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Namal, Sajith hail election of Vanushi Walters to New Zealand Parliament
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa hailed the election of Vanushi Walters to the New Zealand Parliament. She is the first Sri Lankan-born Member of New Zealand’s Parliament.
“Heartiest congratulations & best wishes to SL-born New Zealander, @vanushi_walters on being elected as the Upper Harbour MP in northwest Auckland. I also congratulate @jacindaardern on being re-elected as NZ PM & her party’s resounding victory in the #NewZealandElection2020,” Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa tweeted.
“I extend my heartiest congratulations to Hon. Vanushi Walters on becoming the first Sri Lankan-born member to be elected to the House of Representatives of New Zealand. Myself and all fellow Sri Lankan’s wish you the very best in your public service career,” Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa tweeted.
Labour’s Vanushi Walters won the race to be Upper Harbour MP in northwest Auckland, taking over from retiring National MP Paula Bennett.
She claimed a narrow victory over National candidate Jake Bezzant, a former tech company chief executive and cricketer for Hamilton, receiving 14,142 votes to Bezzant’s 12,727.
The Sri Lankan New Zealander is a lawyer and advocate with national and international experience. She has spent nine years in the community legal sector, six years as an International Board member of Amnesty International, and has worked in private practice, the public sector and the community sector.
She has a track record of working to ensure fair employment conditions for workers, and she’ll continue to support job security and opportunities for workers post COVID-19. Vanushi wants to see greater availability of affordable and healthy homes and access to legal help for anyone who needs it. Vanushi is currently a Senior Manager at the Human Rights Commission and a Trustee at Foundation North, New Zealand’s largest philanthropic funder of community projects in Auckland and Northland.
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
By Saman Indrajith
Accepting deposits for Local Authorities Election concludes
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