel Sensho that he had to pay an official USD 5,000 bribe to facilitate what our sources called port state control inspection.
Sources said that the cement carrier arrived at the Colombo Port, on Friday, and departed after having passed the rigorous inspection. Responding to queries, sources said that after paying the bribe, the vessel’s Captain has lodged complaints with MSS and the Commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).
In spite of the government’s high profile anti-corruption drive there seemed to be fresh cases, sources said, adding that MSS had received a comprehensive complaint. The vessel had departed Colombo for Jeddah, sources said.
“The issue at hand is whether there have been unreported cases of MSS personnel receiving bribes,” sources said, acknowledging that the Captain, instead of immediately bringing the demand for USD 5,000 bribe to the MSS, had paid it and departed Colombo. (SF)
An opposition political group, styled as Dinana Dakuna, has accused the Committee of Public Finance (COPF) of protecting the masterminds behind the USD 2.5 mn theft from the Treasury.
Commenting on the recent COPF report on the theft, the group has alleged that the all-party parliamentary grouping made an attempt to shift the blame to the Central Bank as part of a cover-up. It has described the COPF report as a deliberate attempt to suppress the truth.
The group said that the COPF conveniently asserted that the theft took place due to the inexperience of officers concerned, thereby diverting the attention from those who perpetrated it.
An alleged attempt to portray the collapse of the administrative set-up that led to the USD 2.5 mn theft as a human resource problem, has also been questioned by Dinana Dakuna.
Rare identical quadruplets born in Australia
Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle and Matara districts
Merchant Shipping Secretariat probes bribery scandal
Theft of USD 2.5 mn: Dinana Dakuna claims COPF trying to protect mastermind
COPF chief slams security sticker scam
CAA urged to protect soap users
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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