News
SJB accuses President of plotting to postpone polls
The SJB says that President Ranil Wickremesinghe is planning to postpone elections.
Addressing the SJB’s Ududumbara Asana Balamandalaya meeting, yesterday, Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella said that his party had decided to go before the courts against the President’s plans to postpone elections.
Kiriella said that elections to the local government bodies were due to be held in March next year. “So the President is trying to find an excuse for postponing them. He knows well that if an election is held, the UNP will definitely lose and it will not be able to save at least its deposits. The SLPP, too, would not be able to win. Only the SJB has a clear chance to win. That is why the President is trying to invent an excuse,” Kiriella said.
Kiriella added that the President had stated that the electoral system should be changed. “It is the incumbent President himself who brought the prevailing electoral system. It was on his watch the system was changed. It was while he was the Prime Minister the number of members in the councils was doubled and the quota for female members increased. Now, all of a sudden he says the system has to be changed. He says that the number of local council members needs to be reduced by 50 percent. He is getting ready to postpone the local government polls on the pretext of reforming the electoral system,” Kiriella said.
The Colombo Stock Exchange (GL 12) has contributed LKR 25 million to the Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund.
The cheque was handed over to the Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake by the Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange, Dimuthu Abeyesekera, the Chief Executive Officer Rajeeva Bandaranaike and Senior Vice Chairman Kusal Nissanka at the Presidential Secretariat.
News
Karu argues against scrapping MPs’ pension as many less fortunate members entered Parliament after ’56
Former Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya has written to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake expressing concerns over the proposed abolition of MPs’ pensions.The letter was sent in his capacity as Patron of the Former Parliamentarians’ Caucus.
In his letter, Jayasuriya noted that at the time of Sri Lanka’s independence, political participation was largely limited to an educated, affluent land-owning elite. However, he said a significant social transformation took place after 1956, enabling ordinary citizens to enter politics.
He warned that under current conditions, removing parliamentary pensions would effectively confine politics to the wealthy, business interests, individuals engaged in illicit income-generating activities, and well-funded political parties. Such a move, he said, would discourage honest social workers and individuals of modest means from entering public life.
Jayasuriya also pointed out that while a small number of former MPs, including himself, use their pensions for social and charitable purposes, the majority rely on the pension as a primary source of income.
He urged the President to give due consideration to the matter and take appropriate action, particularly as the government prepares to draft a new constitution.The Bill seeking to abolish pensions for Members of Parliament was presented to Parliament on 07 January by Minister of Justice and National Integration Dr. Harshana Nanayakkara.
Five suspects, including former Minister Johnston Fernando and his two sons, who were arrested by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), were further remanded until 30 January by the Wattala Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The former Minister’s , sons Johan Fernando and Jerome Kenneth Fernando, and two others, were arrested in connection with the alleged misuse of a Sathosa vehicle during Fernando’s tenure as Minister.
Investigations are currently underway into the alleged misuse of state property, including a lorry belonging to Lanka Sathosa, which reportedly caused a significant financial loss to the state.
In connection with the same incident, Indika Ratnamalala, who served as the Transport Manager of Sathosa during
Fernando’s tenure as Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade, was arrested on 04 January.
After being produced before the Wattala Magistrate’s Court, he was ordered to be remanded in custody until 09 January.The former Sathosa Transport Manager was remanded on charges of falsifying documents.
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