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When will Cabinet be appointed, AKD asks Ranil

19 May 2022

  • Claims responses to MPs’ questions postponed for two weeks
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Claiming that the answering of questions raised by MPs has been postponed for around two weeks due to the non-appointment of a Cabinet of Ministers, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People's Power (NPP) Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake has requested the Government and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to inform Parliament of the exact date of the appointment of Cabinet. Speaking in Parliament yesterday (18), Dissanayake said: “For about two weeks now, the questions asked by MPs have been added to the Order Book of the Parliament, but the Government always postpones answering them until the Cabinet is appointed. It is not fair to postpone answering them in this manner.” He said that the Premier and four Cabinet Ministers have been appointed so far, and that they have the ability to answer certain questions raised by the MPs.  “At present, four Ministers have been appointed. It is five with the Premier, so some questions can be answered, and the date for the appointment of Cabinet should be informed to the Parliament. The Premier should stand up and say that Cabinet would be appointed by this particular date, and questions can be raised from the already appointed Ministers until then.” Speaking further, Dissanayake said that the Government’s failure to appoint a Cabinet of Ministers could not be allowed to disrupt the proceedings of Parliament. Therefore, he also requested Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to establish the necessary background for the MPs to obtain answers to the questions that have been raised. Following the tense situations that erupted in Colombo, and subsequently in many parts of the country, on 9 May, former Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned from his post, following which the former Cabinet of Ministers also resigned. Three days after their resignation, on 12 May, United National Party (UNP) Leader and National List MP Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the Premier before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. However, a full Cabinet has not yet been appointed, and instead, four Ministers were appointed by President Rajapaksa on 14 May in the interest of the country’s stability. Accordingly, Prof. G.L. Peiris was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dinesh Gunawardena as Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, and Local Government; Prasanna Ranatunga as Minister of Urban Development and Housing; and Kanchana Wijesekera as Minister of Power and Energy.  


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