President Maithripala Sirisena, speaking after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe‘s swearing-in, said his statement on not giving the premiership to the UNP Leader even if 225 MPs approved of it only reflected his personal opinion.
Sirisena
“My personal opinion on this matter still remains unchanged. But, I decided to reappoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister as I have the utmost respect for parliamentary traditions,” Sirisena said in his speech.
He also referred to several statements made by pro-UNP activists that the President’s actions could lead to violence and Sirisena might suffer the same fate as Gaddafi. “Sri Lanka had many leaders in the past who faced numerous problems. Some of them, like JR Jayewardene, ruled the country with an iron fist. But no one dared to make such claims, as they knew the dire consequences of such threats.”
“In my case”, the President said, “they freely express their anger as they know I won’t take revenge. I am the kind of leader who will open the gates of my house even if the public wants to lay siege to my residence. I will allow unruly protestors to harm me if that is their wish.”
Commenting on the Central Bank bond issue. Sirisena said the previous government hampered investigations into the Bond issue and allowed former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran to abscond the law enforcement authorities.
He also added bond scams took place from 2008 and the Bond Commission stressed the need for a forensic investigation to unearth details about such scams. “To date, a forensic investigation has been carried out by the Central Bank over the possible scams that have taken place since 2008. Even this morning I checked this matter with the Central Bank Governor and he confirmed that no action had been taken.”
Sirisena also stated that the appointments made by the Constitutional Council established under the 19th Amendment are questionable. He said the Constitutional Council refused to appoint several nominees, recommended by him, to the judiciary.
“They have turned down the names of some senior judges recommended by me. As a result, there are concerns in the legal circles that the senior judges do not get the promotions they deserve. But I have done my part by recommending their names. This brings the impartiality of the Constitutional Council into question,” Sirisena added.
Sirisena also added that he acted on the advice of legal experts and “high profile” Presidents Counsel when he issued gazette notifications which were later overturned by the judiciary.
“I did not act like a toddler. I consulted high-profile lawyers and well-known legal experts. Some of the finest lawyers in the country defended my conduct in the judiciary. This means I have acted in good faith, in accordance with the advice given to me,” he added.
Watch the full speech in Sinhala:
SKM / December 17, 2018
Sirisena spoke like a very honourable man and very little was true of what he said and most of the allegations could be disputed. Can we know the lawyers who advised Sirisena – other than GLP , Wije R and Sarath N S., as people can avoid them when legal advice is solicited. GL in parliament itself said that a president cannot dissolve it before 4 1/2 years. Manohara de Silva confirmed this in a book he wrote although he gave a different view in court. MR himself said that president had no power to do it according to the constitution. .
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Sinhala_Man / December 17, 2018
PART ONE
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O.K. Dear Maithripala,
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I waited for midnight and viewed the incomplete (less than 41 minutes) of your sincere speech. It was cut short, after something indicated that the video was well over an hour. I have already submitted some comments, before listening to all this. Unusual day for Colombo Telegraph: Plato’s comment contrasting Ranil and you has been the last on display for the past six hours. The editorial team must be resting. A slight risk of this exceeding 300 words, so shall break this in to two parts.
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You started very well, but lost the plot beginning with your unqualified defence of all government soldiers. Also, I’m sure that you think it rational to compare the views of 117 corrupt M.P.s (I’m not sure every one of them is corrupt, however), with the numbers of the entire electorate. Elections should never be sprung on voters who are not in the mood to think, with your opponents in disarray. I’ll try to fashion this argument better tomorrow, but I think that I’d better say this before other comments come in.
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In my judgement (and I’m just a retired village school master!), you’ve salvaged something of your dignity through this speech, but you’d better re-consider your Sinhala-Nationalist stance. The world has moved on. I’m not much for the yuppies (Mrs Ranil, I know that terminology is dated!) whom you will probably label “NGO Karayas”. Stop sloganising; investigate all crimes, irrespective of who committed them. Punishing is a different matter.
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Sinhala_Man / December 17, 2018
PART TWO
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Get most of your book written now, with all the material fresh in your mind. But please don’t publish anything until after you leave office in January 2020. Most people are sick of non-stop politics. You may be correct about the public naively wanting “Elections now!”; but the Supreme Court was correct in its verdict.
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I’m older than Ranil and you. We are all old. Please hand over to younger people. I hope you enjoy a happy retirement 13 months from now. These last two months have been a disaster for you; I’m sure that they have done immense harm to the country. However, you are right to be outraged at the plunder of the Central Bank; but wasn’t a lot of it under Mahinda Rajapaksa? I don’t hold it, or the battlefield events in April/May 2009, against you just because you were in those cabinets.
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Rather too much self pity in your speech. Other Presidents have been subjected to attacks. What do you say to S.B. Dissanayake’s comments on CBK? How could you possibly align yourself with a guy like that? Please remember that the mainly Sinhalese voters of Hanguranketha placed him second in August 2015. Why did you hob nob with such guys?
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I’m more fluent in English than in Sinhala, but I think you a fantastically good speaker, and like to hear you, and enjoy the flow of your language. But parts of this were sad.
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Naman / December 17, 2018
IF NOT FOR THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE AND FOR THE JUDICIARY OUR COUNTRY WOULD HAVE BEEN RULED BY CORRUPT & DIVISIVE POLITICIANS SUCH AS RAJAPAKSE AND STOOGES FOR YEARS TO COME. THE PRESIDENT NEEDS TO EXPAIN HIS ACTIONS IN THE COURT OF LAW IN THE PARLIAMENT.
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critical thinking / December 17, 2018
Indeed, corrupt and crafty politics of MS is at display in his talk with new cabinet. MS is very much crafty politics. We all know that billions of money was wasted and looted by many Mega projects by Mahinda .. billions of money is given in interest to China. we sold part of SL to china now.. and yet, MS did not take action agaisnt them.. cheap politics of MS.. to cheap public and mislead public.. He used all media to cheat people.. if he is good politician why not go for a election to win. He can not do that.. No one will vote for him
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Dual Citizen / December 17, 2018
Dear President
You could have easily consulted the Supreme Court beforehand instead of your bogus Constitutional Experts like Prof GLP et el and prevented the humiliation of the President’s Office and your personal defeat.
Next time!
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Sanipa / December 17, 2018
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder that causes periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood. The elevated mood is significant and is known as mania or hypomania, depending on its severity, or whether symptoms of psychosis are present..
Make sure he takes the medication
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Ahfzll / December 17, 2018
Dr Jekyll kindly stop Mr Hiding from making oxy-MORONIC statements and spare the dignity of the Presidential Office.
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Sarrij / December 17, 2018
Patholaya does make some sense; not total sense though.
The 19th amendment is a very political attempt and incomplete and makes only partial sense.
The corruption in government is very rampant; the legal remedies available moves at snail’s pace.
The whole legal system needs immediate attention to expedite the process of justice instead of the current process of foot-dragging.
The “local experts” attempting to frame a new constitution have a record of ulterior motives. Perhaps some help from the UN might be helpful; this has been the past experience.
Time to get it right eh?
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Richard / December 17, 2018
President Sirisena, from what you say it looks like you had very good grounds to remove PM RW, but how you went about it was unconstitutional. You should have
1). first addressed the nation in like manner to express your grievances and concerns of the RW govt and warned them about removing RW if he did not address these issues such as punishing the ‘Bond Scam’ culprits.
2). second, you should have never replaced RW with MR, who was removed by the people for being the MOST CORRUPT HEAD OF STATE, and together with his family and close associates robbed, killed and terrorised a nation who believed they had seen an end to violence after 30 years of terrorism brought about by wrong decisions of politicians of successive governments.
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Donoughue Stevanson / December 17, 2018
If the legal advice provided by the Presidents legal team turned out to be irrational to the extent that no lawyer with expertise in the area of constitutional law or Public law would have advised the President Sirisena to issue the disputed Gazette notification, sacking the Prime Minister and appoint another, without also advising the President of legal consequences that would follow as well as economic loss or the irreparable loss or damage, including the loss reputation to the country, as a result of relied upon the advice and pursuing a course of action leading to the sacking the Parliament and appointing a cabinet and a Prime Minister of his choice, are matters fell within the duty of care owed by a Professional to his or her client. Where a financial loss has been caused to an individual or a corporate body as a result of careless or reckless legal advice, there are remedies available to the client if the advice provided is considered to be negligent or reckless or irrational. The magnitude of the losses caused to the country is irreparable and the Attorney General is accountable to the Government of SriLanka and People of Sri-Lanka. Attorney-General must be called upon to table his written advice on dissolution and gazette notifications. Not sure a whether or not the lead legal advisor to the President, the Eminent Scholar, and President Counsel advice to the President was covered by the Professional Indemnity Cover so that any claim successfully made against the Counsels who ill-advised the President may be recovered from the Counsels Professional Insurance cover! It is apparent that the President had consulted legal Professionals and they have a legal duty owed to the President, to provide an accurate and well-informed opinion, based on their studies and research that was undertaken to justify their advice based on material they looked at objectively. Have these advisers provided careless, reckless, negligent advice to the President in breach of their Professional duty of Care towards the client? If
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Mallaiyuran / December 19, 2018
Donoughue Stevanson
Sir this is the first time I read your comments.
But is not complete and ended abruptly.
If you think you had written it fully, then I am lost. If you think you might have been edited by CT because you ran over 300 words limit, you can post missing part of your comment as a reply to your comment.
Slick way is to split the idea into self containing comments within 300 words.
If one comment was cut by CT then the others still be show up. Otherwise the whole comment may go edited if that idea is not acceptable to CT.
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old codger / December 17, 2018
What a lot of bluster in order to cover his tail. He talks mostly about this “bond scam” but doesn’t explain why he forced out the lady head of CIABOC.
This idiot of a President doesn’t know that a PC title given to a lawyer doesn’t mean he or she is infallible. A Visharadha may not be a good musician either. His idea of democracy seems to be some sort of “achcharu” where un-elected cultural /religious groups can over-rule the law. Such groups exist in Iran, and they are called Ayatollahs.
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MAMS / December 17, 2018
His rhetoric is not surprising since he is not used to acting truly as head of state. His mentality is that of a village headman. At this stage we like to know who is so called high profile lawyers? His speech was totally misfit and inappropriate to the occasion.
This is not village headman’s fault but the person who suggested him as the candidate for presidency. I listened to RW’s speech after he was sworn in. RW would have had lot of patience. If not, another PM would have given belly full right then and there. In a way, it stems from the breed and level of education one had with upbringing up to adolescence.
The way MS pruned the attendees of close confidants for the oaths taking ceremony, one can figure out the venom he had leading up to 26th October drama. Now it is not surprising why JVP was preparing to impeach MS on violating the very constitution he had fathered to. Hope JVP would consult all party leaders to muster support to make it through the legislature.
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Jay / December 17, 2018
God help you, MS. You have not only made yourself, but the whole of good Sri Lankans become a laughing stock of the world by your babyish actions. You have no credibility any more, please resign and go or be impeached.
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Saro / December 17, 2018
As the president of the country you cannot depend only on the advice of the so called ‘high profile lawyers’ whom you chose yourself to advice on the dissolution of the parliament. The constitution is very clear on this that it can only be done after 4 and a half years. Even an GCE O/L student knows this.
Hereafter select your advisers wisely so that you won’t repeat such blunders in the future. You have a good heart but use your heard to guild yourself on the right path forward.
A simple request. Do not let your personal bis enter your political decisions. Please also keep away from those froudsters and killer you yourself said feared for your life just after your election victory.
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Uthungan / December 17, 2018
Saro
“The Constitution is very clear on this that can only be done after 4 and a half years.”
If President had first relied on the SC’s advise he could have easily avoided the hit embarrassing from the boomerang he launched at PM Ranil that returned back to hit him back and break his teeth.
He now complains that the names of people he recommended for appointment to the CC were not considered. If that was so why did he not contest that by lodging his objections then at that point of time?
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Sinhala_Man / December 18, 2018
PART ONE
Saro,
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Our country cannot get out the mire it is stuck in unless there is totally different thinking. It looks as though Sajith Premadasa is the man whom destiny entrusts with this.
It was you who wrote a panegyric on Sajith here (I have conscientiously compared gravatars) :
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https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/slap-in-sirisenas-face-sajith-will-present-confidence-motion-on-ranil-tomorrow-upfa-will-boycott-sessions/comment-page-1/#comments
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You started it saying: “Here is a quote from a tribute written by one of his admirers.” You too seem to know Sajith well. I raised some issues regarding his c.v. You have not responded. Could you please do so.
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I also made a silly mistake and made what I thought was a validly huge fuss about the use of Latin in Sajith’s personal website. Then I found that I had made an ass of myself, and acknowledged it here:
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https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/ranil-takes-oaths-as-prime-minister/comment-page-1/#comments
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I headlined in bold:
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Sajith gets cleared of using Latin Kaduwa!
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I had checked: a man much wiser than any of us had told me that what was displayed was a “random pseudo-Latin” filler. “Clearly this website is only a project at unfinished stage. Sajith Premadasa probably doesn’t remember about the existence of this website.”
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What we are still seeing is the scoring of debating points; trying to outwit “our opponents” using sophistry.
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If we are to save this country, we must stop doing this. Could you please give us a clear picture of Sajith’s qualifications. I’m not bothered whether there are scraps of paper or not. Past personal failures don’t matter. We want future success for the country.
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Please respond..
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Sinhala_Man / December 18, 2018
PART TWO
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Saro,
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This Sirisena speech was good and moving, not because everything that he said was valid, but because it was sincere.
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I mean that. He had said that he wouldn’t appoint Ranil Prime Minister even if all 225 M.P.s wanted it. He had just eaten his own words. He didn’t really try to cover it up. It was clear to us all that his supposed “explanation” which made a distinction between the personal and the official was hardly tenable. He frankly admitted personal loss.
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Maithri has his weaknesses; some of his family may be corrupt, and he may be guilty of having turned a blind eye to this. Before Ranil appointed Arjuna Mahendran, My3 had appointed his brother Kumarasinghe to Telecom. But there is a difference in scale; a difference in extent of cover-up.
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Maithri will bid adieu to leadership, after five years, in 2020; he has no support base. The older Ranil has been leader of all sorts of things for thirty years – through manipulation. Sajith is the future – or should it be Nagnanda?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcGgMvunWVE
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Recent. That’s more than an hour. I myself will listen to it only later. Let me not bluff! A future leader needs to be open like this:
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http://naga2020.com/work-done-so-far/#/?playlistId=0&videoId=0
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Sirisena himself has his blind spots, as which of us hasn’t?
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He just doesn’t understand that there are clear indications of something akin to War Crimes committed by some of government forces. Many Tigers died horrible deaths, but some leaders, some who hugely supported financially, are prospering abroad, with the blessings of Sinhalese politicians.
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Maithri made terrible mistakes with regard to Judicial Matters. He accepted that.
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My3 understands the villager, and speaks our “mother tongue” much better than we do. We try to outwit the electorate for a time with patronage politics.
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It is surely time for a sea change.
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Vanguard / December 17, 2018
Visibly angry, you got that right.
So now according to Yaha, those legal advisers who said it was constitutional to remove PM and prorogue parliamnent and dissolve it should be taken to task for dishing out bad advice. Or is it part of another foreign conspiracy?
Great fodder for another comittee, all in the name of Yaha.
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Shrikharan / December 17, 2018
““My personal opinion on this matter still remains unchanged. But, I decided to reappoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister as I have the utmost respect for parliamentary traditions,” Sirisena said in his speech.”
Sirisena you Silly Sena do not talk as if you are speaking to kids, further you are speaking like a kid.
You said if Ranil comes back as Prime Minister you will leave your post in two hours. Just do it without excuses. So all your big election promises were your ‘personal views’ but cannot be implemented?
Come on you keep your personal views to yourself but you tell ONLY what you would do and can do to the public. I too have my personal views on all matters but do not reveal them. I like to conquer the world, I like to rob the bank and become rich. But I don’t tell them in public.
Vijayakala Maheswaran MP also got arrested for voicing her personal views of liking LTTE administration. They were her totally personal; views. She did not take ANY action to make it a reality because she knew her wishes was not in conformation of the rules of the country. True, we all can have our views and she expressed her personal views but did not commit any action to make them real other than expressing her personal views. She had to pay dearly for her loose mouth.
In this instance Silly sena there is nothing holding you from resigning as President. True it is illegal to deny Premiership to Ranil Wickremasinghe but it is not ‘illegal’ but is correct to keep your word and for you to resign and allow the country to move ahead.
Ranil never said he cannot work with you. It was you who said you cannot work with Ranil. So please resign.
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Amarasiri / December 17, 2018
Sirisena,
You are abad sport. You said you would resign from the Presidency, and now you are blaming others. What is stopping you from resigning and moving on? Greed?
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JD / December 17, 2018
Anyway, PResident’s Speech after Ranil was appointed explained everything.
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Lionel Bopage / December 17, 2018
Some of the issues, particularly the Central Bank bond issue, the President raises here, had been raised by many who wanted to safeguard the agenda of good governance and rule of law pledged in January 2015. The question was that both the President and the PM were acting in a partisan manner to build their own political bases, rather than fulfilling the good governance pledges they made in 2015.
The President disclosed only parts of the Bond commission report. PM allowed Arjuna Mahendran to abscond justice. They did not help take necessary judicial action to bring the culprits to justice. Maithripala and Ranil did not take any initiative to undertake a forensic investigation to unearth the bond scams taken place since 2008 as the Bond Commission had emphasised. Most other cases of corruption alleged to have occurred during the previous regime also underwent a similar fate.
Merit and seniority in rank are to different criteria sets both in politics and administration. We will await the Constitutional Council’s response to the President’s allegations made against the nominations the council made to the President.
While we appreciate some of the positive democratic reforms made since January 2015, both Maithripala, Ranil and the regime as a whole are responsible for the chaotic situation we faced since October 26. Nevertheless, the President and the PM have to receive advise from diverse sources to make sound opinions, rather than solely relying on a few eccentrics.
Despite the allegations made, the President did not have the authority to make any unconstitutional moves by sacking Ranil and appointing Mahinda as the PM and dissolving the Parliament. Maithripala cannot hide behind the allegations he makes to justify the unconstitutional measures he resorted to, until he was forced by the Courts and the Parliament to establish the status quo.
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whywhy / December 17, 2018
This man’s going is clear ! Dog in the manger is the case ! If we ever had a rubbish
on our head , it is this man and his racist Hambantota Gangsters ! They did the
blunders and still trying to justify it come what may ! It is good for the media to stop
testing people’s BP now ! Why should we waste our time reading or listening to mad
talks ? It is time now to stop it and move on removing hurdles one by one or as much
as possible because they are not civilized enough to feel the wrong doing and
apologize to the nation that suffered and instead more and more arrogance is what
they show to the people as damage control tactics . There’s a vacancy for a fresh
opposition from committed people of politics .
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Roy / December 17, 2018
Verdict: uncivilised barbarian.
Why didn’t this moron cough this out all these days. He is either insane or forced to say all these by the medamulana mafia big brother.
Time to impeach him.
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shankar / December 17, 2018
“not giving the premiership to the UNP Leader even if 225 MPs approved of it only reflected his personal opinion.
Is he now trying to tell us that his personal opinion is different to his presidential opinion.So in future whenever he says something how are we to know whether that is president sirisena or farmer sirisena giving his opinions.Does he think we are also toddlers he is dealing with.
Ps.I suppose his statement that he will go back to his pollonnaruwa farm if ranil becomes Pm is also a opinion of manioc farmer sirisena and not president sirisena.
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Steve / December 17, 2018
” I consulted high-profile lawyers and well-known legal experts. Some of the finest lawyers in the country defended my conduct in the judiciary. This means I have acted in good faith, in accordance with the advice given to me,”
Mr. President, they are all just your YES men, so now what are you going to do with these experts and the bad advice they gave you?
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shankar / December 17, 2018
“I will allow unruly protestors to harm me if that is their wish.””
arjuna also shouldhave followed gautama sirisena’s footsteps and let those liars and scoudrels beat him to death with a cricket bat at the petroleum corporation.
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shankar / December 17, 2018
” I am the kind of leader who will open the gates of my house even if the public wants to lay siege to my residence.”
will he be in the bathroom when they enter?Cos when he got a whiff of an assasination attempt he was going to the bathroom every ten minutes.You can talk the walk but you can you walk the talk.
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shankar / December 17, 2018
“former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran to abscond the law enforcement authorities.”
you had a new government for seven weeks that bankrupted the tourism industry.What steps did you initiate during that period to bring down arjuna mahendran?
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ConcernedCitizen / December 17, 2018
High profile lawyers like, Jamal, Mahinda, gammanpila, Sushil ? Lol
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k.kulesh / December 17, 2018
He gave the oration in order to cover up his earlier pledges. After the SC verdict, he had to eat his own words. He never followed parliamentary traditions or respected the constitution. He told the nation that he would not stay even for one hour if he had to swear-in RW as PM. Now is free to go.
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Sunil / December 17, 2018
Mr President, I advise you to get advice from high profile legal experts from different political leanings and also those who are totally independent of political affiliations. Only then you can decide which is the best possible advice. The recent conduct of senior lawyers raises questions whether they are professionally independent or politically biased. When one gets advice from lawyers who are leaned to a political group or philosophy, obviously it will be flawed.
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whywhy / December 17, 2018
Sunil ,
Good piece of advice mate but to a wrong man I’m sure ! It is not due to
lack of professional advice this kind of behaviour is let loose ! This is
what they are ! I put it in plural as it is a bunch of them ! He is not by
himself ! You can not have a leech on a mattress . We can effortlessly
and tirelessly translate his words and actions into nothing but rubbish .
The winner here is R W , we like it or not but have to accept it and move
forward . That is the heart beat of the country except these handful of
evils who have lost face . I knew all along that Mahinda is not a man of
knowledge but never expected to be this low as to swallow the ropes of
any cheap creatures of any level ! There are people like DEW Gunasekara
out there to talk to but they don’t want it because he doesn’t have sweet
pills , so men like Wansa , Pilla , Dinesh , SB become comfortable
advisers ! You can be judged by the circle of your friends and that is why
RW chooses Royals as his confidants and he has a reason . Real Sira and
Mara now exposed and no reverse gear for it .
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