News

Ranil says Donoughmore Constitution was a success

Published

4 years ago

2022/06/7

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, delivering a speech at the ‘Conference on Sri Lanka’s Twin Crisis’ held at the Sri Lanka Foundation, on Friday, said: “We based ourselves on the British Constitution. The majority has the power, the minority starts talking and shouting, that’s all. But then we changed the first-passed-the-post into a PR system. Now, you’re going to abolish the Presidency, then do you want to go back to the English system, the Westminster system, or do you want to have one in which there’s more cooperation like the old Donoughmore system, the State Council system? This is one issue that everyone has to think of.”

Excerpts of the speech: I’ve been asked to address you on Sri Lanka’s Twin Crisis. One has already started, the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. I need not go back to the past as to how we deprived ourselves of our foreign exchange, how we decided that we’d go on to do it alone and the facts were concealed not only from the public but from

Parliament, and from the members of the then government. And stemming from it is also a political crisis, the question of loss of confidence in a political system that allowed the country to go down to this level. So this is what we’re grappling with.

There’s a second crisis. The second crisis is the global impact of the Ukraine crisis. We’re only seeing the beginning of it, the increase in fuel (price). It will get much worse as it goes along. As it goes along you’d probably find that there’ll be a shortage of food.

The food shortage will go global till 2024. After all Russia and Ukraine, one is the largest producer of grain, the other is the fifth largest. You cannot import Russian grain, and in Ukraine whatever is left cannot be sent off. Their ports are closed by the Russians, and their rail track gauge is different from that of Poland. So each carriage has to be lifted and put onto the Polish track. You can’t send food out there. And many of the fields of their agricultural area are destroyed. If the war stops even tomorrow, it will take Ukraine at least three years to get its cultivation back on track. Then the rising price of fuel, the rising price of corn, again the shortage of fertilizer. So it hits the whole world. There’s a shortage of fertilizer in California, there’s a shortage of fertilizer in Brazil. How do you meet it? And there’s going to be a shortage of food. Already countries are banning the export of food. That’s the second one you have, that you’re facing.

There’s no Priority List. Even till recently different agencies were actually using the different credit lines to order what they wanted, there was no priority. If someone said ‘I want fertilizer’ that was the effort, if someone said “I want petrol’ that was there. We had to establish a Priority Order and sort of centralize the access to the foreign credit lines. So this is just a start of what we have to do. The worst is still to come. As you know there will be no food, as in our food supplies will be enough until about September- October because we didn’t have enough fertilizer either for ‘Maha’ or for ‘Yala’. Now we’re trying to get fertilizer for the next ‘Maha’ season. If we do, then we will be certainly self -sufficient by February next year. What do you do in between? As the economy fails, more and more jobs are being lost. More and more enterprises, big and small are collapsing. This is what we’re going for. A time will come when people will not eat three meals a day. They may eat two meals; that situation may come for some of our people.

We have to avoid hunger. Is there an end to it? Well, we’re talking with other nations, our friendly nations, to get help. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we need to ensure that there are no earth slips while we go through the tunnel. That’s the problem. We cannot get through this year by ourselves. We need a few billion dollars to come from outside. Otherwise this country cannot survive. We need to reach out again to the people we rejected. The Japanese have been our friends from 1952 to date who are hurt by what happened. Which country rejects 3 billion dollars’ worth of aid, without a thank you, without even having a negotiation? Just said we don’t want it. How do you build back confidence with those people? We’re lucky that India has come forward to help us, at the hour of our need. Other countries are chipping in. China has come with assistance, but someone in the government went and negotiated a loan, a swap, which we cannot use.

So we have to get ready to go through a tough time and to change the system. Changing the system and making this export oriented, I don’t think is going to help Hiran De Silva, Chairman – Rakimu Jayathu Lanka very much. But his sons and his daughters and his grandsons and his granddaughters are going to have a new Sri Lanka. That’s what we’re working for. A Sri Lanka that is prosperous. Let this experience be our last experience with this bitter politics. Let’s think anew.

And that comes back to the Constitution. We based ourselves on the British Constitution. The majority has the power, the minority starts talking and shouting, that’s all. But then we changed the first-passed-the-post into a PR system. Now you’re going to remove the Presidency, then do you want to go back to the English system, the Westminster system or do you want to have one in which there’s more cooperation like the old Donoughmore system, the State Council system? This is one issue that everyone has to think of. I’ve given some proposals to make the Parliament work together, but that is only the beginning. So think of it and remember, that this is the beginning of a new journey. So think of it, and start traveling along.

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Sun directly overhead Chilaw, Bingiriya, Halmillawewa, Panduwasnuwara, Gokarella, Kawudupelella, Koppaveli and Kirankulam about 12:12 noon. today (09)

Published

21 hours ago

2026/04/9

Priyan

On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka from the 05th to 15th of April this year.

The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (09th) are Chilaw, Bingiriya, Halmillawewa, Panduwasnuwara, Gokarella, Kawudupelella, Koppaveli and Kirankulam about 12:12 noon.

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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district

Published

21 hours ago

2026/04/9

Priyan

Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 4.30 p.m. on 08 April 2026, valid for 09 April 2026.

The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district.

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.

Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry
of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.

News

AG: Coal procurement full of irregularities

Published

22 hours ago

2026/04/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

AG S. Jayarathne

The Auditor General has warned that delays in coal procurement and continued reliance on suppliers of questionable standards could disrupt the supply of electricity.

The special audit report on coal imports was presented to Parliament on Tuesday (07) by Bimal Ratnayake, Leader of the House, at the commencement of proceedings.

However, Opposition MPs complained to Speaker Dr Jagath Wickramaratne that copies of the report had not been distributed to Members of Parliament. Responding to the complaint, the Speaker said it was the responsibility of the Parliamentary Secretariat to ensure the report was provided to MPs.

The special audit, requested by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), examined the coal procurement process of the Lanka Coal Company for the Lakvijaya Power Plant and purchases planned for the 2025/2026 season.

The audit revealed several irregularities in the tender process. It found that the laboratory issuing quality reports at the loading port for the controversial supplier Trident Company had its licence cancelled. The report also disclosed that at the time advertisements were published calling for tenders,the company had not completed its registration but was awarded the tender. In addition, three other suppliers who had not confirmed their registration were allowed to submit bids.

Coal shipments for the Lakvijaya Power Plant are tested at both loading and unloading ports. According to the audit, Mitra SK South Africa had been appointed to conduct testing at the loading port, but due to the absence of accreditation the task was assigned to PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda, an Indonesian firm whose licence had been cancelled on December 29, 2025. Auditor General S. Jayarathne has noted that the audit could not confirm whether the licence had been renewed by March 31, 2026, and that all 12 shipment reports issued at the loading port lacked accreditation.

The report has further pointed to discrepancies between loading port laboratory reports and data recorded at the plant’s main control unit. Despite the availability of alternative verification methods, the Lanka Coal Company failed to use them to confirm the accuracy of the reports.

The audit also highlighted that no coal shipments were brought to Sri Lanka between November 13 and December 30, 2025, despite the need to secure maximum stocks during that period.

As a result of the shortage, an emergency procurement was carried out on March 18 this year, selecting Taranjot Resource Pvt Ltd. as the supplier. However, the Auditor General revealed that this company had failed within the previous 36 months to supply coal with the required calorific value of 5,900 or above to the Lakvijaya Power Plant.

The report warns that delays in coal imports and dependence on suppliers with questionable standards could adversely affect the continuous supply of electricity from the plant.

The National Audit Office of Sri Lanka has further estimated that the use of substandard coal has caused losses amounting to nearly Rs. 2.24 billion.

According to the report, losses incurred from individual shipments included more than Rs. 160 million from the first vessel (consignment No. 456), over Rs. 90 million from the second vessel (No. 457), more than Rs. 310 million from the third vessel (No. 458), and over Rs. 150 million from the fourth vessel (No. 459). Additional losses included nearly Rs. 180 million from the fifth vessel (No. 460), about Rs. 30 million from the sixth vessel (No. 461), over Rs. 240 million from the seventh vessel (No. 462), more than Rs. 390 million from the eighth vessel (No. 463) and over Rs. 390 million from the tenth vessel (No. 464).

The report has also noted that because the available coal stocks cannot generate electricity at the plant’s full capacity of 300 megawatts, additional power may have to be obtained from alternative sources. The estimated additional energy requirement for this purpose is 76,354,087 kilowatt-hours, the report has pointed out.

By Saman Indrajith