{"id":100761,"date":"2013-08-17T19:53:29","date_gmt":"2013-08-17T14:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=100761"},"modified":"2013-08-23T01:18:36","modified_gmt":"2013-08-22T19:48:36","slug":"cwealth-spokesman-presidential-media-in-joint-twitter-qa-uku-fails-to-answer-tough-questions-on-cj-impeachment-reports-and-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/cwealth-spokesman-presidential-media-in-joint-twitter-qa-uku-fails-to-answer-tough-questions-on-cj-impeachment-reports-and-others\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u2019wealth Spokesman, Presidential Media In Joint Twitter Q&A – Uku Fails To Answer Tough Questions On CJ Impeachment Reports And Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adding to speculation that the Commonwealth Secretariat is engaging in a public relations campaign on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government ahead of CHOGM 2013 scheduled for November in Colombo, Commonwealth Spokesman Richard Uku engaged in a Twitter Q&A Session together with the Government’s official Commonwealth Spokesperson Anuradha Herath today<\/p>\n

Herath is also the President’s International Director of Media.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sharma and Uku<\/p><\/div>\n

Uku, who was in Colombo along with advance country teams from Commonwealth Member States to review CHOGM 2013 preparations, avoided most of the tough questions from users.<\/p>\n

The exclusive story published by Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span> about Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma\u2019s decision to bury two major legal opinions the Secretariat had sought about the Sri Lankan impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake<\/a><\/span> and withhold it even from the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) – a powerful decision making body, went unanswered. Both Journalist Frances Harrison and the citizen journalism website Groundviews posed the questions to Uku at different times during the session that he ignored.<\/p>\n

Responding to a question also posed by Harrison about reports that the Commonwealth Peoples\u2019 Forum was being organised by the Sri Lanka Army, Uku responded \u201cPeople’s Forum being organised by Commonwealth Foundation; not Sri Lankan army.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Asked by SLcampaign \u201cwhy is @CW_Spokesperson<\/a> (Commonwealth Spokesperson) helping with Sri Lankan public relations in this way?\u201d, Uku responded \u201cThis isn’t about ‘PR’ or spin. It’s about open dialogue.<\/p>\n

He later followed that up with a clarification a long time after the Q&A session ended saying,<\/p>\n

\u201c@SLcampaign<\/a> To be clear, our joint Twitter session with @CHOGMSriLanka<\/a> this pm was part of our constructive engagement with Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by another user about the call for a boycott of CHOGM and whether the Secretariat believed they should, Uku reiterated Sharma\u2019s call some weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Secretary General of the Commonwealth recently said, \u201cWait before you judge Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commonwealth is about consultation and consensus,\u201d Uku added.<\/p>\n

Asked by the same user: \u201cSri Lanka has been accused of major violations of human rights. How good or bad is Sri Lanka’s record?\u201d, Richard Uku responded that Sri Lanka was implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission \u201cSri Lanka<\/a> is following up on successful best practice roundtable atthe Commonwealth Secretariat in London. The Commonwealth<\/a> is working with SriLanka<\/a> in this regard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kamalesh Sharma and his office are being criticised by the global press and Commonwealth Scholars for failing to make Sri Lanka live up to the organisation\u2019s values and rewarding the country\u2019s poor human rights and democracy records with a major summit and the organisation\u2019s chair till 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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