Sri Lanka Prez opts for smaller Cabinet with fresh faces

Colombo (TIP): Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka on November 18 appointed a 21-member Cabinet in the new NPP government, keeping with his pre-election promise to streamline the governance system and ease the burden on taxpayers.
The National People’s Power (NPP) has been advocating a smaller government to reduce costs for the public. Since the NPP won the presidential election in September, the government functioned with just three ministers, including the President.
As per the island nation’s Constitution, there is a provision for appointing a 30-member Cabinet.
Dissanayaka retained the finance and defence portfolios, while appointing 12 new parliament members to key positions and entrusting eight veteran members, who have served since 2000, with significant responsibilities.
Among the fresh faces in the Cabinet are five professors. Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, who holds the education portfolio, and Saroja Savithri Paulraj, who has the women and child affairs portfolio, are the two women members in the Cabinet. Paulraj, a minority Tamil from the Sinhala majority south, was involved in the party’s long struggle.
A significant feature of the swearing-in ceremony was Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekaran, who took his oath in Tamil, highlighting the representation of the minority community in the new government.
The new parliament will convene on Thursday.
The NPP, led by Dissanayake, swept the parliamentary elections held on Thursday by winning a two-thirds majority. It also dominated the Jaffna electoral district — the heartland of the nation’s Tamil minority. The NPP won a near 62 per cent of the vote, 2/3rd majority of 159 seats in the 225-member Assembly.
21 members appointed
Dissanayaka retains finance, defence portfolios
12 new members, 8 veterans appointed
Five professors among fresh faces
Women members include Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya (education), Saroja Savithri Paulraj (women and child affairs)
(Reuters)

22 Comments

  1. Hey there would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good web hosting provider at a honest price? Thanks, I appreciate it!

  2. I was just looking for this information for some time. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your site. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this kind of informative websites in top of the list. Generally the top web sites are full of garbage.

  3. obviously like your website however you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to tell the reality however I will certainly come again again.

  4. I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this website. I am hoping the same high-grade website post from you in the upcoming also. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own site now. Actually the blogging is spreading its wings fast. Your write up is a great example of it.

  5. I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what all is needed to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web smart so I’m not 100 sure. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks

  6. I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or blog posts in this sort of space . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this website. Studying this info So i am glad to exhibit that I’ve a very just right uncanny feeling I came upon just what I needed. I such a lot surely will make sure to don’t put out of your mind this site and give it a glance regularly.

  7. Hi, Neat post. There is an issue along with your site in internet explorer, would check this… IE nonetheless is the marketplace chief and a large portion of folks will pass over your wonderful writing because of this problem.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.