{"id":106801,"date":"2020-09-19T15:21:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T22:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=106801"},"modified":"2020-09-19T15:21:26","modified_gmt":"2020-09-19T22:21:26","slug":"should-president-surrender-to-gevindu-kumaratunga-premaratne-dolawatte-vasudewa-wimal-dayasiri-and-few-buddhist-monks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/19\/should-president-surrender-to-gevindu-kumaratunga-premaratne-dolawatte-vasudewa-wimal-dayasiri-and-few-buddhist-monks\/","title":{"rendered":"SHOULD PRESIDENT SURRENDER TO GEVINDU KUMARATUNGA, PREMARATNE DOLAWATTE, VASUDEWA, WIMAL, DAYASIRI and few Buddhist Monks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By M D P DISSANAYAKE<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The\nVision Statement  issued by Mr Gotabaya Rajapakse,  had received\noverwhelming approval of the general public.  Then Mr Mahinda\n Rajapakse faced the General Election without a new Vision Statement, but\ncommitted to comply with that of the elected  President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nthere are several  brickbats attempting to drive their own personal\nAgenda\u2019s overriding that of the President.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a.     \nGEVENDU\nKUMARATUNGA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnew national list MP Mr Gevindu Kumaratunga was an unknown quantity until\nrecent times, even though he is the grandson of Late Munidasa\nKumaratunga.    He formed Yuthukama  (\u0dba\u0dd4\u0dad\u0dd4\u0d9a\u0db8)\nmeaning Foremost Duty.   He was not voted into the  parliament\nby the people. He declared war against the proposed 20 amendment. \nAccording to him, it is difficult to meet the media unless changes are made to\nthe Draft.   Gevindu forgot two factors.  Firstly he is not the\nmedia spokesperson for the government=and must be intelligent enough to express\nviews on contentious issues.  Secondly, if he has any concern regarding\nthe Draft, his Foremost Duty (<\/strong>\u0dba\u0dd4\u0dad\u0dd4\u0d9a\u0db8<\/strong>)\nshould be to express his views with the government hierarchy, instead of\nundressing in public.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \nB. PREMARATNE DOLAWATTE: Another young energetic lawyer moving up the ladder,\nfrom the Colombo District wasted no time in trying to get into the\nPicture.  Inspired by Gevindu, he assumed a high role of attempting\ndictate terms to the President and PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \nc. WIMAL<\/strong>, DAYASIRI:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nare experts on all fields, willing to step forward to become heros.  <\/strong>Wimal\ndid many improvements as Industries Minister before the general election,\nbut now he is more of a constitutional expert than an Industry Minister<\/strong>. \nThe Industry Ministry is a complicated specialised role, realising this, the\nPresident has  decentralised the role for Pharmaceuticals, Textile,\nBatiks, Wood and Metal work, Jewellery and Gem manufacture,  Clay related\nIndustries etc.   With microeconomic  attention, the President\nhas given wide powers and funds to State Ministers to embark on large projects\nin these areas.    Wimal should be happy about the structure\nand try to work as a team instead of speaking out of turn on matters outside\nhis role.  Dayasiri has held several senior cabinet ministerial roles, but\nhad not made any significant contribution.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \nD<\/strong>.\nVASUDEWA NANAYAKKARA:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis no secret that Vasu dislike President Gotabaya.  He has been given a\nCool Job, as Minister of Water Supply<\/strong>.   But prefer to speak out\nof turn, just like Wimal, on any subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                 \nTRYING TO PLAY THE OLD GAMES<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare several MPs, Ministers, lobby groups trying to play the old game of\npolitics to derail the pathway formulated by the President and approved by the\nmasses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis a great opportunity for the President to exert his authority on Ministers\nand MPs, trying to undercut his policies.   If the President attempt\nto bargain or compromise on the gazetted 20 Amendment, it will be an\nextremely  difficult task for him to formulate a new Constitution. \nThe President will be deemed as a weak person, lacking leadership.  The\nOpposition, local and international media will provide widest publicity that\nGotabaya has backed down. His authority will be tarnished.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few\nSLPP mps and Ministers have provided much needed weapons to the opponents of\n the government<\/strong>.  The general public expect stern\naction by the President, against the culprits, regardless of their standing\nwithin the Government  Group. The Political bickering must stop.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore,\nwe hope, the President will NOT agree to  change an iota of the proposed\nDraft of 20A, but continue further processing  in the Parliament, with due\nregard to the determinations, if any, by the Supreme Court.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By M D P DISSANAYAKE The Vision Statement  issued by Mr Gotabaya Rajapakse,  had received overwhelming approval of the general public.  Then Mr Mahinda  Rajapakse faced the General Election without a new Vision Statement, but committed to comply with that of the elected  President. Now there are several  brickbats attempting to drive their own personal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-m-d-p-dissanayake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}