News

Misuse of state property has decreased since presidential poll – Observers

Published

2 years ago

2024/11/8

Thilina Walpola

Manjula Gajanayake- Rohana Hettiarachchi

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The misuse of state property has decreased drastically compared to the situation prior to the 21 September presidential election, Rohana Hettiarachchi, says Executive Director of the People’s Action for Free & Fair Elections (PAFFREL).

Hettiarachchi said yesterday that overall the 21 September presidential election had been one of the cleanest elections Sri Lanka had ever seen.

“The massive misuse of state property was the only problem with the September presidential election. We even went to court seeking an end to this. We don’t see such misuse of state property now,” he said.

Hettiarachchi said that there had been recent controversies regarding appointments to state institutions. “When the government changed on 22 September, many politically appointed individuals resigned. The current government has since filled those vacancies notwithstanding the declaration of a parliamentary election. They have also resumed some projects that were halted during the presidential election period. We had a discussion with the Election Commission, and it was agreed that if the government was not permitted to fill certain vacancies left by the previous administration’s appointees, those institutions would be unable to function. Furthermore, there were concerns about how long these posts could remain vacant, especially with local government and provincial council elections approaching. However, there will be no new appointments or new development projects during election times,” he said.

The Executive Director of PAFFREL said the Anura Kumara Dissanayake administration had been discussing a potential increase in state employees’ salaries. However, that discussion had begun only after the Opposition parties called on the government to implement such a raise. “We do fee that the decision to allocate 11,000 acres of land in Kantale for distribution among farmers could be used for political purposes. There have been several complaints, but overall, the misuse of state resources has significantly declined, and I hope this trend will continue,” he said.

As for the parliamentary polls, there have been some election related violence and some assaults. This is something inevitable given that over 8,800 candidates are in the fray.

“There are some complaints about teachers engaged in election campaigning, especially in the Northern Province. There has been an increase in the use of posters. However, these are insignificant compared to incidents during the previous parliamentary elections,” he said.

Hettiarachchi said that political parties were vying with one another to claim the dominant position in the Opposition, instead of winning the election. That had also led to a dampening of enthusiasm, he noted.

A candidate for Colombo can spend about Rs 5.7 million for his or her campaign. “They have to spend this carefully. If you advertise in mainstream newspapers, you will blow the money within a few days,” he said.

The PAFFREL Executive Director added that there was uncertainty among politicians whether they could win the election. If they lose all the money they spend would go to waste. “Previously, political parties had some idea about how many seats they could win in an election. This is much more difficult to do now, therefore political parties themselves are hesitant to spend money. There is also doubt among politicians whether it would be possible to recover the costs of campaigning during the next five years,” he said.

Executive Director – Institute of Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES), Manjula Gajanayake said that political parties were already showing signs of fatigue as they had to mobilise resources and party machinery to contest back-to-back elections. These signs of fatigue will show in 2025, when two more elections, i.e., local government and provincial council elections, are to be held.

“Sri Lanka did not have any election for over four and a half years because the Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe administrations did not hold scheduled elections citing various reasons. It is because these administrations deliberately postponed the elections that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has had to hold a series of elections, which have been postponed. We already had the Elpitiya local government election and we will have the parliamentary election next week,” he said.

Gajanayake said that the political leaders who had postponed elections in the past few years for narrow political gain, were now suffering the consequences of their actions.

Let’s compare the campaign during postal voting during the presidential and parliamentary elections. Postal voting during the presidential election saw millions of social media posts intended for state employees eligible for postal voting, and many state employees also actively shared their opinions on social media and WhatsApp groups. That kind of enthusiasm was not there for postal voting during the parliamentary election,” he said. On the other hand, this is the first parliamentary election after 1977, with campaign finance laws in place.

Gajanayake said that there were close to 9,000 candidates and they must take campaign finance laws seriously. All the candidates must appoint an agent who is in charge of preparing the expenses reports, he said.

The IRES Executive Director said that a large number of established politicians were not contesting the general election. “Compared to previous parliamentary elections, this is the election where the most MPs and former ministers, from the previous parliament, are not contesting,” he said.

“Most of these former MPs and ministers were among the highest spenders during previous elections. This is one of the reasons why there is less promotional material,” he said.

Gajanayake said that because of the requirement for campaign finance reporting, it had become much more difficult to launder money compared to previous elections. For example, previously a candidate could print any amount of posters and there was no need for him to document how he got the funding and who his donors were.

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News

Fast Attack Craft P 4447 recovered in successful salvage operation

Published

11 hours ago

2026/09/14

Priyan

The Sri Lanka Navy successfully recovered its Fast Attack Craft P 4447 following a successful salvage operation, bringing a multi-stage emergency response to a close.

The craft, which ran into distress during a routine patrol on 15th August 2026 off Angulana, was brought to the surface on 11th September, from a depth of approximately 80 feet. It was
subsequently towed to the Colombo Dockyard premises.
The initial phase of the operation immediately following the incident focused on search and rescue. A joint effort involving the Navy, Air Force, Police, and local fishermen from Angulana
resulted in the rescue of 11 crew members. The search and rescue phase drew to a close with the recovery of the remains of the Second in Command of the craft, on 4th September.

Following the search and rescue phase, specialized Navy diving and salvage teams launched a dedicated recovery phase against rough sea conditions and underwater challenges, adhering to
strict safety protocols. The Navy’s marine, hull, electrical, and electronic engineering teams utilized specialized technical know-how and equipment to raise the vessel in stages.

Thus, the salvage operation marked an outstanding achievement attained through the professionalism, technical expertise of Navy divers, and coordinated contribution of all
engineering and technical branches of the Sri Lanka Navy. Technical support and specialized expertise were also extended by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Colombo Dockyard PLC.

News

CIABOC member’s appointment: Controversy over Speaker under probe heading selection process

Published

13 hours ago

2026/09/14

Thilina Walpola

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Opposition should intensity its focus on the forthcoming selection of a member of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and remain vigilant as Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne, MP, the head of the Constitutional Council (CC) tasked with making the relevant recommendation, is under investigation by the CIABOC, sources familiar with the ongoing inquiry told The Island.

Chethiya Goonasekara, PC, is expected to complete his three-year term on Dec 31, 2026. Sources pointed out that CIABOC Commissioners are appointed by the President on the recommendation made by the 10-member Constitutional Council.

The CIABOC initiated the investigation following a complaint lodged by suspended Chief of Staff and Deputy Secretary General of Parliament Chaminda Kularatne in early February this year. Sources said that as Goonasekera is scheduled to complete his term toward the end of 2026, the CC would have to call applications soon to choose the successor.

Goonasekara received his appointment from President Ranil Wickremesinghe in January 2024. A Justice W. M. N. P. Iddawala was appointed Chairman of the CIABOC. The other commissioner is K. Bernard Rajapakse.

Asked whether Iddawala and Rajapakse, too, would complete their terms soon, sources said that in terms of the Anti-Corruption Act No 09 of 2023, the Chairman of CIABOC would hold office for a period of five years, second commissioner (K. Bernard Rajapakse) for four years and the third commissioner (Chethiya Goonasekara) for a period of three years.

Sources said that the Opposition as well as civil society representatives in the CC should take up the issue of Speaker facing an investigation by the CIABOC taking part in the forthcoming selection process. Responding to queries, sources emphasized that the issue was whether in terms of Section 107 of the Anti-Corruption Act the participation of the Speaker in the selection process amounted to a violation of the Act itself.

The current members of the CC are Dr Jagath Wickramaratne, Speaker and Chairman of the Constitutional Council, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Prime Minister, Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the Opposition, Bimal Rathnayake, MP, Aboobucker Athambawa, MP, Ajith P. Perera, MP, Sivagnanam Shritharan, MP, Austin Fernando, Civil society representative, Prof. Wasantha Seneviratne, Civil society representative and Ranjith Ariyaratne, Civil society representative.

Sources pointed out that in spite of the sensitivity of the case, the CIABOC recorded Kularatne’s statement in the second week of August, six months after he lodged the complaint.

The CIABOC on 3, 8 and 10 Sept recorded the statements from the Transport Officer, Deputy Director, Administration and Assistant Director, Finance regarding the use of facilities by the Speaker, those assigned to his staff and other relevant matters.

The NPP named Dr. Wickramaratne as the Speaker after Asoka Ranwala resigned over controversy regarding his higher education qualifications.

SJB lawmaker Dayasiri Jayaskera has repeatedly raised the issues concerning the Speaker with the focus also on the Speaker using two government-managed residences, relevant staff in addition to expenditure on food, transport and fuel provided to the Speaker’s private secretary.

Political sources said that trouble erupted after the Parliamentary Staff Advisory Council in late January sacked Kularatne accusing him of providing false information to secure his appointment. Before being appointed as the Deputy Secretary-General of Parliament in 2023, Kularatne held several high-ranking positions, including Secretary to the Chief Government Whip, Additional Secretary to the President, Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Additional Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition.

The SJB declared in Parliament that Ranwala should be brought back as the Speaker as they have no faith in Wickramaratne. MP Mujibur Rahuman jokingly told parliament that the Opposition wouldn’t raise Ranwala’s educational qualifications.

News

GMOA: Countrywide cadre revision not done since 2015

Published

13 hours ago

2026/09/14

Thilina Walpola

Dhammika

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has stressed the need to conduct a comprehensive countrywide cadre revision urgently.

GMOA spokesman Dr. Lasitha Dhammika told The Island that the failure on the part of successive governments to conduct cadre revision caused the deterioration of the public sector health services. Due to the absence of required statistics, they hadn’t been able to fully comprehend the situation on the ground and to ascertain the requirements of the public.

Dr. Dhammika pointed out the expansion of the services without supporting statistics and the need to initiate an immediate cadre revision. According to him, the GMOA had raised this issue with successive governments without success. The GMOA spokesman said that they also sought relevant information from the Health Ministry in terms of the Right to Information (RTI) Act two weeks ago but was yet to receive response.

(SF)