Dinesh Gunawardena was sworn in as the new Prime Minister.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe will be at the Prime Minister’s Office.
He started his political journey by winning the 1983 by-election representing the Maharagama constituency and today Mr. Gunawardena took oath as the 27th Prime Minister of the country.
He has also been working as the leader of the People’s United Front since 1973.
A demonstration is held in front of the Fort railway station in protest against the attack by the security forces on the peaceful Galle Face activists this morning (22).
New Cabinet of Ministers is to be sworn in today with Dinesh Gunawardena tipped to be the new Prime Minister.
Dinesh Chandra Rupasinghe Gunawardena (born 2 March 1949) is a leading veteran politician, Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister, and Leader of the house in the Sri Lankan Parliament.
He is the current leader of the Mahahajana Eksath Peramuna(MEP). He was appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs on the 18th of April 2022 by President Gotabaya Rajapksa .
He is the son of firebrand politician with left wing ideology and Formr Agriculture Minister of SWRD Bandaranaike regime Philip Gunawardena and Kusumasiri Gunawardena who was also a member of parliament.
He was educated at Royal Primary School, Colombo and Royal College Colombo,a classmate of President Ranil Wickremasinghe.
After school he studied at the Netherlands School of Business (Nyenrode Business University) graduating with a diploma in business management.
He then joined the University of Oregon graduating with a BBA degree in international business. Whilst in the USA he became involved in student activism , taking part in Anti-Vietnam War protests.
The new Cabinet comprising previous ministers with few changes will take oaths before President Ranil Wickremesinghe this morning .
The President’s Media Division (PMD) said the Cabinet will take oaths at 9.00 a.m. today.
A new cabinet will be appointed soon after the forming of an all party government in accordance with the pledge given by President Ranila Wickremasinghe to the people recently .
In order to maintain public order, a special gazette notice has been issued summoning members of the three armed forces to all districts of the island with effect from today (22).
President Ranil Wickramasinghe has issued this extraordinary gazette announcement yesterday.
The president of the Sri Lanka Bar Association Saliya Peiris has issued an announcement regarding the attack by the security forces on the golf face activists near the President’s office.
Saliya Peiris states that he has received information that the security forces have attacked a group of people at that location and that a group including lawyer Nuwan Bopage has been arrested.
He pointed out that the authorities should ensure everyone’s safety and that the unnecessary use of force will harm Sri Lanka’s international image.
The seat organizers of the Samagi Jana Balavega are requesting Harin Fernando to join the United National Party at least now without remaining in the National List Member of the Samagi Jana Balavega.
Harin Fernando was elected to parliament in the last general election representing the national list of Samagi Jana Balavegaya and currently, he is working as a minister in the government of Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Since the post of UNP National List MP is vacant after Ranil Wickramasinghe became the President, the SJB Organizers point out that Harin Fernando can resign from the post of SJB MP and come to Parliament from the UNP National List.
The organizers of the SJB point out that there is no legal obstacle for Harin Fernando to continue to hold the position of SJB MP, but he has no moral right to do so.
It has now been learned that it has been proposed to appoint Ruwan Wijewardena for the post of UNP National List Member of Parliament and since it was not Ruwan Wijewardena but Harin Fernando who did the highest work for the formation of Ranil Wickramasinghe’s government, the National List Member of Samagi Jana Balavega was given back to the same party. SJB organizers also say that Harin Fernando should arrange to come to parliament from the national list.
It is reported that former Finance and Justice Minister Mohammad Ali Sabry is to be appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Until now, that ministerial position was held by Professor G. L. Peiris, who stood for Dallas Alahapperuma, who was an opposition candidate, in the presidential election.
Today (22) at around 1.30 am, it is reported that a large number of security personnel including military personnel were sent to the area near the President’s office occupied by the protestors.
It was reported that a heated situation had arisen and the protestors had been attacked by the army personnel.
Several journalists, including a BBC journalist, have also been attacked by the military, and a group of activists, including lawyer Nuwan Bopage, have been arrested by the military.
Sources said that all the roads entering the area have been closed by the security forces using roadblocks.
President Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka last week after witnessing the storming of his official residence
Even in the context of a turbulent year in Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, the past two weeks have been extraordinary. Thousands of protesters stormed the palace of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and, finding it empty, swam in his pool and looked upon the riches inside with shock at the lifestyle he was maintaining with so many of his citizens thrust into poverty. Days later Rajapaksa and much of his ruling clan had fled into exile, abandoning his country.
The Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, tells Michael Safi that getting rid of Rajapaksa is by no means the end of this story. In his place has come the interim president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is seen by many of the protesters as barely any better than the man they have just evicted. And as he faces a vote in parliament today to allow him to take on the role properly, protesters are preparing to mount a new wave of demonstrations.
Sri Lanka faces a long road back to prosperity: any new government formed this week will probably have an IMF bailout deal to strike as its first priority. But there is hope to be found in the the protest movement that has brought together all the ethnic and religious groups. For now, at least, democracy is surviving in Sri Lanka.
TheGuardian
The strained relationship between the new President Ranil Wickramasinghe and the current Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe is well known. The Former Prime Minister we understand very reluctantly agreed to his 6-year extension due to pressure from the then President Gotabaya.
There was talk of the Prime Minister losing the Finance Ministry portfolio to protect the Governor. The President who had no understanding of economics relied on the fairytales of Nandalal Weerasinghe. The country’s economy is in a total mess due to the policy interventions of the current Governor according to several ex Central Bankers.
So on the 9 th of July, the “ Go Home Ranil Campaign “ was his opportunity to get rid of his Minister. So he got the executive Union to join the public protests. He was sure President Ranil Wickramasinghe would quit like President Gotabaya Rajapakse. Little knowing the new President was no quitter. It was a total blow for Nandalal when Gotabaya fled the country.
It is alleged by inside sources that he got Jayathu Perera and Kosala Harshadewa to lead the campaign against the then Prime Minister now President on the instructions of the Governor. Both are members in the Executive Officers Union. ( see notice below) The staff fears they will be promoted soon for their loyalty. Some Executive Union members say Nandalal is ruining staff unity and morale because of his animosity towards the President very strongly built by the past governors by engaging in scandalous acts of this nature. We are investigating whether the staff union members were also present at the time of the burning the ex PMs house.
Adolf
Kosala Harshadewa,
Jayathu Perera,
*දැන්වීමයි…*
ජන බලයේ ජයග්රහණයන් ආපසු හැරවීමට වෙර දරණ, මහජන මතයට පිටින් ජනාධිපතිවී, දූෂිතයින් රැකීමට කුමන්ත්රණය කරන රනිල් පන්නා දැමීමේ ජාතික විරෝධතා දිනයටසමගාමීව හෙට දිනයේ කොටුව දුම්රියපොළ ඉදිරිපිටදී පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත මහාවිරෝධතා උද්ඝෝෂණයට සහභාගි වීම සදහා හෙට දහවල් 12 ට මහ බැංකුවඉදිරිපිටට එක්වන ලෙස අප වෘත්තීය සංගම්හි සියලුම සාමාජිකයින් වෙතසහෝදරත්වයෙන් දැනුම් දෙමු.
– ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකු වෘත්තීය සමිති එකමුතුව-