President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the Presidential Election will be held in September while the Opposition talked about the polls. News of a General Election to be held in April spread throughout the country through members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). As Opposition groups including the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) added more straw to the fire, there were two defections.
But President Wickremesinghe put out the fire with a drop of water at a moment no one saw coming. After a visit to the Northern Province, the President returned to Colombo on Sunday (7) night. The next morning, he attended an event held to mark the 125th anniversary of the Colombo Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA), and the presence of three ex-Presidents was particularly notable.
Good news
On Monday evening, the President called the Cabinet with good news about amending the salary increase as proposed in the Budget. The Budget proposed to start the Rs 10,000 salary hike from the April, with the second instalment to follow from October and from then on Rs. 10,000 will be paid to the Government employees.
However, the President submitted a proposal to Cabinet to start the pay hike from January, which was passed unanimously. In addition, the President directed officials to increase transport allowances of doctors and allowances of university lecturers. After the Cabinet meeting, the President attended a meeting of ruling party members. The President sent a congratulatory message to the group of MPs.
“We have allocated money for the development of villages. Each Divisional Secretariat will get a provision of about Rs.12 million. The World Bank is supporting the development of village infrastructure. The Asian Development Bank (DB) is helping build roads. An election year is coming. Now go to the village and start working.” Everyone applauded when the President spoke.
“Sir, Operation Justice (Yukthiya) is going well. The illegal drugs should be destroyed in public. People want to see us destroy the contraband that we have caught,” Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.
“It is difficult to do so with the existing law. They should be kept court evidence,” Minister Tiran replied.
“If we can bring these drugs to the Galle Face Green and destroy it in front of the people, we can send a good message to the country,” Mahindananda said.
“Don’t bring anything to the Galle Face Green. Remember what happened the time when things were allowed? Galle Face is a no-no,” the President jokingly said and the MPs started to laugh.
Parliamentary affairs
Thereafter, the group talked about the week’s Parliamentary affairs and dispersed. Prof. Ashu Marasinghe reported the situation in Parliament on Tuesday (9) morning. He told the President on MP Chaminda Wijesiri’s exit after relating to him about the incident in Parliament where a group of SJB MPs had come dressed in black and another group who did not comply.
He got to know from the Members there that this was based on a monetary transaction. MP Aluthgamage had also said it before the assembly. He also said that the MP who is coming to fill Wijesiri’s vacancy is a relative of the Premadasa family.
On Tuesday evening, the United National Party Management Committee met under the auspices of the President. Here President Wickremesinghe, as the UNP leader, issued a letter offering the post of Party Secretary General to Palitha Range Bandara again.
As he did not attend the meeting that day due to illness, the responsibility of handing it over to Range was assigned to Party Executive Director Shamal Senarath. It was after that that the political talk started. Deputy leader Ruwan Wijewardene told the President that Opposition members are preparing for the Parliamentary Election.
The other members of the management committee, Vajira, Ravi, Manusha, Harin, Kithsiri and Dinuk Colomboge confirmed it.
“According to the electoral map, the Presidential Election comes first. It will be between September and October. After that, the Parliamentary Elections will be in January. We can hold Provincial Council elections in March.” When the President spoke, the other group said that this message should be given to the people.
The responsibility of releasing the media statement was assigned to Minister Harin Fernando and a proposal to nominate Presidential Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Presidential candidate was also passed.
Proposals were passed to present the President as the non-partisan candidate from a broad alliance and the responsibility of preparing the name and symbol of the alliance was assigned to Harin and Ravi Karunanayake as per the wishes of the rest of the group.
“Other unions in the health sector have started to strike against the Cabinet’s decision to increase the allowances of doctors.” Vajira also pulled a political speech in the meantime.
Transport allowance
“The doctors were given a transport allowance. If they don’t work, the patients will die. Teachers’ salaries were increased because the country’s university system was collapsing when they started leaving the country. Now the strikers demanded a salary increase of Rs. 20,000. I have given 10,000 of it. Others didn’t make such demands from me.” the President explained.
Minister Manusha Nanayakkara said that many countries in the Latin American region, including Cuba, have increased the price of fuel. He said that Cuba has raised fuel prices by 500 percent. Meanwhile, the President said that we will also have a big issue due to the problem of the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
“Many ships have changed their course. Due to the Red Sea problem, if the insurance fee is increased, the prices of goods will increase. On the other hand, if the shipping route is changed, the operations at Colombo Port may decrease by 50 percent.” When Kithsiri Manchanayake said it, the President nodded his approval.
The group thanked the President for bringing the country out of the crisis within a year and a half.
On the instructions of the President, President’s Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayake and Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake went to the Gangaramaya to talk about Navam Perahera. Ven. Assaji Thera was informed that the State’s support will be offered for this purpose.
In the meantime, President Wickremesinghe hosted a dinner for Princess Anne at the President’s House, to which former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was also invited. On Wednesday (10) evening, Princess Anne arrived at the President’s House and after the President welcomed her, they both sat down for talks. Princess Anne took an envelope from her handbag and placed it in the President’s hand.
The letter contained a congratulatory message from King Charles III. In that brief note, King Charles had appreciated the President’s program and recalled the relations between the two countries. The Foreign Service officers who were nearby said that King Charles sends such letters only to leaders who are rather close to him. This was widely highlighted in the British media as well. Princess Anne’s tour received wide coverage in foreign newspapers and magazines, with some magazines concentrating on her simple but smart outfits.
The President went to Beruwela on Thursday (11) morning to open the “Gem Sri Lanka 2024” exhibition. SJB MP Rajitha Senaratna was also present and everyone saw how he was chatting with MP Vajira Abeywardena for a long time.
Minister Chamara Sampath gave a wonderful speech there. “The JVP leader also came to see this earlier. But he just left. We are developing the gem industry. The President has made plans for the next five years. That is why we continue to work,” Minister Sampath said.
The President also met the Japanese Minister of Finance, Middle Eastern Ambassadors and representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday. A group of Ministers were also present on that day and they spoke about the current political situation.
“It is heard that the MP who will replace Chaminda Wijesiri, is related to a powerful political family,” Minister Manusha said.
“Now that the President is coming to the election as a candidate, people have started choosing their Presidential candidates,” Minister Prasanna said.
“We cannot be obsessed with election talk. Politics will have to come second as for the next five years, a program is being drawn up to develop the country,” the President said.
It was also discussed here about the President’s participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Uganda’s Non-Aligned Nations Conference (NAM), and although Sri Lanka was unable to participate in the Davos WEF last year due to the country’s bankruptcy, it was said in this speech that the country will be represented at the prestigious meeting this year.
