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Sri Lanka has been facing a severe socio-political and economic set back as a result of the ongoing political crisis which has disrupted the normal proceedings of parliament, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya emphasized issuing a media release today (4). 

President Maithripala Sirisena has so far failed to accept the majority of 122 MPs of four major political parties allowing the minority and solitary United National Front to continue its functions as the ruling party. 

Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal on Monday issued an interim order restraining Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Cabinet of the purported government from functioning until the petition is heard on 12th December. 

The ruling by the Court of Appeal comes after former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa refused to step down despite losing two no-confidence motions in parliament last month. 

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said that immediate measures should be taken into on going attempts to buy over MPs by the Rajapaksa political clan using parliamentary powers and reiterated that he is fully committed towards this endeavour. 

He expressed the belief that all party leaders should focus their attention on settling the current political crisis without seeking petty political gains, he added. 

He noted that the president and the whole state machinery should focus their attention towards restoring normalcy once again in the country without pushing it into an abyss. 

The workers' remittances to Sri Lanka have declined during September, though the earnings from tourism have continued to grow marginally, providing a cushion to the current account of the external account, the Central Bank announced recently. 

Workers’ remittances declined by 7.1 percent, year-on year, to USD 500 million in September 2018. Consequently, workers’ remittances declined by 1.5 percent to USD 5,277 million during the first nine months of 2018 in comparison to the corresponding period of 2017.

Tourist arrivals recorded a marginal growth of 2.8 percent in September 2018 as a result of a decline in the number of tourists arriving mainlyfrom India, Maldives and France in comparison to September 2017.

Tourist arrivals during the first nine months of 2018 totalled 1,731,922 which was a 11.6 percent increase over the corresponding period of 2017.

Earnings from tourism in September 2018 are estimated at USD 276 million, with cumulative earnings amounting to USD 3,212 million during the first nine months of 2018.

President Maithripala Sirisena has given instructions to all ministry secretaries to fulfill their duties and responsibilities according to the laws of the country without any disruption, the Presidential Media Division (PMD) said today (04).

However, as per the Constitution's Article 48 (2), with the Court of Appeal order confirming the November 14 no-confidence motion that defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa, his purported Cabinet stands dissolved. As such, ministry secretaries could be held in contempt of court, legal experts said. 

Dissolution of Cabinet

Accordingly, as per article 52 (3) of the Constitution, If they (Ministry Secretaries) attempt to exercise powers of the office they held, they are in contempt of court and can be charged under the penal code 114 and 115, and Offences against Public Property Act. 

Secretaries to the Ministrie

Legal experts also said that the president could instruct Ministries that are under his direct purview but not all.

The implementation of all cabinet decisions taken during the past month by the new cabinet of ministers appointed by president Maithripala Sirisena have been suspended following the court order today (3).

The Court of Appeal issued an interim injunction order restraining 'purported' Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet from functioning until the hearing of the Writ of Quo Warranto filed against them holding office is concluded.

The recent populist tax revisions and ad hoc concessions offered to the public on the directions of former Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has led to a loosening of fiscal policy, a decline in economic growth and resulted in the suspension of foreign investment, economic experts said.

15 tax revisions which will come into effect from January 1 next year on the directions of the Ministry of Finance have also been restrained.     

An attempt to raise billions of rupees for government coffers by way of directing public corporations and state owned companies to invest surplus funds in eight state-owned banks with the aim of bringing such funds under the finance ministry purview has also been thwarted.

The implementation of all Cabinet decisions taken since the unconstitutional coup will also have to be suspended, Justice Ministry sources said.

Standard & Poor's Global Ratings said on Tuesday that it lowered Sri Lanka’s sovereign credit rating to ‘B’ from ‘B+’.

S&P’s action follows a downgrade of Sri Lanka by Fitch Ratings earlier today (04), citing refinancing risks and an uncertain policy outlook.

Moody's too downgraded Sri Lanka ratings late last month. As such, all three major rating agencies have downgraded Sri Lanka since the unconstitutional coup on October 26.

Credit rating agencies, in essence, rate a country on the strength of its economy. More specifically, they rate governments on how likely they are to pay back their debt.

A rating affects how much it costs governments to borrow money in the international financial markets. In theory, a high credit rating means a lower interest rate (and vice versa).

Ratings can be a warning system for potential investors, and make it more expensive for poorly-rated nations like Sri Lanka to borrow money.

The former government of ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that they expected to borrow LKR 1,944 billion from local and foreign sources for its debt servicing, including the financing of the budget deficit in 2019, before it was toppled in a coup.

The recent ad hoc, populist tax concessions introduced by former Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have raised serious concerns among financial analysts as more tax cuts mean more borrowing to fund expenses such as public sector wages, pensions and samurdhi payments.

The implementation of all cabinet decisions taken by new cabinet of ministers appointed by the president  during the past one month period of political impasse  have been stalled following court order today( Monday 3)

Court of Appeal issued an interim injunction order restraining Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet from functioning until the hearing of the Writ of Quo Warranto filed against them holding office is concluded.

Under the present circumstances, recent tax revisions and ad hoc concessions offered to the public on the directions of new finance minister appointed by the president which has led to a loosening of fiscal policy declining the economic growth and investment have been suspended   economic experts said.

15 tax revisions which will come into effect from January 1 next year on the directions of the finance ministry have also been restrained.                     
An attempt to raise billions of rupees for government coffers by way of directing public corporations and state owned companies to invest surplus funds only in eight state owned banks with the aim of bringing such funds under the finance ministry purview has also been thwarted.

The implementation of all cabinet decisions taken during the past one month period will have to be suspended, Justice Ministry sources said.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday began hearing petitions against President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to dissolve Parliament and call for a snap election after sacking prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that triggered a major constitutional crisis in the country. The country has been in a political crisis since October 26 when Sirisena removed Wickremesinghe and installed ex-strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place.

Sirisena later dissolved Parliament, almost 20 months before its term was to end, and ordered snap election. The Supreme Court overturned Sirisena’s decision to dissolve Parliament and halted the preparations for snap polls.

The apex court on Tuesday morning began the hearing on the fundamental rights petitions filed against Sirisena’s gazette notification to dissolve parliament.

A seven member bench presided by the Chief Justice Nalin Perera began hearing oral submissions, court officials said. The court on November 13 issued an interim order annulling the gazette notification which made Sirisena’s parliamentary sacking temporary illegal.

The submissions would be heard till Thursday. A court on Monday barred Rajapaksa from acting as Prime Minister. The Court of Appeal temporary halted Rajapaksa and his Cabinet from functioning in their positions in response to a case filed by 122 legislators against his disputed government.

Both Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa claim to be the prime ministers. Wickremesinghe says his dismissal is invalid because he still holds a majority in the 225-member Parliament.

Prior to the crisis, Wickramasinghe’s UNP had the backing of 106 parliamentarians while Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine had 95 seats.

Rajapaksa has, so far, failed to prove his majority in Parliament.

Wickremesinghe, with the support from the main Tamil party, claims to have the support of more than 113 legislators, required for simple majority.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has 16 seats in the house and JVP has six legislators.

The UNF has moved three no trust motions against Rajapaksa, who has refused to step down.

The Sri Lankan president has said that due to sharp personal differences with Wickremesinghe he would not reappoint him as the Prime Minister.

However, Wickremesinghe’s UNP claims that Sirisena will be left with no choice as he would be the man who will command the confidence in the House. Violent scenes were witnessd in Parliament as it went on to approve motions which proved that Rajapaksa lacked majority.

(Reuters)

Suraksha Insurance scheme introduced by the Ministry of Education of the previous government for the school children has ceased, says the Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers' Union, Joseph Stalin.
 
Stalin said the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation continued the insurance scheme until October but the Ministry of Education has not made any explanation as to what will happen to the insurance scheme after the period is given to the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation expires.
 
Although the government has spent Rs. 2,700 million for the insurance scheme, the students received only Rs. 237 million students in benefits from this insurance scheme, Stalin said.
 
Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers' Union said instead of providing insurance to school children, building more children's hospitals, conducting health and dental clinics at schools and taking measures to prevent health problems are more practical.
 
The Suraksha Insurance scheme was introduced last year by the previous government with coverage up to a maximum of Rs. 200,000 for 4.5 million school children studying in 11,242 schools. (Colombo Page)

The FR petition seeking the Supreme Court to declare the Gazette issued by President dissolving parliament as unconstitutional will be taken up today.

Sources say officials of the conspiracy government are attempting to pressurize the decision to be made in the President’s favour by exerting undue influence through religious propaganda. 

Accordingly, the religious propaganda is said to be aimed at non-Buddhist judges in the bench including Chief Justice Nalin Perera. As planned by the group, the propaganda will claim the issue is not one of the constitutionality of the Gazette but a battle between the Buddhist temple and the Christian church. They have planned to circulate news that the church, under the influence of the interntional community, has intervened to defeat the President's Gazette. They also hope to suggest that the decision must be given in favour of the President to prove otherwise. 

Sources also say there is an attempt to spread a false news that the court will deliver a split decision. The group appears to have fallen to the lowest of low in the knowledge that the decision will most likely be unfavourable to the Executive as pointed out by legal luminaries and the Attorney General himself to President Sirisena as it is clearly stated in the Constitution that the President has no power to sack the PM and dissolve parliament prior to its term of 4 ½ years.

Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that he does not agree with the interim order that was issued by the Court of Appeal today. 

 “We are not in agreement with the interim stay order issued by the Appeal Court suspending the functioning of the Cabinet of Ministers.

We will be presenting an appeal to the Supreme Court tomorrow morning against this stay order. We wish to emphasize the fact that the interpretation of the constitution and in making final determinations in that regard, is exclusively vested in the Supreme Court by the Constitution," the former prime minister said in statement typed on a personal letterhead. 

The Court of Appeal issued an interim injection until December 12th barring Rajapaksa and his Cabinet from continuing in their positions in response to a writ of Quo Warranto filed by 122 legislators against the disputed government.

Mahinda Rajapaksa has slashed the tax that was imposed on sugary drinks in a controversial reversal of an anti-diabetes policy that has attracted immediate criticism.

The Ministry of Finance ordered an immediate 40 percent reduction in the levy as part of a package of tax cuts launched by the disputed government and ‘purported’ Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa to win over public opinion as the bitter power struggle continues to intensify.

Sirisena’s nominee for prime minister, Mahinda Rajapakse has been making populists moves to win support for his government with the lower sugar tax coming on top of reductions in fuel prices and income taxes on agriculture this week.

There was no comment from president Sirisena, who last year warned international beverage makers that he would increase taxes unless they reduced sugar in their products.  Sirisena attacked the sweetened beverages manufacture Nestlé last year for increasing the sugar content in popular beverage Milo and asked the then Finance Minister to extend the tax on soft drinks to all forms of sweetened beverages. 

President Sirisena who attacked  Nestl's Milo brand last year for its high sugar content, is yet to comment on the reduction of the sugar tax.

Meanwhile, health campaigners and former health minister Rajitha Senaratne condemned the move as damaging the fight against obesity and diabetes among young people.

Wickremesinghe’s administration had introduced the sweet tax — 50 cents on every gram of sugar in fizzy and fruit drinks — but the rate was slashed to 30 cents from Saturday.

The Ministry of Health said that 10 percent of the country’s 21 million population is affected by diabetes and another 20 percent were at risk of developing the condition.

Health lobbyist Dhanya Wijesuriya took to twitter to slam the authorities for making sugary drinks cheaper.

“This is insane,” Wijesuriya said of the decision. “How self serving. No vision,” he added.