Will Erik Solheim help Ranil?
Will JVP back Govt. election postponement?
Can EC fulfil his commitment!
While the people are tired of the economic crisis, it has been seen in the last few days that a political crisis is also being created within the economic crisis. This is based on a statement made by the President regarding the local government election during a discussion held with the professionals of the United National Party. The President said that there are currently more than 8,000 local government councilors, and plans are being made to reduce that number to 4,000. There are also plans to transfer the powers currently held by the chairman of local government bodies to the committee. Accordingly, the President said that the government is ready to make amendments to the Local Government Elections Act.
There is also an interesting background story about how the meeting was organized when the President made this statement in front of the professionals of the United National Party. Text messages were sent to UNP professionals for this meeting on October 4th. It was by the party’s Legal Secretary, President’s Attorney Mr. Nishanka Nanayakkara. It had been informed that a special meeting will be held at the President’s Secretariat at 9.45 am on October 9th under the chairmanship of the President, and to attend it without fail.
Disappointed UNP ers
Immediately after receiving this short message, the UNP professionals were very happy because of the thought that the President will reorganize the UNP and start work to take it on the path of victory. Accordingly, they also came to the President’s Secretariat on the 9th, dressed appropriately with the thought that the President will reveal the plan to form a UNP government in the next general election.
But disappointing all their hopes, the President who attended the meeting spoke from the beginning about postponing the elections as revealed in the letter. On how to amend the Election Act. On how to conduct referendums. The UNP professionals thought that the President would talk about how to reorganize the UNP and revive it , but it was seen that they were very uncomfortable in the meeting as not even a word came out of the President’s mouth regarding party’s future endeavors.
UNP’s plans to win
However, according to the information available in the ‘Rajya Rahas ‘ column, the President did not prepare this plan recently. In the internal discussions held immediately after assuming the office of the President, the President has mentioned that it is very difficult for the UNP to win the elections under the existing system, and as a result, the electoral map should be scrapped for a period of 3 years until the next presidential election is held. As planned, the President called the UNP professionals and put out his plan to shrink the electoral map when the local government election was just around the corner.
Although this meeting was held in the morning of the 9th, the details of the President’s speech was released to the media by the Presidential Media Unit that afternoon. As soon as they saw the announcement, it was not difficult for the leaders of the opposition political parties to understand that the President was using this as a strategy to postpone the elections.
Sajith’s response
At that time, Mr. Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the opposition, was participating in the constituencies outside Colombo. Accordingly, the first phone call to the opposition leader came from none other than former foreign minister Prof. G.L. Peiris. He has pointed it out to Sajith that the government is preparing to postpone the elections, which is a very dangerous, and the opposition should unite and prepare to defeat it.
Sajith also said that he had also received information about this, and that he would make a special statement expressing his protest in this regard in the evening’s council meeting, and that the opposition should work together to defeat this attempt of the government. Accordingly, on the same day, Sajith, G.L. and the Dullas side also took steps to issue separate statements against it.
JVP’s response
Not only that, JVP Publicity Secretary Vijitha Herath also called a press conference on the same day and said that the government is preparing to postpone the elections by destroying democracy and everyone should work together to defeat it. The opposition leader Sajith not only issued a statement setting a precedent, but also issued a statement with the party’s general secretary Mr. Ranjith Maddumabandara signature on the same night.
In addition, During the telephone conversation between G.L. and Sajith, information was also exchanged about the possibility of defeating this effort of the government through the courts. There, Sajith informed that he is ready to present a team of top class lawyers who have not appeared in a case in Sri Lanka. Also, Sajith informed GL that as a party, he will meet the Chairman of the Election Commission and take steps to ask their opinions. GL also said that his team is also ready to meet the Chairman of the Election Commission and discuss this.
Opposition united on a common cause
In addition, the GL-Dallas team took on the task of uniting the opposition to defeat the government’s plan to postpone the elections. Accordingly, GL spoke to all the parties representing the opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawega, the Tamil National Alliance and the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, since the morning of Tuesday . The Dallas team has called a special meeting to discuss this on Wednesday night at the Monarch Imperial Hotel in Thalawathugoda and informed them to attend.
In addition to these parties of the opposition, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the National Freedom Front, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, the Democratic Left Front, the New Samasamaja Party, etc., and the Vanguard Socialist Party, which are sitting in the opposition independently from the ruling party, were also invited by the Dullas team. In addition to the representatives of the Dullas team, Ranjith Maddumabandara, Harsha de Silva, Mujibur Rahman, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Maithripala Sirisena, Udaya Gammanpila, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, MA. Sumanthiran, Shanakyan Rasamanikkam, Professor Tissa Witharana, Jayantha Samaraweera, Asanka Navaratne, Reverend Athuraliye Ratana Thero and many others participated in the discussion. This can also be considered as the first time in the recent history that MPs sitting in the opposition have come together on a common cause.
However, the most remarkable happening was event that none of the members representing the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna was present. A few hours before the discussion, Vijitha Herath had held a press conference and stated that everyone should unite to protect democracy, but it was very notable that no JVP member’s face could be seen at the meeting.
JVP abstain
However, the most remarkable happening was event that none of the members representing the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna was present. A few hours before the discussion, Vijitha Herath had held a press conference and stated that everyone should unite to protect democracy, but it was very notable that no JVP member’s face could be seen at the meeting.
However, in this discussion, all the representatives emphasized that a tough fight should be carried out against the government’s attempt to demolish the election map. Everyone they were of the opinion that this battle should be launched not only in the parliament but also outside the parliament and in the court. It was the position of all. If the government plan to postpone the election through a parliamentary selection committee, and if it is necessary to make amendments to the electoral system, steps should be taken to make those amendments without postponing the local government elections. It was decided to file the biggest case in history against the government if it is acting in an illegal manner and to create a huge mass force against the government by educating the people.
In addition, Dullas also presented the information of the discussion held with the Election Commission that morning.
We met and discussed with the Chairman of the Election Commission today. He said that the commission is working to conduct the elections before March in a legal manner. The chairman told us that since the new voter list is being prepared these days, the work can be completed after October 20…’ Dullas pointed out to the group.
Three points
Accordingly, the discussion ended after everyone agreed on three points. The first decision was that all opposition political parties signed a joint statement against postponing the elections. The announcement was prepared by Professor G.L. Peiris. The second decision was to resort to a joint judicial process. The third decision was to defeat any attempt to amend the Local Government Act in Parliament.
However, when the group came out after this discussion, there was a big whisper among the MPs about JVP not joining the discussion despite being invited to the discussion.
JVP was invited to this discussion as well. On the other hand, Vijitha held a press conference and said that everyone should unite against the government’s election postponement plans. But after stating this they have doged this discussion as usual. I see J.V.P also willing to postpone the elections. Because they also know that if there is an election, they too will be disadvantaged.
JVP, Businessman
That’s why they did not come to this meeting…’ said one MP while another MP drew the attention of the crowd to a news published on a website called ‘Lankasara’. It was stated in the news that the President is working to lead the JVP through a businessman who is very friendly to the UNP leadership. The MP also said that there is a doubt that the JVP has decided not to participate in this discussion based on the instructions received from the businessman. Although a large number of MPs who were present criticized JVP’s dual policy, Dullas’s position was that JVP should be included in this program anyway
In this way, when the entire opposition decided to protest against the President’s attempt to postpone the elections, it was a special event that only Pohottuwa came forward to support the President. Accordingly, Pohottuwa’s general secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, Bandula Gunawardena and Rohitha Abeygunawardena stated in front of the media that it is not appropriate to hold elections at this time and Pohottuwa agrees with the President’s position.
While the country is facing a serious situation due to economic and political crisis, the government is in a situation like the bull knocking the man who fell from the tree due to the international crisis that has emerged. Last week’s historic defeat by the Geneva Human Rights Commission is the most immediate event in that crisis.
Loosing international support
Due to the actions of the government, it was clearly seen from the results how even the countries that have worked very closely with Sri Lanka have become estranged. Something should be mentioned about Japan in particular. Even though Japan has been supporting Sri Lanka since then, Japan was deeply displeased due to the diplomatic shenanigans done during Gotabaya’s reign. Many people thought that the situation would calm down after Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe assumed the office of President, but the situation turned out to be nothing but aggravating.
It was mainly due to the fact that the government had created various news based on Japan without the knowledge of Japan. The first news created by the government was that Japan has decided to hold a debt conference to support Sri Lanka. The second was that Japan has decided to take the lead in debt restructuring. Through this news publication, the government hoped that Japan would appoint a special representative for Sri Lanka this time too, just as Mr. Yasushi Akashi was appointed as Japan’s special representative for Sri Lanka during the war.
But all of this turned out to be a straw in the river with the release of an official announcement from Japan that it has not decided to hold such a debt conference or become a mediator in the debt restructuring talks. Japan had said there that Japan is ready to complete its work after the completion of the first debt restructuring talks with China and India.
Eric Solheim
After losing hope of appointing a Japanese special representative in this way, the president turned to Norway’s peace envoy Erik Solheim, who had visited Sri Lanka frequently during the war. Accordingly, the President’s aim was to bring Solheim to Sri Lanka. When publishing the news about it, all the Sri Lankan media had reported without any responsibility that Eric Solheim was going to visit Sri Lanka as the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. During our investigation in this regard, we discovered that although Solheim had worked as the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, he was removed from it in 2018.
The reason for that was that it was reported that Solheim had spent money improperly during his foreign trips. Although this is a normal situation in our country, it is a serious situation in the United Nations, so Solheim had to leave his post. Accordingly, when we disclosed this special information through our website, it was seen that all the media that reported on Solheim’s position from a high point of view took it down.
Tourist Eric Solheim
Accordingly, Solheim came to Sri Lanka last Wednesday as a mere tourist. Solheim also worked as a tourist in the past. Especially the other day in Himachal, India, Solheim gained some fame due to using a drone camera to take a photo in an area where no one has been. However, the President took steps to give a special position to Solheim, who came to meet the President empty-handed as a tourist. That is appointed him as the President’s International Adviser on Environmental Affairs.
In this way, there is a reason why the President suddenly brought Solheim to Lanka and provided this kind of presidential consultancy. It is not because of anything else, but because international organizations have allocated a large amount of money to the environment. Accordingly, the President has planned to use Solheim’s old connections to get some aid money for Sri Lanka from the fund set aside for these environmental changes due to the fact that all the ways to receive international aid have been blocked. Solheim was suddenly brought to Sri Lanka and given the position of international adviser on environmental affairs to the President.
Tourist a Presidential advisor
In this way, along with the controversy that arose regarding Solheim’s position, there was a great controversy based on another position given by the President last week. That is with the President appointing former President Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga as the ‘Senior Adviser of the National Joint Mechanism on Food Security and Nutrition’. Due to spending more time on food security and child nutrition in the past, the president had taken steps to give her this position, but the former president was not very happy about it. On a previous occasion, we made a special disclosure on this channel and said that there has been some political rift between the President and Chandrika, and in order to calm the situation, a businessman very friendly to the President and Chandrika intervened and prepared a dinner. But we mentioned that Chandrika did not participate in it.
Chandrika’s refusal
However, the other day, Chandrika received a phone call from the Presidential Secretariat, and it was said that a special discussion regarding food safety and child nutrition will be held at the Presidential Secretariat, and Chandrika has also been invited. After receiving this call, Chandrika, who was very angry, answered the call and said that she will not come in the direction of the President’s Secretariat. Then the person who gave the phone call said that the President has opened a separate office for these projects and the discussion will be held at that place. That answer made Chandrika even more angry.
‘No, I will never come there. If you want, tell them to come to my place. I will give the necessary instructions…’ Chandrika replied and took steps to disconnect the phone.
It was understood that those officials had taken steps to inform the higher ups of the government about Chandrika’s position . Accordingly, steps were immediately taken to appoint a special representative to deal with Chandrika from above. That special agent is none other than Suren Batagoda.
Accordingly, the officials of the Presidential Secretariat who made the next call to Chandrika said that they have appointed Mr. Suren Batagoda to coordinate with Chandrika and to give him time to conduct the discussions. But Chandrika was also very angry with this call from the President’s office officials. Accordingly, Chandrika, who made a long comment regarding Suren Batagoda, said that Mr. Batagoda should not be sent to her and that she would not work together with him at all.
After reporting that notification to the top, steps were taken to appoint another senior secretary to deal with Chandrika again. When informed about that, Chandrika agreed to deal with him. Accordingly, steps were taken to hold the first discussion between Chandrika and the members of that committee.
Appointment of senior advisor
However, a few days after this discussion, Chandrika received a letter from the President’s Secretariat. The letter stated that she has been appointed as the Senior Adviser of the National Joint Mechanism on Food Security and Nutrition. Seeing that the news was also given to the media, Chandrika got angry again and immediately took steps to send a reply letter. She said that she is not ready to accept the relevant position. She had stated in the letter that she is not joining this program and giving advice with the expectation of any reward or position, and therefore she refuses to accept this position.
However, other people have mentioned that Chandrika had initially expressed her interest in this position, but later refused to accept it due to the rising opposition against the government.
Recently, the media had reported that the houses of 74 ministers in Pohottuwe were set on fire due to the disturbances that took place on July 9th. On several occasions, the media had mentioned that the full damage reports had already been obtained, and that the government had planned to rebuild the houses. Once the Minister Prasanna Ranatunga had given a notice to the MPs to provide all related information and stated that they would work to provide compensation. However, the media had reported recently that a large number of MPs are very disappointed due to the delay in giving the compensation due to some reasons.
Compensation to MPs
Because of this, last Tuesday, the Presidential Secretariat sent letters to all these 74 MPs to invite them to come for a special discussion on Wednesday evening. The letters further said that the MPs’ housing issue is to be discussed there. However, due to the continuous delay in providing compensation to the houses, many councilors exchanged messages with each other and said that this type of discussion is only a waste of time, and therefore they will not participate in the discussion. They said that in these discussions, only committees are formed and forms are filled, and they said to their friends that they will boycott the meeting due to that. Accordingly, by Wednesday morning, only 44 of the 74 MPs had decided to attend the relevant meeting. But although it was confirmed that 44 people would participate, in the end only 34 MPs attended the meeting.
However, in this discussion, the President gave the same answer to the MPs as he had given in the previous meetings. That is to fill the related forms and give them to the relevant institutions within three weeks. It is also reported that the President has mentioned that the relevant compensation amount should be approved by the Parliament when giving compensation to those houses.
MR’s re-entry
Last week we made a special disclosure on the column ‘Rajya Rahas ‘ and said that former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is ready to enter active politics once again. Confirming what we said, last week the former president went to a temple in Tangalle for the first time, engaged in religious rituals and took steps to meet the people. Apart from that, after leaving the post of Prime Minister first time he came to Kalutara and attended a public meeting of Pohottuwa. This is also reported to be the first public meeting held by Muluganiyata Pohottuwa after the struggle.
Accordingly, Mahinda has also planned to attend the second meeting in Nawalapitiya this weekend. It has been organized by Mahindananda Aluthgama Member of Parliament.
Meanwhile, another new change was seen in the Pohottu party office last week. That is through making a change in the photos displayed on the screen behind the place where the press conferences are held. Until now, the faces and portraits of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa were seen there, but last week it was changed and steps were taken to remove the faces of all three Rajapaksa. Accordingly, only the sign of the bud can be seen there. It’s too early to tell if it’s a harbinger of change to come.
IMF in India
IMF. President Kristalina Georgieva is coming to India to talk about Sri Lanka, US Deputy Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Mr. Donald Lu is also going to visit New Delhi with the delegation. The purpose of Mr. Lu’s Asian visit is to discuss economic, political and security issues in the region with the Indian authorities. It is not yet clear whether Mr. Lu will come to New Delhi during the same period as the head of the Financial Fund, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, or will come later, and whether both countries will hold a discussion on Sri Lanka together. But it is very clear that Sri Lanka will be a major topic in these discussions….’
This is the fact that we revealed for the first time on September 11 through the ‘Rajya Rahas column’. There we shared that officials of the International Monetary Fund and the American representative Donald Lu have come to India and held a crucial discussion regarding Sri Lanka. After Donald Lu went to America after finishing this discussion, Washington asked about the progress of those discussions and took another important decision. That is to send Donald Lu to Sri Lanka as a result of Indian negotiations. That is the next 19th day. The ‘Rajya rahas column’ has heard that Washington has decided to send another high-level delegation to Sri Lanka along with Lu, and that they will come with some serious decisions regarding Sri Lanka. It has been learned that this group is coming after a long study of Sri Lanka.
Impact of Ukraine- Russia war
During this visit, the American team will also discuss the impact of the Ukraine-Russia war in the Asian region. There they have speculated that due to that war, a serious economic crisis will be created in the Asian region by the end of November and December. Especially, they are of the opinion that the barrel of oil will exceed 200 US dollars by this time, and even getting fuel to Sri Lanka under such conditions will be a very difficult task. It has been learned that if such a situation arises, what measures should be taken in this region, how to control those problems, and how to deal with Asian countries in such a time frame will be discussed. In addition, it is reported that the American team led by Donald Lu has also planned to hold a round of discussions with the representatives of the opposition regarding the incidents of human rights violations that have arisen in the country.
Opposition leader – out of Colombo
Opposition leader Sajith spent the last few days outside Colombo. He attended many council meetings in areas like Mahiyangana, Kandy, Ampara. Since the Kathina Pinkama organized by Sajith and his wife Jalani was held at Mahiyangana Rajamaha Vihara, Sajith had instructed the organizers to organize Balamandal meetings in the nearby divisions so that it would be easy to participate in those activities as well.
While spending his time in Mahiyangan like this, Sajith went on another special trip. Without informing anyone, Sajith went to inquire about the well-being of Wasantha Mudalige’s mother and relatives living in Dambane. As Wasantha’s mother does not know where son lives, when Sajith inquired about it from the people around Dambane, Sajith got to know a sad news. That is, Mudalige’s mother had already left Mahagedara and moved to another area. Despite searching the area, Sajith could not find where she was. There, Sajith came to know that Wasantha Mudali’s mother had left the house due to various threats after her son’s arrest.
Visit to Adiwasi Chief.
Later, Sajith met Vedi leader Vannila Atththo and took steps to discuss. There, Vannila Aththo told Sajith that he too had received death threats due to standing up for his villager and relative Wasantha Mudalige. After a long discussion in this way, another special discussion was held between Sajith and Vannila Aththo in an inner room of the house. There, Sajith informed the Vannila Aththo that he has decided to include a representative of the Vedi people in the working committee of the Samagi Jana Balawega to discuss the problems of the Vedi community as well as the people of the area. Vannila Aththo responded to it.
What the Chief Thero of Mahiyangana said to Sajith
With the full contribution of Sajith Premadasa and Jalani Premadasa, Mahiyangana Atamahakusal Katina Pinkama was held. Especially Jalani Premadasa worked hard day and night for it.
I feel very happy that you have been able to perform the eight great meritorious acts of charity without any flaws and at the highest level. This is a great feat. Everything was looked for and fulfilled. Even when there was so much work, the opposition leader came to the place whenever he could. A country really needs leaders who work honestly…’ he said.
By Special Corrospondent