News
Chandrika rebuts Maithri’s assertions
The Easter Sunday attacks would not have taken place if Maithripala Sirisena had resigned from his post in December 2018 after the Supreme Court announced that his decision to dissolve parliament in October 2018 was illegal, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike has told Sirisena in a letter.
In the letter Kumaratunga insists that she has not resigned from the party or been expelled. She was responding to a recent interview Sirisena had with The Hindu, where he said that Kumaratunga was no longer a member of the SLFP.
In the letter, Kumaratunga states that if she was no longer a member of the party, she should have resigned from the party or been expelled from the party. However neither of them had happened.
Therefore, she points out that the statement made by Sirisena is untrue and it is unfortunate that he, who has been the party’s General Secretary for the longest time since the inception of the party, was unaware of the party Constitution.
Kumaratunga has also said that she will continue to be present at the meetings of the Executive Committee and the Central Committee of the SLFP.
In response to Sirisena’s accusation that she had attended a rally in support of Sajith Premadasa at the Sugathadasa Stadium in November 2019, Kumaratunga has said she attended a convention of the SLFP, and not a meeting of either Premadasa or any other presidential candidate.
“Instead of supporting any other candidate, I have emphasised the importance of fielding an SLFP candidate and rebuilding the party. No presidential candidate was promoted at that convention. You yourself told The Hindu that the SLFP is not getting the place it deserves in the current government. So, you can’t deny that my warning then was all for naught.”
Adding that she is legally able to attend the Central Committee meetings of the SLFP uninvited, Kumaratunga states that she does not attend those meetings because she does not want to further create chaos in the party already been weakened by Sirisena.
By Saman Indrajith
Thousands of police and military personnel had left the services recently as they did not want to carry out illegal orders, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told Parliament yesterday. According to the war-winning army commander 200 policemen have resigned during the past two months and 25,000 soldiers have left the army during the last two years.
“We urged the law enforcement and military officials not to follow illegal orders. We will reinstate them with back pay,” he said.
Fonseka also urged the President and the government MPs not to take people for fools.
“Sri Lanka owes 55 billion dollars to the world. Ranil’s plan is to borrow another seven billion during the next four years. So, in four years we will owe 62 billion to the world.
Ranil and his ministers ask us what the alternative to borrowing is. These are the people who destroyed the economy and society. They must leave. Then, we will find an alternative and develop the country,” he said, adding that the IMF loans had made crises in other nations worse.
“Ranil says that by 2025, we will have a budget surplus as in Japan, Germany and South Korea. These countries are economic power houses, and this comparison is ludicrous.”
By Shiran Ranasinghe
At least five technical personnel of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) resigned daily for overseas employment, a senior CEB official said.They included electrical engineers, electricians and foremen, he added.
“Most of them are quitting due to the economic crisis while others are simply disillusioned. Trained and experienced technical staff are in high demand in many countries,” he said.
CEB United Trade Union Alliance President Ranjan Jayalal said that the CEB had lost about 2,000 employees in recent times due to the above reasons.
“We had about 24,000 such personnel a few months ago. Now the number has come down to 22,000. A number of people had to retire on 31 December, 2022.
By Saman Indrajith
The government had decided to charge Rs 225,000 from those enrolling at the Institute of Engineering Technology, Katunayake under the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA), Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said yesterday in Parliament.
Premadasa said that the institute awards the National Diploma in Engineering Sciences (NDES) and no fee was charged from students until 2023.The IET awards the National Diploma in Engineering Sciences under the three major fields of civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, and eight sub-fields.
“This is an institute that has created over ten thousand tier two engineers. NDES is a four year programme,” he said.
The opposition leader said that the sudden decision to charge 225,000 rupees from students at a time when the average Sri Lankan family is facing significant economic challenges is unfair.
“This institute offered free tuition. We should continue this tradition. A large number of engineers are leaving the country and we need to ensure that we have a continuous supply of engineers to ensure we can maintain our essential technical services,” he said.
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