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Minister Ratnayake today claimed that the United National Party has no deals with other parties and its only deals are with the people of Sri Lanka. “According to the deal with the public we will develop the country’s economy,” the Minister said adding that new employment opportunities will be generated for the youth while health services will also be developed. “This deal will be strictly adhered to in order ensure a corruption less country” the Minister stressed.

The government will investigate corruption and frauds committed during the Rajapaksa era, Minister of Law and Order & Southern Development Sagala Ratnayake said. The Minister made these comments while addressing a public rally in Morawaka, Deniyaya today.

However, while claiming that action will be taken against wrongdoers according to proper legal procedures the Minister went on to say it will not be done in the fashion that punishment was meted out by the Rajapaksa’s to Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.

While claiming that the United National Party’s candidates are experienced and capable individuals the Minister said the party will not allow them to commit any fraudulent acts if appointment.

Ceylon tea exports to China surged 30 percent to 9.9 million kilograms in 2017 from the year before, making China the eighth biggest market for Ceylon tea, local media quoting the Sri Lanka Tea Board said on Thursday.

Minister of Plantation Industries Naveen Dissanayake said the fast growth of the Chinese market showed it had a lot of potential.
"I visited China twice to promote Ceylon tea. We can export more to China," the minister said.

Statistics from the Sri Lanka Tea Board showed Ceylon tea exports to China have been rising strongly since 2012.

Tea exports to China have risen 230 percent in the past five years, with the growth in 2016 being the fourth highest among the island's major markets.

The livelihood of more than 350,000 smallholders in Sri Lanka depend entirely on tea cultivation.

A group of war-displaced Tamils have prevented state authorities from officially validating the illegal occupation of privately owned land in the Jaffna peninsula by Sri Lanka security forces.

Government surveyors who arrived at a village in the northern islet of Kayts, to chart an area for a permanent navy installation, had to turn back after meeting with stiff resistance from the original owners and their neighbours.

Almost 30 families from the Paruththiyadaippu village have been displaced for more than a decade.

Government Surveyor ET Yogatheepan had earlier informed Jaffna District Surveyor Yogaratnam Kadirgamanathan that he will conduct the demarcation on 25 January to establish a sentry point for the Kanchadeva naval base as authorized by Minister of Lands Gayantha Karunathilake.

The letter seen by JDS dated 10 January 2018 had been copied to local government authorities and the commander of Kanchadeva camp.

Alarmed by the surveyor’s visit, the legal owner of the land, Pushparaj Sujeewarasa had informed local authorities that he had no idea of the demarcation.

Devious scheme

Villagers who rushed to the scene in protest, are wary of a devious government scheme to gradually legalise the military occupation.

"Our land will be surveyed bit by bit and officially handed over to the navy permanently."

Traditional Paruththiyadaippu residents believe that the officials backing off was temporary as local government elections are due to be held on 10 February.

"They can come back once the elections are over," a displaced villager told journalists.

"The navy should vacate forever and allow us to live in our land peacefully."

Vacating military occupied the land, release of political prisoners, revealing the fate of disappeared and accountability for war crimes have been the key demands of a majority of Tamil political parties campaigning in the north and east.

According to Tamil politicians, at least 35,000 acres of land in the predominantly Tamil north and east, is under military occupation.

Source : www.jdslanka.org

Eight Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested on Thursday by the Sri Lankan Navy while they were allegedly fishing near Neduntheevu.

Assistant Director of Fisheries, Pudukottai, Kumaresan said the fishers belonging to Jagadapattinam in Pududottai district were arrested while fishing off Neduntheevu by the Lankan naval men and taken to Kangesanthurai port there. Two boats were also seized, Kumaresan added.

The arrest of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy has become a flash point in India-Sri Lanka relations.

(PTI)

President Maithripala said on Friday that more than $58 billion, or 90 percent, of foreign loans borrowed by the previous government, was unaccounted for in Finance Ministry records.

However, ministry officials the last government said President Maithripala Sirisena’s numbers were false.

The central bank’s latest records show Sri Lanka’s total outstanding debt was 10.3 trillion rupees as of the end of September last year.

Sirisena, who is struggling to deliver his 2015 election promise of eliminating corruption, also said a large sum of funds under the previous government that should have been deposited with the treasury have gone to private companies. This was done in a systematic manner to avoid disclosure, he said.

His administration is facing a debt crisis and struggling to face an expensive loan repayment cycle started this year. It must repay an estimated 1.97 trillion rupees ($12.85 billion) in 2018 - a record high - including $2.9 billion of foreign loans, and a total of $5.36 billion in interest.

“President Maithripala Sirisena said of the 10 trillion rupees loans taken by the previous government from abroad, only about 1 trillion rupees could be accounted for in the assets and huge sum of money could not be accounted for in the documents in the finance ministry,” his office said in a statement.

Sirisena’s office did not respond when asked if the numbers were correct. However, it confirmed that the president stated the numbers. He made the comments to a group of local editors.

The president also criticised his own coalition government, saying some of the sales of state properties during the last three years were done without informing the cabinet.

Two officials at the Finance Ministry who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said Sirisena’s statement on the foreign loan was wrong.

Under the previous government from 2004-2015 led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka borrowed 5.17 trillion rupees of total loans including 2.16 trillion rupees ($14.06 billion) of foreign loan.

Ajith Nivard Cabraal, central bank governor between 2006 and 2015 and a close ally of former leader Rajapaksa, said the president may have made “this irresponsible statement to sling mud at the previous regime”.

“Sri Lanka has diligently and faithfully recorded all foreign borrowings in accordance with our laws and regulations as well the terms of issue, during the time of the previous government,” Cabraal said.

Source: Reuters

A gym in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo caused outrage after it put up a billboard featuring a picture of a barrel with the text "this is no shape for a woman". The BBC's Ayeshea Perera reports on the fight to get it taken down.

The hoarding for Osmo gym went up in a Colombo suburb last week and the row almost instantly made it on to social media.

Both men and women shared pictures of the billboard along with expressions of outrage and disgust at the "blatant sexism" and "body shaming" depicted.

Some began a hashtag campaign entitled #BoycottOsmo, while others tagged the organisation on Facebook asking them to take down the hoardings and apologise. However the gym did not respond, and a post featuring the images used in the billboard stayed pinned to the top of their Facebook page.

"The ad was nothing very different from the typical objectification and sexist usage of women by the ad industry, which has been selling anything from cars to perfume by sexualising women and their bodies," Marisa de Silva, an activist, told the BBC.

"But this ad also attempted to body shame by dictating to women the ideal shape they should resemble, almost as though it is the sole basis of their worth."

So, along with a group of women who had been discussing the billboard on social media, she decided to do something about it.

The gym said it was inspired by a World Health Organization report on obesity in Sri Lanka (Getty).

One of them, who did not want to be identified, tried calling Osmo's marketing manager to complain, and was told that the hoarding had used an image that had not been "approved" by the company. He did not offer to take it down.

A few others decided to approach Harsha de Silva, the minister in charge of the Kotte constituency where the billboard was put up.

He responded with the tweet: "I asked the Colombo MC Commissioner to remove this unapproved offensive hoarding. I would not tolerate this in Kotte."

So the billboard was covered up on the basis that it did not have the necessary permissions, and the Colombo Municipal Council allowed the women to use the space to display a message against sexism for two days.

Ms. de Silva, who was one of the women who spoke to the minister, canvassed opinion on social media for the text of the new banner, before settling on "no more space for sexism" in Sri Lanka's three major languages - Sinhala, Tamil and English.

A local graphics company stepped in with an offer of sponsorship and the banner went up a day later.

But while many cheered the initiative to take down the billboard and replace it with a banner against sexism, a few men on social media warned that such a move set a "dangerous precedent" against free speech.

 The banner did not last long either. It was taken down after a day, and its whereabouts are currently unknown.

Meanwhile Osmo also responded with an official statement on the campaign, saying that it had "withdrawn" the advertisement, which was not intended to "degrade, offend, insult or undermine any one person or women in general".

It further explained that the ad had been inspired by a "disturbing" WHO report that said there were higher rates of diabetes, being overweight, obesity and physical inactivity among Sri Lankan women than men.

However Ms de Silva says she hopes that some lessons have been learned from the incident.

"This set off a chain reaction which I hope might make the ad industry at least think twice before subscribing to sexist advertising in the future," she said.

(BBC)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo pledged his country’s assistance to upgrade the train service in Sri Lanka when he met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees yesterday morning.

Widodo accordingly promised to send a team of technical experts to Sri Lanka to assist in upgrading the train service. He has also stated that arrangements should be made to strengthen the friendship between Sri Lanka and Indonesia based on historical relationships.

The Indonesian President also expressed his willingness to contribute towards infrastructure development activities in Sri Lanka.

Discussions were held on developing education and tourism through joint efforts and ensuring free and peaceful naval transportation.

The Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court has fixed February 2 to deliver its order on preliminary objections raised today by former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and the former State Printing Corporation (SPC) Chairman.

The duo is alleged to have caused an unlawful loss of Rs.230, 984 to the government after paying the former Minister’s mobile phone bill using SPC funds, during his tenure as the Mass Media Minister in the year 2012.

The defence had raised preliminary objections regarding the maintainability of the charge sheet.

The Bribery Commission alleged that the former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella had induced the CPC chairman to pay his mobile phone bill from March 15, 2012 to April 14, 2012 thereby causing an unlawful loss to the government, while serving as the Minister of Mass Media.

UNP Uva Provincial Councillor A. Ganeshamoorthy who is alleged to have committed financial frauds was ordered to be arrested today.

Provincial Councillors Ganeshamoorthy, Upali Senaratne and eight others sustained injuries during an assault which took place yesterday.

Ganeshamoorthy was ordered to be arrested while receiving treatment at the Badulla hospital.

Meanwhile, six persons were also arrested in connection with the assault on Provincial Councillor Ganeshamoorthy at the Uva Provincial Council, yesterday.

In a statement released today, Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera said that the upcoming local elections will determine if Sri Lankans will live free or under the yoke of fear, impunity and grotesque abuse of power by a single family and its henchmen.

The full statement;

 March to freedom or return to fear?

"The National Unity Government ushered in through a historic and revolutionary election in January 2015 has recently marked three years in office. As the Government attains this milestone, our achievements are many, but the road ahead of us remains as long and challenging as ever, and Sri Lanka stands again at the cusp of a crucial election in three weeks time that will determine the course of our nation in the years ahead.

Once again, it is an election that will decide if democratic institutions and traditions, painstakingly rebuilt since January 2015 will be torn down and laid to waste again. It is an election that will determine if Sri Lankans will live free or under the yoke of fear, impunity and grotesque abuse of power by a single family and its henchmen.

 For this local government election on February 10th is much more than a regional contest to capture political power in urban and municipal precincts. It is an old regime’s first real attempt to recapture power and restore an old, corrupt and dictatorial order.

 Incumbency fatigue and the monumental challenges ahead of Sri Lanka as the country strives to march towards sustainable peace and prosperity, weighs heavily on the January 8th constituency and the representatives elected to serve them. Disillusioned by the road ahead, which seems fraught with difficulty and the potential for lost opportunity, this constituency may waver. But I believe it is important to try and build on what has already been achieved and keep the window open for peace and change. I believe it is important to have a long memory. I believe it is important to be long-sighted and clear-headed about the monumental choice facing all Sri Lankans in this crucial election.

As memory fades and we are embroiled in the politics of the present, it is easy to forget that once, not so many years ago, a Government shot and killed its citizens for the crime of demanding clean water.

 We need to ask ourselves, where all the white vans have gone. Where have the grease yakas gone?

 We must question why the Government’s political critics and dissidents are not being thrown in jail. Why media organizations are not attacked and burned any longer. Why journalists are not being abducted or killed.

Remember the night races – the gift of an indulgent father who wielded all the power of his presidential office to ensure his sons could have a good time?

Remember the time when young men paid with their lives for the crime of being a rugby rival?

Remember when an incompetent brother in law to the President ran the national airline to the ground?

Remember how it was impossible to speak openly about the excesses of the ruling family except in hushed whispers not so long ago?

Of course, these are basic freedoms that citizens in any functioning democracy should take for granted. But it must never be forgotten that there is a profound co-relation between the end of this tyranny imposed upon the citizenry and the fall of the Rajapaksa regime in 2015. And it is this culture of extravagance, abuse of state property and state terror that is trying to make a comeback in the February 10th local government election.

Electoral inroads made in this poll could be used to attempt to recapture national control in future elections. So while the forthcoming election may be a ‘little one’ it has national consequences that could reverberate for years to come, casting long shadows over the lives of Sri Lankans who have begun to live unfettered and free again today. Yes, perhaps we are not where we hoped to be by this time. But we will get there. Change is incremental, political systems are entrenched and sometimes immovable; but the will to change remains as strong as ever.

With the Rajapaksa regime and its fellow barbarians at the gates once more, Sri Lanka is at another crossroads at this election. In a way, this makes the choice clearer for all those citizens who want liberty, democracy and peace. On February 10th the people will have to choose once more – will we continue the march to freedom or herald a return to fear?".

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank Group, is considering a senior loan investment of up to $15 million to Senkadagala Finance PLC (SFCL), a licensed finance company in Sri Lanka and IFC client since 2014.

In a disclosure, IFC said the five-year $15-million senior loan will support SFCL’s lending to women micro, small, and medium-sized (MSME) entrepreneurs and the expansion of the financing firm’s branch network in tier II cities in Sri Lanka.

SFCL, listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, is headquartered in Colombo with 90 branches and service centers spread across Sri Lanka.

The new branches will be established mainly in rural regions, where access to finance for MSMEs are a challenge.

“The project will create better access to finance for around 20,000 women MSME customers at an affordable rate,” the IFC said, adding that the loan will be secured by future receivables and would be funded in Sri Lankan Rupees.

The credit gap for women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka is estimated at $350 million. This project is likely to incentivize banks and other non-banking financial institutions to launch funding programs targeted at women, the IFC added.

“The availability of credit would enable women MSMEs to compete and be a part of local/global value chains and grow their businesses by accessing domestic and foreign markets, which are not currently accessible,” it added.

As a result of the loan project, the combined economic activity would result in an increase in tax revenue to the state at a time where the fiscal position is under stress due to high debt servicing cost.

The Attorney General’s Department is in the process of studying the possibility of instituting legal action against former Ministers Basil Rajapaksa, Wimal Weerawansa, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, former Chief Minister S.M. Ranjith and several other persons.

They are alleged to have been involved in misappropriation of public funds and serious acts of fraud.

The study is conducted under the directive of Attorney General Jayantha Jayasooriya. AG Jayasooriya said President’s Secretary Austin Fernando, under the instruction of President Maithripala Sirisena, has submitted eight Presidential Commission reports to the AG’s Department seeking further legal action.

Jayasooriya also said that the above mentioned names and several other names of former chairman and directors appear in the said eight reports.The AG’s Department is studying the avenues of possible legal action against them as well.

The report includes investigations on the Economic Development Authority, National Housing Development Authority, the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian and Training Research Institute, the Kandy MOH Office, National Transport Commission, the Rupavahini Corporation and the National Youth Services Council.

Legal action is also sought on former Rupavahini Corporation Chairman Wimal Rubasinghe, Director General Chandrapala Liyanage, National Transport Commission Chairman Renuka Dushmantha Perera and former National Youth Services Council Chairman Lalith Piyum Perera as well.