New Ministers sworn in
Posted on September 4th, 2015
Courtesy Adaderana
The swearing in ceremony of the new Cabinet of the National Government commenced at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, a short while ago.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was the first to take oaths as the Minister of National Policy and Economic Affairs before President Maithripala Sirisena.
In total 42 Cabinet Ministers including Wijedasa Rajapaksa and D.M. Swaminathan, who have already been appointed as ministers, were sworn in today.
Mangala Samaraweera took oath as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rajapaksa as Minister of Justice and Swaminathan as Minister of Rehabilitation on August 24 before the President.
Rajapaksa and Swaminathan received additional ministerial portfolios today.
This brings the current number of Cabinet Minister in the naitional government to 43.
The following MPs were sworn in as ministers:
Cabinet Ministers
1. Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe – Minister of National Policy & Economic Affairs
2. John Amaratunga – Minister of Tourism Development & Christian Affairs
3. Gamini Jayawickrama Perera – Minister of Sustainable Development & Wildlife
4. Nimal Siripala de Silva – Minister of Transport (SLFP)
5. S.B. Dissanayake – Minister of Social Empowerment & Welfare(SLFP)
6. W.D.J. Seneviratne – Minister of Labour and Trade Union Relations(SLFP)
7. Lakshman Kiriella – Minister of University Education & Highways
8. Anura Priyadharshana Yapa – Minister of Disaster Management (SLFP)
9. Susil Premajayantha – Technology, Technical Education & Employment(SLFP)
10. Thilak Janaka Marapana – Minister of Law and Order & Prison Reforms
11. Dr Rajitha Senaratne – Health, Nutrition & Indigenous Medicine
12. Ravi Karunanayake – Minister of Finance
13. Mahinda Samarasinghe – Minister of Skills Development & Vocational Training (SLFP)
14. Vajira Abeywardena – Minister of Home Affairs
15. S.B. Nawinne – Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development & Cultural Affairs
16. Patali Champika Ranawaka – Minister of Megapolice & Western Development
17. Mahinda Amaraweera – Minister of Fisheries & Water Resources(SLFP)
18. Naveen Dissanayake – Minister of Plantation Industries
19. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya – Minister of Power & Renewable Energy(SLFP)
20. Duminda Dissanayake – Minister of Agriculture(SLFP)
21. Wijedasa Rajapaksa – Minister of Buddha Sasana
22. P. Harrison – Minister of Rural Economic Affairs
23. Ranjith Maddumabandara – Minister of Public Administration & Management
24. Gayantha Karunathilake – Minister of Parliamentary Reforms & Media
25. Sajith Premadasa – Minister of Housing & Construction
26. Arjuna Ranatunga – Minister of Ports & Shipping
27. M. K. A. D. S. Gunawardana – Minister of Lands
28. P. Digambaram – Minister of Upcountry New Villages, Estate Infrastructure& Community Development
29. Chandrani Bandara – Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs
30. Thalatha Athukorala – Minister of Foreign Employment
31. Akila Viraj Kariyawasam – Minister of Education
32. D.M. Swaminathan – Minister of Resettlement & Hindu Affairs
33. Chandima Weerakkody – Petroleum & Petroleum Gas(SLFP)
34. Dayasiri Jayasekara – Minister of Sports (SLFP)
35. Sagala Ratnayake – Minister of Southern Development
36. Harin Fernando – Telecommunication & Digital Infrastructure
37. Mano Ganesan – Minister of National Dialog
38. Daya Gamage – Minister of Primary Industries
39. Rauff Hakeem – Minister of Urban Development & Water Supply
40. Rishad Bathiudeen – Minister of Industries & Commerce
41. Kabeer Hashim – Public Enterprise Development
42. Mohamed Hashim Abdul Haleem – Minister of Postal Service & Muslim Affairs
September 4th, 2015 at 5:39 am
UNP murdabad!!
“bhanga wewa”!
September 4th, 2015 at 7:57 am
Why Mrs Vijayakala Makeswaran UNP MP (Japanaya) did not get any minister post -at least minister of rowdy (Sandiya) .
not bad Mano Ganesan got– Minister of National Dialog, any way dialog with whom ??? may be Chairman of Dialog telecom?
Amma !, Where our Sakodaraya Modaya get name of minister post
Minister of Disaster Management (SLFP)- I like this , they know soon We will have Disaster ???
all OK until that what he does???
September 4th, 2015 at 4:18 pm
Independent Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
September 4th, 2015 at 4:14 pm
20. Buddhasasana- Wijeyadasa Rajapakse
Good. This is the man who said “this is not a Sinhala Buddhist country !
3. Transport- Nimal Siripala de Silva
All drivers will be encouraged to fall sleep while driving !
10. Law and order- Thilak Marapana
I’d better stop talking.
The 5 JVP M.P.s (Mayadunne resigned in the morning) , the five members of Wimal Weerawansa’s party , Vasudeva , Dinseh Gunawardena , Gammanpila and three members of the SLFP voted with the opposition . The three Rajapakses , Chamal , Mahinda and Namal did not attend parliament yesterday. Except Sampanthan, all other M.P.s of the TNA were absent in parliament.
Nugegoda Man reduced to 16, real Man joined TNA.
Eating away of my country begins again in another form. Who are the policemen inside in silent ? Who are the silent patriots ? Who have backbones ? Who are the MP’s in Avajataka Governent without any posts ?
How true was Anura Kumara.
Andy,
Why Mrs Vijayakala Makeswaran UNP MP (Japanaya) did not get any minister post ? – She has a better paid job ? Can keep your Thlivar’s photo at the bed ?
September 4th, 2015 at 5:08 pm
විද්යාත්මක පදනමකින් ඇමැති විෂයන් බෙදා නෑ
– අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක
අජිත් අලහකෝන් – සිරිමන්ත රත්නසේකර
පරණ පුරුදු විගඩම් අච්චාරු ඇමැති මණ්ඩලයක් මිස මෙය කිසිසේත්මක විද්යාත්මක පදනමක් මත විෂයයන් බෙදූ ඇමැති මණ්ඩලයක් නොවේ යෑයි ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ නායක, විපක්ෂයේ ප්රධාන සංවිධායක අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා ඊයේ (04දා) ප්රකාශ කළේය.
ජනවාරි අටවැනිදා මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ලැබූ ජනවරම තුළ තිබෙන්නේ රාජපක්ෂ විරෝධය පමණක් නොව එම රජයේ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයටද දැක් වූ විරෝධය බව කී දිසානායක මහතා එදා ජනතාව ප්රතික්ෂේප කළ දූෂිත ඇමැතිවරුන්ට මෙවරද ඇමැතිධුර පිරිනැමීමෙන් යහපාලනයේ තරම පෙනෙන බවද කීය.
දහනව වැනි ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයට පටහැනිව ඇමැති ධුර ඉහළ දැමීමෙන් රනිල් මෛත්රී පාලනය ආරම්භයේදීම පෙන්වා දී තිබෙන්නේ බල වුවමනාව මත ව්යවස්ථාව පසෙක තැබීමට සූදානම් බව යෑයිද අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා ප්රකාශ කළේය.
September 4th, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Tell me the difference between S.L.F.P. and UNP now? When S.L.F.P. had so many Ministries these UNP bullheads barked like dogs saying about the waste and so on so now what ? Now again nearly hundred odd Ministers and Junior Ministers for what? Who is cheating who? Only the poor voter get cheated by these power hungry vultures. Shame,Shame,Shame.
Only country in the world maybe loser’s get Ministry posts and most surprising thing was the appointment of the Deputy Speaker another loser. Is this D E M O C R A C Y? We saw how a Democratic leader acts in the parliament yesterday in front of the whole country calling “MONKEYS” to other people’s representatives. He acted like a thug his trademark we saw many a times before. R.I.P my dear shameless traitors.Enjoy your two years or five years and come back we are waiting for you, you silly heads.
September 5th, 2015 at 2:35 am
It’s difficult to find a man or woman in Sri Lanka now who is not a minister/deputy minister etc.
This is YAMA PAACHANAYA. Once again toothless jobs to so called Buddhists in so called Buddhist Sri Lanka.
Maru sira and traitor catholic chief ponil systematically going to break up Sri Lanka. Where is dhrohitaya sobithaya, ratanaya etc. etc. traitors who engineered this YAMA PAACHANAYA? Also malwatte kapuwa, asgiriye kapuwa, ambare damilaya etc. etc. who support this Buddhism destroying party, Unpatriotic party (UNP). It shows by giving the job to a traitor like wijedasaya who said this is not a Buddhist country and history doesn’t matter. On the other hand, look at who is the Christian affairs minister, none other than jihadi john who is catholic traitor chief ponil’s right hand man.
Unpatriotic party killed 160,000 Buddhists (60,000 jvpers and then let the war dragged on for 30 years in which 100,000 Buddhists died). Still a lot of Buddhists support this BUDDHISM DESTROYING PARTY! Can you imagine this happen in any other country on the planet. It can only happen in Sri Lanka!
September 5th, 2015 at 5:35 pm
The FIRST Ray of HOPE for Sri Lankan Patriots EMERGES as MPs of MINOR constituents parties and SOME SLFP MPs move to form a NEW Opposition block in Parliament.
Hopefully this GOAL will be realized, and the move will continue to GATHER MOMENTUM and ATTRACT more and more SLFP MPs to desert the National Government as the DANGER POSED by it to Sri Lanka’s INTEGRITY becomes MORE OBVIOUS every day!
If 50 UPFA MPs form a new opposition, R. Sampanthan’s role as “Leader of the Opposition” as, I hope, will his proposal to DIVIDE Sri Lanka into 3 ETHNIC BANTUSTANS! But why should he worry, his role as “Traitor in Chief” will continue!
The Lion Flag flutters proudly aloft,
To remind us this freedom’s day!
Our duty to keep thee, safe and strong,
As our forefathers did yesterday!
………………….
Some UPFA MPs opt to be in the opposition
By Kelum Bandara
DailyMirror.lk
September 9, 2015
In the wake of the two main parties agreeing to form the national unity government, some United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MPs are hoping to inform Speaker Karu Jayasuriya that they would function as part of the opposition, a party leader said yesterday.
The UPFA and the United National Party (UNP) which agreed to form the national government had also agreed to share Cabinet portfolios.
Against this background, the UPFA MPs who are opposed to the formation of a national unity government are preparing a petition to be sent to the Speaker.
National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerwansa told Daily Mirror said he believed that at least 50 MPs would sign this petition which would be handed over within the next two weeks.
He said he had learnt of attempts by the government to suppress dissent in parliament.
…………………..
Talks to form a new opposition in Sri Lanka parliament
Colombopage.com
Sept 05, Colombo: Minor constituent parties of former ruling party United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) are in discussions to form an opposition alliance after the main constituent, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) decided to join the United National Party (UNP) in the national government.
Leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) Wimal Weerawansa said that discussions have been held by five political parties of UPFA represented in parliament on forming a common opposition.
Minor constituent parties of the UPFA Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, National Freedom Front, Communist Party, Democratic Leftist Front and the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya are represented in Parliament.
Two other minor parties, Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Douglas Devananda and Ceylon Worker’s Congress (CWC) led by Arumugam Thondaman have joined the national government.
Weerawansa said parties will further discuss next week with regard to forming a new political front to contest future elections.
September 5th, 2015 at 5:55 pm
LIES, MORE LIES, and MORE GOD-DAMN LIES howled in venomous rage by the Choura Rajina CBK pursuing her Personal Vendetta against President Mahinda Rajapaksa to MAKE CERTAIN he NEVER RISES AGAIN!
But, the BEST LAID PLANS of this FAILED POLITICIAN and TRAITOR to her people, like those of MOST MICE and MEN, will DEFINITELY GO ASTRAY because between her and her DEVIOUS PLOTS stand MILLIONS of Patriots of Mother Lanka!
What is WORSE, is she makes these PRONOUNCEMENTS in India, responsible for fomenting the terrorist war that consumed the lives of over 150,000 of our fellow citizens! SHAME on YOU Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga …. your revered Father and Mother would CURSE you for these DISHONORABLE and TREACHEROUS Collusion with Foreign Enemies!
……………………
Sri Lanka would have experienced massive killings if Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to power: Chandrika Kumaratunga
Sept 05 (TOI) NEW DELHI- Mahinda Rajapaksa during his tenure as the President of Sri Lanka ran a police state and if he was successful in returning to power as Prime Minister in recent parliamentary polls the country would have experienced massive killings of innocents, according to Chandrika Kumaratunga, former President of the island nation.
Kumarantunga, who played a key role in unseating Rajapaksa in last January’s Presidential polls, announced on Saturday that her visit to India would be followed by that of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremansinghe on Sep 15 as his maiden visit abroad since reelection.
Talking to a select group of journalists here Kumaratunga, however, warned that Rajapaksa who muzzled voices of Sinhalas and Tamils during his decade-long-rule has not given dream of returning to power. “His primary aim of returning to power is to ensure that corruption charges are not pressed against him,” noted the former President who was in Delhi to participate in the just concluded Hindu-Buddhist conference organized by the Vivekananda International Foundation.
Asserting that role and preeminence of India in the region cannot be wished away, fiery Lankan politician pointed out that Rajapaksa had supposedly tried to balance India in her country by promoting other powers. “But India is special to Sri Lanka and we need Indian support in form of investments among other things. India’s role in South Asia has been acknowledged globally. Its strategic position cannot be undermined,” noted the former President who was instrumental in bringing anti-Rajapaksa faction in Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and opposition United National Party to jointly oppose the common enemy – Mahinda Rajapaksa.
She admitted that the Chinese funded projects in Sri Lanka had incurred huge debts on Colombo as the cost of such projects were high due to commissions paid to the Rajapaksa regime.
Dismissing Rajapaksa’s claim of India’s hand in his defeat in Presidential polls last January, she said that the former head of state was looking for scapegoats after he was voted out of power. “The people of Sri Lanka can manage their democracy on their own.”
Recalling the process that ousted Rajapaksa from power Kumaratunga informed that protests were launched by the civil society two years ago and there was demand that she take the lead in ousting the tyrant regime. “Rajapaksa created enormous hurdles in this journey and even did not allow any SLFP leaders or Ministers to meet me. But as demands grew for an alternate leader I zeroed on Maithiripala Sirisena who has a clean image among the SLFP leadership. I also got in touch with Opposition leader Ranil Wickremansinghe and the common enemy brought us together,” recounted the former two-time President as she did not rule out possibility of returning to active politics at a later stage.
On the issue of reconciliation with the Tamil minorities Kumaratunga, who is also the chairman of the national reconciliation commission noted that the period provides golden opportunity to address the issue permanently. “We are working towards handing over land back to Tamils, addressing the disappearance issue and devolution package. India understandably has a dynamic role to play in this process,” she said, adding that both sides are responsible for the fishermen impasse and need to address the issue earnestly.
September 7th, 2015 at 1:12 am
Oops! CORRECTED Version …….
…………………….
With a Yamapalanaya Govt “National” in name only, and propped up not with consent of the UPFA MPs but technical dictats, is Somarama Sirisena SHIVERING IN FEAR that his National Government JUNTA of BACKSTABBERS and SHIP-JUMPERS may fall apart??
Is he WORRIED that having SOWN the WIND with TREACHERY, he may REAP the WHIRLWIND of JUST RETRIBUTION???
UNEASY lies the head that wears the CROWN of THORNS STOLEN in the dead of the night with DESPICABLE TREACHERY!
The Stampede of the Ship-Jumpers!
Half-a-Jump, Half-a-Jump
Half-a-Jump, Onward!
Into the Valley of Treason
Into the Jaws of Dishonor
Jump the Ship-Jumpers!
Bribes to the Left of them
Jobs to the Right of Them
Power in Front of the Them
Cudgels to the Rear of Them
Jump the Ship-Jumpers!
Half-a-Jump, Half-a-Jump
Half-a-Jump, Onward!
Into the Valley of Tears
Driven by Nameless Fears
Jump the Ship-Jumpers!
Jostled from the Left of them
Jostled from the Right of them
Massed Asses to the Front of them
Hoots of Rage to the Rear of them
Jump the Ship-Jumpers!
…………………………….
President: National govt. under threat … from Rajapaksa loyalists and separatist forces
by Zacki Jabbar
Island.lk
September 6, 2015
Admitting that the national government formed between the UNP and the SLFP would face survival challenges, President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday called on members of both parties, especially at grass roots level, to ensure that their historic partnership continued for the betterment of the country.
Addressing the UNP’s 69 anniversary celebrations at Sirikotha, the President who is also leader of the SLFP, described his participation in the celebrations of the SLFP’s main opponent as an unprecedented occasion.
Describing his presence as an outcome of consensual politics, Sirisena warned that forces connected to the last Rajapaksa government and those with separatist agendas were doing their utmost to scuttle the UNP-SLFP Memorandum of Understanding entered into with the national interest in mind.
Appealing to members of both parties, he said that it was with their support and cooperation that the conspiracy to destabilise the National Government could be overcome.
Acknowledging that he could not have become President without the UNP’s support, Srisena expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the UNP leadership and rank and file.
He also personally thanked the then Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga for their encouragement and support, at a time when he and his family’s very existence was under threat.
Among those present on the occasion were leaders of the constituent parties in the UNP led United National Front. They included Rauff Hakeem, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Palani Digambram, Rishard Bathiudeen and Mano Ganeshan.
Convenor of the National Movement for a Pure Tomorrow, Athureliya Rathana Thera and Democratic Party Leader, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka also graced the occasion.
Leader of the UNP and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe recalling the difficult times that the party had to face in its history, thanked the membership for their efforts to making the UNP victorious once again.
“We have ended nepotism, anarchism and corruption,” he noted while urging all those committed to good governance and the rule of law to ensure a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka, where all its citizens would have equal opportunities to succeed in life.
Deputy Leader of the UNP Sajith Premadasa, Assistant Leader Ravi Karunanayake and General Secretary Kabeer Hashim addressed the gathering.