News

Over 100 towns across Sri Lanka have boycotted the sale of cigarettes with the aim of making the country tobacco-free, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, the Public Health Inspectors Union launched several programmes across the country to educate locals on the ill effects of smoking and as a result, shop owners and businessmen in many towns stopped selling cigarettes.

Twenty-two towns in Jaffna, 17 towns in Matara and 16 towns in Kurunegala joined others in boycotting the sale of cigarettes. Currently, 107 towns are part of the drive, Xinhua news agency reported.

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, while expressing satisfaction over the numbers, said they hope to increase these figures to 200 in 2019.

The Sri Lankan government in recent years has taken several steps to discourage smoking and the sale of cigarettes.

Among these steps were increasing the tax on tobacco up to 90 per cent, increasing the area of pictorial warning on the cigarette pack to 80 per cent, banning the sale of cigarettes around a radius of 100 metres from schools and declaring public places as non-smoking zones. 

It is reported that the government is also considering a ban on tobacco cultivation by 2020.

The Cabinet has decided to revoke the Gazette Notification that imposed an age limit of 35 years on those who wanted to obtain a passenger three-wheeler driver license.

The Transport and Civil Aviation Ministry had issued the gazette notification permitting only those above 35 years of age to be eligible to apply for a driving license for three-wheelers carrying passengers considering the increasing number of fatal road accidents involving three-wheelers.

However, the Cabinet of Ministers has reportedly insisted that there should not be a bar on any age group over 18 to obtain a license.

Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera had previously expressed his views on the new rules regarding licenses to drive three-wheelers, saying he is against the 35 years of age limit. 

The Minister said he made a request to reduce the age limit to 25 years claiming he respects a person's freedom to choose any form of employment. It has been revealed that over half a million three-wheeler drivers in the country are under 35 years of age and about 1.2 million people are depending on their income.
 
Source : Colombo Page

The Special High Court in the first case it tried today granted bail to the suspects who include former President's Chief of Staff Gamini Senarath and three other top officials.

The case was taken up before the three-member bench of High Court Justices Sampath Wijeratne, Sampath Abeykoon and Champa Janaki Rajaratna.

Each suspect was released on a cash bail of Rs. 100,000 and a two personal sureties of Rs. 1 million each. The suspects were also ordered to hand over their passports to the court.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Chief of Staff Gamini Senarath along with former Executive Director of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) Piyadasa Kudabalage, Director General of the Samurdhi Development Department Neil Bandara Hapuhinna and Lasantha Bandara had been charged with criminal misuse of public funds amounting to 500 million rupees under the Public Property Act, Penal Code, and Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General, said that he will take steps to hand over the relevant documents of the case to the defendants and requested time.

The High Court bench accordingly, postponed the case until September 19 and said that the date of the hearing will be fixed on that day.

Chairman of the three-member High Court Bench, Justice Sampath Abeykoon said that the case would be heard on a daily basis. He further said that the Special High Court was established for a specific purpose and the judges also have to work only within that legal framework.

This is the first case to be called before the three-member special bench appointed to hear case of serious financial fraud. The four defendants appeared before the three-member bench today.

The Attorney General has filed a charge sheet with 21 counts of fraud and misuse of public property against the defendants. He has presented 92 documents as production items and 63 individuals have been named as witnesses in the case.

The defendants are accused of illegally investing Rs. 500 million of public funds which had been given by Litro Gas Company to Canwill Holdings Ltd. at Helanco Hotels and Spa.

Senarath, Kudabalage, and Hapuhinna are founding directors of Sino Lanka Hotels & Spa Private Limited formed in 2011 with the funds from Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Litro Gas Lanka and the Employees Provident Fund.

The three accused have formed another company called Canwill Holdings Ltd and with the cabinet approval the three state institutions invested Rs. 18.5 billion in the new company of which the three accused were also directors.

However, they have formed another company called Helanko Hotels & Spa without cabinet approval and transferred Rs. 4 billion from the Canwill Holdings. Helanko Hotels & Spa later launched the Hyatt Regency project in Hambantota at a cost of Rs. 312.2 million without cabinet approval.

(Colombo Page)

One-time top government trade negotiator Gomi Senadhira yesterday urged the ruling coalition to immediately halt the importing of garbage of all sorts in accordance with the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SL-SFTA).

"Stop it now or face the consequences," Senadhira, who served successive government over a period of 32 years as a commercial diplomat told The Island.

The former Director General of Commerce (2009-2011) and Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (2004-2006), Senadhira called the much-touted agreement a total sell-out.

"I’m shocked, angry and disappointed at the way the government concluded such a dangerous agreement," Senadhira said.

Senadhira had served Sri Lankan missions in Baghdad, Kuwait, Moscow, Geneva, Washington (1998-2001)Brussels (2001-2003) before returning home to assume duties as Director General of Commerce.

In an exclusive interview with The Island, Senadhira faulted the Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry for causing irreparable damage to the country by finalizing an agreement inimical to the country’s interests.

Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema, over the weekend, declared that the SL-SFTA had been in operation since May 01, 2018.

Responding to a query, Senadhira said that he hadn’t been really interested in SL-SFTA and didn’t bother to examine it though it was signed in late January this year. "But about two weeks ago, some interested party consulted me on this matter.

Therefore, I examined the relevant sections and what I found stunned me. In fact, SLSFTA is a one-sided document which totally neglected Sri Lanka," the former Senior Trade Advisor for policy and Negotiations to Government of Seychelles said.

According to him, the SL-SFTA in respect of ‘goods’ as well as ‘services’ hadn’t brought any tangible benefits to Sri Lanka. Referring to ‘goods’, Senadhira said that Singapore received duty free benefits to the tune of USD 10 mn annually whereas Sri Lanka didn’t receive anything.

Asked whether he felt the SL-SFTA should be abrogated, Senadhira asserted such a course of action wouldn’t be in Sri Lanka’s best interest. "What we can do is to halt the import of garbage now, and prevent Singapore from setting up a massive operation which can transform Sri Lanka into one huge garbage dump.

The veteran trade negotiator said that there couldn’t have been a worse agreement negotiated by Sri Lanka ever under any circumstances.

Senadhira said that SL-SFTA should be examined against the backdrop of the world’s biggest garbage buyer China halting the importing of a range of solid waste, including plastic waste from living sources, vanadium slag, unsorted waste paper and waste textile material.

"The Chinese ban came into operation by the end of last year. Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, too, followed China," Senadhira said. Obviously, Singapore has no alternative but to look for other destinations for its plastic waste and recycle-sables, Senadhira said, adding that Sri Lanka was picked as the next importer.

Referring to large scale import of garbage by India, Senadhira pointed out that garbage hadn’t been included in the positive list in the India-Singapore FTA. Therefore, there was no requirement on India’s part to halt the import of garbage, he said, adding that for want of proper consultations among relevant government ministries. Senadhira alleged that Singapore had taken advantage of Sri Lanka in the absence of proper parliamentary scrutiny.

The former Director General Commerce pointed out that ministers were on record as having said that parliamentary approval was not required for an agreement like SLSFTA.

The Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry and those who represented Sri Lanka in negotiations with Singapore owed an explanation as to how a range of harmful items were accommodated in the positive list, thereby guaranteeing them market access, he said.

It would be interesting to know whether President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as the minister in charge of environment portfolio knew inclusion of garbage in the positive list, Senadhira said. The government certainly should explain whether it was aware of impending China’s waste ban followed by Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia at the time Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry negotiated SL-SFTA, Senadhira said.

Senadhira said that China had announced its decision in July last year and the notification was circulated in line with Article 10.6 of the WTO.
Sri Lanka struggling to cope with Colombo garbage was opening the entire country to foreign waste, Senadhira said, adding that unless the government acted swiftly and decisively now the country could experience unprecedented health risks.

Senadhira said that the threat posed by Meethotamulla garbage mountain couldn’t be compared with forthcoming Singaporean operation. Sri Lanka could end up receiving massive stocks of harmful toxic waste via SL-SFTA, Senadhira said, calling for urgent intervention by parliament.

Senadhira emphasised that he was not absolutely interested in getting involved in ongoing protest campaign against SL-SFTA.

Those opposed to the SL-SFTA had been demanding the formulation of national trade policy as a remedial measure to prevent the government from entering international trade agreements harmful to Sri Lanka. However, Sri Lanka as a member of the WTO had a trade policy, Senadhira said, pointing out no country could be in that organisation without having its own trade policy. Senadhira explained the development of trade policy by different categories of countries with Sri Lanka’s being updated in 2016.

Responding to another query, Senadhira asserted that those opposed to SL-SFTA hadn’t really examined the agreement, hence their inability to comprehend the full implications.

The former official noted the appointment of a five-member committee by President Maithripala Sirisena to examine the disputed sections in the SLSFTA. Senadhira was responding SLFP spokesman Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe’s recent declaration that the government would act on the recommendations made by the committee. Samarasinghe is on record as having said that amendments could be made within one year after the signing of the agreement.

Senadhira said that the government should act before Singapore went ahead with its plan to make significant investment in waste management operation. Referring to the SL-SFTA, Senadhira said that it envisaged setting up waste management operation in the North Western Province subject to the approval of NWP Environmental Authority.

He explained how systems and mechanisms could be manipulated by those immensely influential parties hell-bent on achieving their objectives.

Quoting from UN trade data, Senadhira pointed out that Singapore in 2016 exported approximately 42,000 tonnes of plastic waste to China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. "Hope our politicians realize that the SL-SFTA should not be implemented even for a specific period. It’ll go until we are overwhelmed by foreign garbage."

Senadhira called for a national discussion on the matter without further delay.

Source : The Island

The Railway Guards’ Union says they will commence a strike action from midnight on August 29. The strike is being launched due to the lack of a proper response from authorities with regard to rectifying their salary anomalies.  
 
Railway trade union representatives including engine drivers, controllers, guards and stationmasters held discussions with President Maithripala Sirisena and government officials yesterday (23). They also held discussions with the wages board today. 
 
However, speaking to reporters following the meeting several trade union representatives said that talks were unsuccessful.

Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) Union of Sri Lanka has informed Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne that there are 107 towns in Sri Lanka which do not sell cigarettes, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the Union launched several programmes to educate the public on the ill effects of smoking and as a result shop owners and businessmen from many towns stopped selling cigarettes.

There are 22 towns in the Jaffna district, 17 towns in the Matara district, 16 towns in the Kurunegala district which do not sell cigarettes. The total number of towns which do not sell cigarettes is 107.

Minister Senaratne admired the contribution made by PHIs to minimise smoking in the country and expressed hope on increasing the number of towns which do not sell cigarettes up to 200 by by 2019 (next year), he said.

Several steps were taken under the direction of Minister Senaratne during past three years to discourage smoking in the country. “Increasing the tax on tobacco up to 90 percent, increasing the pictorial warning covering 80 percent of the cigarette packet, banning the sale of cigarettes around a radius of 100 metres from a school and banning smoking in public places are some of those steps,” the Minister added.

Source : Daily News

Speaking in parliament today Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera said a proper mechanism needs to be adopted for censorship.

The Minister made these comments in reference to the recent uproar and call to censors a radio drama series by the Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) for its take on some Pali phrases used in Buddhism which they had used as titles for the episodes. 

"I was worried and I listened to them but it has nothing harmful to Buddhism" the Minister said adding that he also urges the Minister of Culture to be cautious when imposing censorship without merely listening to various parties. 

According to the Minister artists must get the freedom to be creative. He also claimed the recent issue is an attempt by certain parties to create anti government Buddhist groups by claiming the government is insulting Buddhism through its actions. "If we do not implement a proper system we will face many challanges in a democratic frame work going forward" he said.

Sri Lanka and Japan have discussed ways to strengthen defence corporation, the President’s Media Division said.

This was disclosed during the meeting between Japanese Minister of Defence Itsunori Onoderaand President Maithripala Sirisena held at the Presidential Secretariat, today (21).

This is also the first time a Japanese Defence Minister has visited the country.

During discussions, President Sirisena and Itsunori Onodera reviewed the progress of the implementation of the agreements entered during Sirisena’s recent visit to Japan, the President’s Media Division added.

As a result of the discussions held between President Maithripala Sirisena and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Government took steps to provide two patrol boats for the Sri Lankan Coast Guard at a cost of LKR 1.8 billion.

President Sirisena said that he was happy that the Japanese Defence chief will be travelling to the Hambanthota and Trincomalee ports and added that the cooperation between the two countries will be strengthened through jointly conducted programmes on coastal security.

Sources claim that sacks of money which had supposedly been taken away from the Temple trees following the 2015 Presidential election have fallen to the hands of several media personnel is now being investigated by security sections. 

Investigations have revealed that this personnel belong to both print and web media. According to sources one media person has been paid over Rs. 50000 monthly from a state agency during the Rajapaksa era while another is said to be now building a luxury home.

Investigations have also revealed that the cash had been moved in a car belonging to the secretary of a powerful government employee at the time.  Investigations are continuing. 

(dinamina )

Sri Lanka's Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera slammed attempts by sections of the elected ruling class to recreate a serfdom of planned occupations by blocking enterprising youth from entering the taxi business with a 35-year age limit.

Sri Lanka's Transport Ministry, which comes under Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, is attempting to stop people below the age of 35 from operating three wheelers, because people in high society and factory owners did not have enough manual workers.

Critics say the attempt to recreate a serfdom or the Wedawasam system where people are slotted into slots and fixed jobs based on the requirement of a ruling class should not be allowed in a modern democracy.

"I fully agree with that," Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said. "I believe everyone should have the freedom to engage in a job of their choice.

"I am going to speak against this restriction at this week's cabinet meeting"

Labour mobility or the freedom of a person to move from job to job on their own volition is a key feature that distinguishes a free society from that of a feudal serfdom and also a soviet style planned economy and authoritarianism.

The jobs may have risks and it may even fail, but that is also fundamental feature that distinguishes a free society from serfdom and slavery where a job is assured by there is no freedom.

In Sri Lanka the public bus service in a shambles due to an allegedly corrupt route licensing system and an overly rigid regulatory system and pricing, which have stifled innovation and adjustments to market needs.

Buses are idle for long periods of the day, there are no peak and off peak pricing to encourage use. There are also no night pricing, and buses disappear off the roads after 6.30 pm killing any possibility of a strong night economy, unlike in East Asia.

The night economy, such as it is, is made possible by three wheelers.

The free market, ( and mercifully unregulated, economic analysts say) taxi system has innovatively filled the gap created by the over-regulated public transport system, with prices held down by productivity gains and rising capital output ratio driven by call centres, ride-sharing apps and smart phones.

In East Asia, especially in countries like Vietnam, similar trends were seen with the motorcycle taxi (Xe Om). With online e-commerce taking off, there is a new revolution in parcel delivery in many countries.

Complaints that there were no manual workers or 'servants; to do housework were also heard among elites in the 1980s, when the then United National Party under President J R Jayewardene and President Ranasinghe Premadasa started garment factories giving jobs with overtime and weekends off to village girls. Some of the opposition for younger drivers also comes from older existing drivers who do not want to see competition.

"The 35 year old limit was also suggested to me by some taxi driver associations," Samaraweera observed said.

The taxi driver association is also playing the game of oligopolists and artisn guilds, trying to limit competition, taking leaf from the book of Government Medical Officers Association who are opposing free trade.

Older taxi drivers have earlier tried to block entry of new supply to the market by keeping younger drivers off parking places. The state has aided and abetted in the anti-market with local government bodies limiting the number of taxis per parking area.

But ride-sharing apps have enabled new three-wheeler owner drivers, especially from rural areas to enter cities and cruise without requiring parking.

Sri Lanka's three wheelers are so completive, and there is no regulatory premium to arbitrage that even Uber has found it hard going.
US-based Uber also started a tuk-tuk service last week in a 'if you can't beat them, join them strategy.

The willingness of the ruling elites to ban youth from the service sector with no conscience or shame may be a lingering effect of Sri Lanka's caste system, some analysts say.

With three wheelers, less affluent youth are directly entering the service sector, filling a valuable and growing market need. With rising incomes transport requirements tend to grow.

Operating a three wheeler provides a higher quality of life with the overwhelming majority of them being owner-drivers who are taking the full financial risk and rewards.

Three wheeler owners are able to drop their kids off at school, pick them up, go home and have a siesta, which even business executives who do not have a driver can do.

Three wheeler taxis are also earning foreign exchange, providing vital transport in out-of-the way tourist spots that are now rapidly opening up.

Without a fast growing three wheeler population entire newly created tourist hotspots in remote areas, which are pouring money into the rural economy would go out of business.

Especially in rural areas, the three-wheeler is taking produce to market faster and more importantly, saving lives by taking sick people to hospital. The village three-wheeler is the de facto ambulance.

For every one accident in a three where, several people may be saved by three wheelers, some say. In assessing accidents and fatalities analysts say the number of passenger miles driven by three wheelers have to be taken into account.

Samaraweera said there were complaints that drugs and crime was being committed using three wheelers but it had to tackled through other laws not by limiting entry.

"It is a practice among some people to criticize less-affluent people," Samaraweera said. "When the children of rich people take drugs and get into accidents in BMWs there are no complaints," he pointed out.

Critics say limiting the age of entry into three wheeler ownership and driving to 35 years makes no sense as by that time, people in established occupations who will have acquired certain skills and progressed in their careers will have to change jobs.

In Sri Lanka the highest unemployment is in the 20-24 age group at 21.2 percent, even with three wheelers, easily disproving claims that the taxi system was creating a shortfalls of youth for other occupations.

As incomes rise and the service sector picks up there is also reluctance to engage in so-called 3-D (demanding, dirty, dangerous) jobs, a phenomenon that was also seen in fast growing East Asian nations and in the West.

This will require imports of manual workers to solve. In construction, it is already happening.

Sri Lanka has enacted several laws in the past which prevented social mobility and kept people tied to jobs of the choice of the rulers, including the Paddy Land Act, all of which has made the country lag behind East Asia.

Source:Economy Next

President Sirisena claims he is the only president to have visited the North regularly. The President made these comments at the commencement of the rehabilitation of the Myliddy harbour in the North today. 

“No other President has visited the North as much as I have,” he said adding that during his visits he has tried to understand the problems faced by the people. 

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena also reiterated his decision to implement the death penalty in the country. Pointing out that certain problems in the country are not limited to the North such as the illegal drugs trade, he said the government will ensure the death penalty is imposed on those who are involved in drug smuggling.  “We will strictly enforce the laws against these crimes,” Sirisena said. 

During his speech, the President also promised to resolve a number of issues in the North such as those relating to land. “We have released 88 per cent of land once held by the forces,” he said adding that land on once where the Myliddy Maha Vidyalaya once stood will also be granted to the people in two weeks time. “The land of the people must be returned to them” he emphasized.

“Ikazuchi” a Naval ship belonging to the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, arrived at the port of Trincomalee yesterday on a goodwill visit. She was welcomed in accordance with naval traditions on arrival. Deputy Area Commander of Eastern Naval Command Commodore Nandana Jayarathna was also present on this occasion.

The Mission Commander of the ship Captain Ryoko Azuma accompanied by the Commanding Officer and other officers paid a courtesy call on Commander Eastern Naval Area, Rear Admiral Sumith Weerasinghe at the Eastern Naval Command Headquarters. They held cordial discussions focused on enhancing bilateral cooperation.

Further, The Mission Commander of “Ikazuchi” and the officers of the crew met the Training Captain of Naval & Maritime Academy Captain Kosala Wijesooriya at the Commandant’s conference hall. They discussed the matters related to the training of Navies of both countries and exchanged mementoes as a gesture of goodwill.

During the 3 day, official visit the ship’s crew is scheduled to visit the important places in Sri Lanka and to participate in several special programmes arranged by the Sri Lanka Navy in enhancing a mutual relationship.