US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo paid a visit to Sri Lanka in October to coax the Gotabaya Rajapksa government to sign the Millennium Challenge Cooperation Agreement. A controversy erupted ahead of Pompeo’s visit, as the US called upon Colombo to make difficult but necessary decisions” to pick sides between Beijing and Washington.
In a major setback amid the growing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean Region, the US has decided to discontinue a proposed $480 million development assistance programme in Sri Lanka due to lack of partner country engagement”.
The US Embassy in Colombo on Thursday informed through a press statement that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) board has decided that the approved fund for Sri Lanka will now be made available to other eligible partner countries.
The Millennium Challenge Cooperation Agreement was approved by the previous government of Ranil Wickremesinghe in the last year of his tenure, but he was unable to get approval from parliament, evoking widespread resistance among people who believed it compromised the nation’s sovereignty and national security.
Nevertheless, the US has once again reiterated that the programme, also facing resistance in another South Asian nation, Nepal, is transparent in nature.
Country ownership, transparency, and accountability for grant results are fundamental to MCC’s development model”, the statement reads.
The MCC has been dubbed a “development project aimed at poverty alleviation” by the US, but many people in Sri Lanka consider it a tool to expand military outreach in the Indian Ocean.
The MCC has partnered with nearly 30 countries worldwide on 38 grant agreements, totalling nearly $13.5 billion.
Ties between the two countries soured under the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government as the Trump administration considered it biased in favour of China. The Trump administration also introduced a ban on the entry of Sri Lanka’s Army Chief Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva – who is considered a war hero in the 30-year battle against Tamil militancy – into the United States on charges of human rights violations.
In October this year, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Dean Thompson urged Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary choices” to secure its economic independence instead of choosing opaque practices in an apparent reference to China deepening its relations with the South Asian country. Beijing reacted to the remark and asked the US to shun a “Cold War” mentality. China has invested nearly $8 billion in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, with Colombo Port City and the Hambantota Port Projects being the two major ones.
Sri Lanka is not expecting a coronavirus vaccine anytime soon from any country as not a single vaccine has been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
State Minister of Primary Health Services, pandemics and COVID Prevention Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle told reporters yesterday that there is still no discussion to import vaccines from any country.
She said that all vaccines are still in the testing stage and have not been approved by the WHO.
The State Minister said that the Government will pick the vaccine best suitable for Sri Lanka once it is approved by the WHO.
Dr. sudarshani Fernandopulle also said that Sri Lanka does not have full access to vital scientific information on the vaccines currently being tested and must depend on information shared with the media. She said that Sri Lanka is closely monitoring the situation but is also mindful that vaccines usually take a few years to be approved.
The United States has begun administering the Pfizer/ Biontech Covid-19 vaccine while the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is also being tested.
These vaccines have been tested in a short period and are still in the testing stage ,”she said.
-In order to prevent Covid-19 spreading to outside Western Province during the festive seas
-Tests would be carried out on random individuals
-Testing would be carried out in three locations in the Province
Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) would be conducted on the passengers crossing the borders of the Western Province with effect from today (18) 8.00 a.m. until further notice to prevent Covid-19 spread to outside the Western Province during the forthcoming festive season, informed sources confirmed last night.
According to a letter to Provincial Director of Health Services (Western Province) it stated that the testing would be carried out to identify risk of passengers in three locations in the Province and also to prevent the virus from spreading to other districts.
The sources said the tests would be carried out on random individuals.
The process will be facilitated by the police. In addition, respective Regional Directors of Health Services must deploy their teams to the following locations to carry out Antigen tests.
1. Nittambuwa along the Kandy-Colombo Road
2. Salawa, Kosgama along Avissawella-Colombo Road
3. Katunayake along Colombo-Chilaw Road
The Ministry said the decision had been taken under a directive of Director General of Health Services.
Earlier, Army Commander Shavendra Silva also said that RAT would be conducted targeting people traveling especially to upcountry areas during the upcoming festive season.(Sheain Fernandopulle)
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has decided to discontinue the proposed compact of USD 480 million with Sri Lanka.
The decision was reached during the quarterly meeting of MCC’s Board of Directors on December 15.
In a statement issued yesterday, the MCC announced that the Board has discontinued the proposed compact with the island nation.
MCC of the US Government approved the grant to Sri Lanka at its board meeting held on the 25th of April 2019 in Washington D.C. subject to Congressional Notification.
On the request of former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, the MCC had conducted an evaluation in terms of their investment criteria and selected Sri Lanka as a qualified country to receive grant funding under their Compact Investment Program.
Under the grant, MCC had agreed to kick off a USD 350 million transport project and a USD 67 million land project in Sri Lanka. The remaining USD 63 million was to be allocated to support technical assistance, feasibility and design studies, project administration, and monitoring and evaluation.
However, the proposed grant assistance agreement was met with strong disapproval from various parties citing that it adversely affects the sovereignty of the country as it would pave way for defense deals with the US.
Meanwhile, MCC has selected three new partners – Sierra Leone, Kiribati and Solomon Islands – for a new compact partnership and threshold programs.
As a part of the annual selection process, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Niger have been reselected as eligible for concurrent compact programs for regional integration, while Malawi, Mozambique, Timor-Leste and Tunisia were reselected for compact development.
Further, Ethiopia, Kenya and Gambia were reselected for a threshold program development.
The statement said the MCC has also reaffirmed its support for continuing development in Indonesia, Kosovo and Lesotho.
MCC provides time-limited grants to developing countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, from fighting corruption to respecting democratic rights, as evaluated by MCC’s scorecard. MCC takes a business-like approach, with bedrock commitments to data, accountability and evidence-based decision making.”
Meanwhile, Embassy of United States in Colombo, in a statement published regarding the decision of MCC Board, said the US remains a friend and partner to Sri Lanka and will continue to assist Sri Lanka in responding to COVID and building its economy.”
On December 15, the MCC Board decided to discontinue the proposed development assistance grant to Sri Lanka due to ‘lack of partner country engagement’, the Embassy noted.
Rs. 89 billion approved for Sri Lanka will be made available to other eligible partner countries in need of grant funding to pursue their economic development priorities, reduce poverty, and grow their economies.”
The Embassy went on to say that the country ownership, transparency, and accountability for grant results are fundamental to MCC’s development model.
MCC has successfully partnered with nearly 30 countries worldwide on 38 grant agreements, totaling nearly $13.5 billion. These grants have lifted millions of people from poverty by catalyzing local and domestic investment.”
The total count of Covid-19 cases reported in Sri Lanka reached 33,387 as more persons were tested positive for the virus.
The Department of Government Information said 338 more fresh cases have been detected within the day.
Reportedly, all of the new cases are close contacts of the Peliyagoda fish market cluster, reports confirmed.
With the new development, the Minuwangoda-Peliyagoda cluster has registered a total of 31,720 cases to date and 650 of them were reported today (December 17).
According to the Health Ministry’s data, 26,353 of the confirmed patients have made complete recoveries from the virus.
The World Health Organization country office for Sri Lanka (WHO), with financial support worth EUR 2 million from the European Union (EU), will help improve emergency response capacities in Sri Lanka to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.
The support will focus on several key areas, including enhancing the effectiveness of COVID-19 case management as well as preventing infection.
Developing the system’s case management processes will enable better planning, coordination, and decision-making; additionally, a key component of the grant, the advancement of a learning management system, will sustainably increase the health system’s capacity to respond to public health emergencies in the future.
The funding will also advance existing communication and community engagement efforts, ensuring the generation of relevant and accessible communication materials and supporting the mobilization of vulnerable individuals, young people, and community-based organizations to lead community-level prevention and control measures.
Finally, in recognition of the importance of continuing essential services, EU support will empower communities to access mental health and psychosocial services, addressing inequities exacerbated by the pandemic.
The funding for Sri Lanka is part of the EU’s global response to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Denis Chaibi.
The EU partnership with the WHO will not just address the impact on the health sector but also pay special attention to vulnerable populations, working hand-in-hand with local communities. Strengthening response capacities of countries in the South Asian region is an important part of ensuring that we all recover from this crisis together and ‘build back better’”.
Dr Razia Pendse, WHO Representative to Sri Lanka, stated that as cases continue to increase globally and locally, we are reminded that the pandemic is far from over. The EU’s timely and strategic support will boost implementation of the Sri Lanka Preparedness and Response Plan to COVID-19, focusing on the pillars of case management, risk communication and community engagement, infection prevention and control, and maintaining essential services. The expansion of digital technology for capacity strengthening and continuous learning, through the development of the learning management system will go a long way in responding not only to the current COVID-19 pandemic but also to a better prepared and resilient health system for future.”
It was revealed at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks that a compensation amount of less than the compensation for victims of Beruwala and Digana incidents have been paid for the Easter attack victims.
S. M. Bathiudeen, the Acting Director of the Office of Reparations, was summoned to testify before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter attack yesterday (16).
He said that the then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and then-Ministers Lakshman Kiriella and Rauf Hakeem decided to pay Rs 02 million for the victims of the Digana incident as compensation at a meeting held at the Kandy District Secretariat.
However, only Rs 01 million was paid to the victims of the Easter Sunday terror attack, the Acting Director pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Coordinating Officer, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne also visited the Police Unit of the Presidential Commission last afternoon to record a statement. This was as per an order issued by the Presidential Commission yesterday.
The Presidential Commission is scheduled to hear evidence from the State Counsel today (17) regarding this statement.
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China Dr Palitha Kohona has virtually assumed duties on Wednesday (December 16).
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing said the new ambassador was accorded a warm virtual welcome by its staff.
Dr Kohona had arrived in China two days ago to take office in his post.
He was the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations from 2009 to 2015.
Prior to that, he served as the Permanent Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and as the Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process.
Dr Kohona is also the former Head of the UN Treaty Section in New York until 2006.
Further, he has chaired the UN GA Sixth Committee (Legal) in 2013 and co-chaired the UN Committee on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction.
By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, December 16: Highly placed sources in the Sri Lankan government said on Wednesday that the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has withdrawn the five-year US$ 480 million grant offered to the government of Sri Lanka in April 2019 after three years of negotiations.
However, a formal announcement is yet to be made on the withdrawal.
The grant, which was meant for a land and a transport project, became highly controversial in the island nation with nationalists up in arms against it. Nationalists alleged that the grant was meant to make agricultural land marketable, thereby dismantling the existing system in which government, which owns 80% of the land, leases them out to peasants. The idea behind the established system was to prevent the alienation of land which is dear to peasants who constitute 70% of the island’s labor force.
More importantly, nationalists feared that the country’s scarce land resources would finally end up in the hands of Western individuals and corporations endangering the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.
The MCC selected Sri Lanka for the grant in December 2016 but immediately ran into trouble in the island. Nevertheless, the then pro-West government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, stuck to the decision to accept the MCC compact. But it became a major election issue when Sri Lanka held the Presidential poll in November 2019. Front runner Gotabaya Rahapaksa of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) promised to review all agreements with foreign countries from a nationalistic angle. A review of the MCC was on the top of his agenda.
Gotabaya secured a massive endorsement of his line on the MCC. The SLPP reiterated the promise to review the MCC in the run up to the parliamentary elections in August 2020. Again, the SLPP got a massive popular endorsement of the nationalistic line when it secured a two-thirds majority in parliament.
The US then saw the writing on the wall and stopped pressing for the implementation of the MCC compact. When the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Sri Lanka and met President Rajapaksa he did not press for it. He told the Sri Lankan media subsequently that it was up to Sri Lanka to accept or reject the grant.
The Two Components
According to the MCC website, the compact sought to assist the Sri Lankan government in addressing two of the country’s binding constraints to economic growth: (1) inadequate transport logistics infrastructure and planning; and (2) lack of access to land for agriculture, the services sector, and industrial investors.
The compact was to be composed of two projects: a Transport Project and a Land Project. The Transport Project aimed to increase the relative efficiency and capacity of the road network and bus system in the Colombo Metropolitan Region and to reduce the cost of transporting passengers and goods between the central region of the country and ports and markets in the rest of the country.
The MCC website said that the goal of the Land Project was to expand and improve existing Government of Sri Lanka initiatives to increase the availability of spatial data and land rights information. This project was meant to help the government identify under-utilized state land that could be put to more productive use and maximize rents from lands that the government leases. It would also increase tenure security and tradability of land for smallholders, women, and firms by digitizing deeds records so that they are less vulnerable to damage, theft, and loss.
Presidential Commission
The nationalists in Sri Lanka had no objections to the transport segment of the compact, but they opposed the land project tooth and nail. A Presidential Commission appointed to examine the MCC proposal said that it was not advisable to accept it in the existing form and suggested re-negotiation.
The US, apparently, was not keen on re-negotiations. It was in the context of such a stalemate that the MCC Board decided to withdraw the grant, it is learnt.
“The island of Sri Lanka is one of the most exotic corners of the world. It is an excellent multi-kilometer beaches, wonderful diving and surfing, bright green vegetation of the jungle, many tropical fruits and numerous monuments of a highly developed civilization,” the message says.
UIA noteded that there are some epidemiological restrictions for crossing the borders of different countries.
According to the press service of Ukraine International Airlines, it will open flights to London Heathrow from December, 17. At the same time, UIA will continue flights to another airport in the UK capital – Gatwick.
UIA plans to operate flights to Heathrow Airport three times a week on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday whilst still operating to London Gatwick Airport on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thus, the airline will be able to operate the route with a frequency of six, and on New Year’s holidays seven times a week.
The Director General of Health Services confirms three more Covid-19 deaths bringing Sri Lanka’s death toll from the virus to 160.
One of the deceased is a 50-year-old resident of Kolonnawa, who had been transferred from Colombo National Hospital to Homagama Base Hospital. She had passed away at the hospital on December 14 while the cause of death is cited as kidney failure and Covid-19 pneumonia.
A 78-year-old male from Colombo 09 had passed away at the IDH Hospital on December 15. The cause of death is reported as blood poisoning, multiple organ failure and Covd-19 pneumonia.
The other victim is a 43-year-old woman from Bandaragama, who had been transferred from Panadura Base Hospital to Homagama Base Hospital, where she had passed away today (16). The cause of death is Covid-19 pneumonia, stroke due to blood poisoning and multiple organ failure.
Wattala Magistrate’s Court today (16) ordered to cremate the bodies of four inmates who died during the recent prison riot.
The post-mortem reports of the four deceased inmates were submitted to the Wattala Magistrate’s Court by the experts’ committee appointed in this regard.
https://youtu.be/0AtTxkvAj9I
A total of 11 inmates were killed in the prison riot which broke out on the 29th of November and 8 of them were posthumously tested positive for Covid-19.
As per the post-mortem reports, gunshot wounds remain the main cause of death for the four inmates in question.
Hence, the relatives had sought the court to grant permission to the remains.
However, Attorney General’s Coordination Officer State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, raising objections, pointed out that permitting the burial of the deceased Covid-19 infected victims may have adverse effects.
Last week, the Attorney General’s Department had requested the magistrate to permit the post-mortems of the deceased inmates to be carried out under a multidisciplinary committee, as per a request made by the legal counsel of the aggravated party requested for a fair autopsy.
The nominations for the committee members, submitted by State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, were later approved by the court.
Committee consists of Chief Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Colombo North Teaching Hospital in Ragama Dr Sandun Wijewardena, JMO of Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mulleriyawa Dr S.D.C Perera, Chief JMO of Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila Dr P.P. Dassanayake, Prof. Jean Perera of Faculty of Medicine at University of Colombo and Firearms Specialist & Deputy Government Analyst P.G. Madawala.
The two suspects including former MP Abdullah Maharoof, who were arrested over the misuse of vehicles belonging to Lanka Sathosa during the 2015-2019 period, have been remanded until tomorrow (17).
The order was delivered by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court when the case was taken up today via Skype, before Colombo Additional Magistrate Kanchana Neranjana de Silva.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed the court today that, according to the information which came to light during investigations, former MP Maharoof – the first suspect in the case – had misused three vehicles rented by Lanka Sathosa.
Monthly rent of Rs 195,000 was reportedly paid for each vehicle and thereby, the suspect has misappropriated nearly Rs 1.2 million through the illegal use of the three vehicles.
Taking into account the submissions, the additional magistrate ordered to remand the two suspects and to produce them before Colombo Fort Court Magistrate’s Court tomorrow.
Former All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) MP and former Deputy Minister Maharoof was arrested by the CID on Monday night (14) while in Kinniya.
A man named Farook Mohamed Aslam, identified as a resident of Matale, was also placed under police custody along with the ex-lawmaker.
The CID had launched investigations based on a complaint made by the Lanka Sathosa.
According
to media reports Prime Minister
Mahinda Rajapaksa has given instructions to the newly-appointed members of the
Elections Commission to speed up the process to hold Provincial Council
elections as early as possible. This was conveyed to the Elections Commission
members during a meeting held at Mahinda Rajapaksa’s official residence at
Wijerama Mawatha in Colombo.
Interestingly, a few months ago, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to carry forward the process of reconciliation with the implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment to our Constitution Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa avoided giving any commitment regarding the implementation of the 13th Amendment. Instead, he has spoken of the expectations of all ethnic groups including Tamils, and has stated his intention to take care of national reconciliation as per the mandate he received from the people of Sri Lanka and the relevant constitutional provisions.
We thought the above response given to Indian PM by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is an indication of his extent of alertness of the Indian interests, origin, and the repercussions of the 13th Amendment. However, as per a news item titled ‘Magampura’ that appeared in Divaina newspaper dated 09/12/2020, it is learned that the decision to hold the PC election in April is a result of a discussion between former PC Members (SLPP) and the PM. The news item reveals how frustrated are those former PC members due to the loss of their powers and positions. We, as ordinary citizens, can imagine the frustration of those who experienced the loss of positions, income, wealth, benefits, etc, but needs to know whether there is any benefit to the general public for spending a large sum of funds to provide salaries, allowances, office expenses, vehicles, security, etc to maintain 453 PC Members and how many millions of rupees have been saved from the public funds for not having PC Members during the last two years.
When
PCs were under elected members, the country had 9 PC
Chief Ministers, 34 PC Ministers and 410 PC Members in addition to nine PC
Governors. As
far as we are aware, PCs expenditure was reported at 286,031.000 LKR million in
2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 276,147.000 LKR
million for 2016. The expenditure is averaging 103,769.000 LKR million from Dec
1996 to 2017. The data reached an all-time high of 286,031,000 LKR million in
2017 and a record low of 22,128,000 LKR million in 1996. (https://www.ceicdata.com/en/sri-lanka/provincial-councils-revenue-and-expenditure/provincial-councils-expenditure)
Apart from the utter wastage of public funds, PCs have strengthened the hands of politicians representing parties formed on communal lines. As per the media reports, Northern PC under Chief Minister Vigneshwaran passed more than 100 resolutions (including one seeking a UN inquiry to investigate the genocide of the Tamil people) inciting racial tension and several others that are harmful to the country as a whole. During the establishment of the Eastern Provincial Council, we witnessed how elections were manipulated by the political parties formed and named on a communal basis and how the positions were claimed purely on a communal basis by the very same groups. Thus Segregating people according to communal lines under the name of devolution, reconciliation etc could only strengthen the hands of separatist movements still alive in various parts of the country.
PCs are functioning with governors and officials without any reported issues for more than two years now. It is interesting to note that those champions who always make a big fuss on ‘democracy’, human rights, etc never raised the question of not conducting PC elections during the so-called ‘Yahapalana’ government. Thus the basic questions we have to sort-out today are the extent of decentralization/devolution of power/power-sharing etc without giving any room to waste public funds just to appease opportunistic and racial elements.
On the other hand, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP received two massive mandates at the presidential and parliamentary polls to bring in a new Constitution. As per media reports, the expert committee appointed to draft a new Constitution was trying to meet the original deadline to finish the assignment within six months. Therefore, the committee was planning to finalize the document ahead of Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Recently the Justice Ministry extended the time to accept proposals till Dec 31, 2020. The committee has sought views from interested parties on 11 major items including decentralization/devolution of power/power-sharing etc.
Thus
the decision taken to speed up the process
to hold Provincial Council elections in April without waiting for the
recommendations of the new Constitution is highly questionable.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing Easter Sunday attacks on December 10 observed that there were certain instances where Sri Lankan Muslims who go to Saudi Arabia were brainwashed by some Islamic preachers. During the testimony of All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) Chairman Rizwe Mufti, the Commission drew the witness’s attention to a video clip regarding a speech conducted by an Islamic Preacher to Sri Lankan Muslim migrants in Saudi Arabia. Daily Mirror, December 11, 2020.
Covid-19 infections registered in Sri Lanka crossed the grim milestone of 34,000 as 202 more persons were tested positive today (12), the Health Ministry said.
The Government Information Department stated that the newly-identified patients are close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda fish market.
In addition, 420 more including 68 from the prison cluster were confirmed as active coronavirus cases earlier this evening. Thereby, 622 infections in total have been identified so far within the day.
As per Epidemiology Unit data, the total number of Covid-19 infections confirmed in the country to date now stands at 34,121.
Recoveries from the virus meanwhile climbed to 24,867 earlier today, with 558 more patients returning to health.
However, 9,100 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres located across the island.
Sri Lanka has also witnessed 154 Covid-19 related fatalities.
