The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d details the Presidend Rajapaksa\u2019s decision making process. The cable was written on May 15, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/trio-colombotelegraph.jpg\" "\\"trio")
<\/a>\u201cAt the same time, the Rajapaksas are increasingly isolated. The President both fears and despises what he disparagingly refers to as the "Colombo 7 Crowd,"<\/p><\/div>\n
Under the subheading \u201cRajapaksa Trio Powerful, But Isolated\u201d the Ambassador wrote \u201cThe recent cabinet reshuffle, which left Sri Lanka with one of the largest Cabinets of Ministers in the world, perversely has contributed to the centralization of power in the Rajapaksas’ hands because many ministers have overlapping or undefined responsibilities. The resulting confusion has meant that most important issues are handled by the President and his advisors, not by the ministers. The President himself holds ministerial portfolios including Finance, Defense and Ports and Aviation. He thus directly supervises over a hundred government departments and administrations. Together with discretionary Presidential spending powers, he personally controls over 60 percent of the national budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe President also has bypassed the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which says the President should appoint the heads of key commissions and certain senior government officials on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. His personal appointment of these officials calls into question their independence, and means there is little oversight of his decisionmaking. The constitutional changes that his SLFP put forward in its \u2018devolution\u2019 proposal would, rather than decentralizing power, actually tend to increase the President’s prerogatives. For example, he would appoint two-thirds of the new Senate’s members under the SLFP draft.\u201d he further wrote.<\/p>\n
Ambassador Blake wrote \u201cAt the same time, the Rajapaksas are increasingly isolated. The President both fears and despises what he disparagingly refers to as the “Colombo 7 Crowd,” Colombo’s western-educated, wealthy elite (most of whom live in the 7th district of the city). He has not included them in his inner circle and is not in touch with their views. In addition, his brothers lived out of the country until just before the election in 2005. As a result, they have a limited understanding of the Sri Lankan public’s concerns and few contacts within the country’s elite. This isolation has meant that almost all important decisions are made by a small inner circle with limited exposure to input and ideas from the country’s public or elite.<\/p>\n
Related\u00a0news;<\/p>\n
WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to\u00a0Gota<\/a><\/p>\n WikiLeaks: Basil is corrupt, limited educated and expelled from\u00a0school<\/a><\/p>\n Below we give the\u00a0relevant part of the confidential cable;<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,63,27],"tags":[1143,1778,1139,1161,1134,6987,1779,1780,1263],"class_list":["post-3526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics-2","category-wikileaks","tag-authoritarianism","tag-colombo-7-crowd","tag-democracy","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-human-rights","tag-constitutional-reforms","tag-rajapaksa-trio","tag-rajapaksas-in-wikileaks","tag-us-embassy-cables-on-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"\nC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000698\r\n\r\nSIPDIS\r\n\r\nSIPDIS\r\n\r\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INS\r\nMCC FOR D NASSIRY AND E BURKE\r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 01\/12\/2017\r\nTAGS: PGOV<\/a> PREL<\/a> PTER<\/a> PHUM<\/a> MOPS<\/a> CE<\/a>SUBJECT: PRESIDENT RELIES ON BROTHERS FOR POLICY ADVICE AND\r\nPOLITICAL COVER\r\n\r\nClassified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d).\r\nRajapaksa Trio Powerful, But Isolated\r\n---------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>8. (C) Ever since the 1978 Constitution transferred broad\r\nexecutive powers from the Prime Minister to the new\r\nPresidency, power has tended to gravitate toward the\r\nPresident. Although Rajapaksa's electoral campaign manifesto\r\npromised to abolish the executive presidency, the\r\nconcentration of power in the Presidency has accelerated\r\nduring the Rajapaksa administration. The recent cabinet\r\nreshuffle, which left Sri Lanka with one of the largest\r\nCabinets of Ministers in the world, perversely has\r\ncontributed to the centralization of power in the Rajapaksas'\r\nhands because many ministers have overlapping or undefined\r\nresponsibilities. The resulting confusion has meant that\r\nmost important issues are handled by the President and his\r\nadvisors, not by the ministers. The President himself holds\r\nministerial portfolios including Finance, Defense and Ports\r\nand Aviation. He thus directly supervises over a hundred\r\ngovernment departments and administrations. Together with\r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000698 003.2 OF 004\r\n\r\ndiscretionary Presidential spending powers, he personally\r\ncontrols over 60 percent of the national budget. The\r\nPresident also has bypassed the 17th Amendment to the\r\nConstitution, which says the President should appoint the\r\nheads of key commissions and certain senior government\r\nofficials on the recommendation of the Constitutional\r\nCouncil. His personal appointment of these officials calls\r\ninto question their independence, and means there is little\r\noversight of his decisionmaking. The constitutional changes\r\nthat his SLFP put forward in its \"devolution\" proposal would,\r\nrather than decentralizing power, actually tend to increase\r\nthe President's prerogatives. For example, he would appoint\r\ntwo-thirds of the new Senate's members under the SLFP draft.\r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>9. (C) At the same time, the Rajapaksas are increasingly\r\nisolated. The President both fears and despises what he\r\ndisparagingly refers to as the \"Colombo 7 Crowd,\" Colombo's\r\nwestern-educated, wealthy elite (most of whom live in the 7th\r\ndistrict of the city). He has not included them in his inner\r\ncircle and is not in touch with their views. In addition,\r\nhis brothers lived out of the country until just before the\r\nelection in 2005. As a result, they have a limited\r\nunderstanding of the Sri Lankan public's concerns and few\r\ncontacts within the country's elite. This isolation has\r\nmeant that almost all important decisions are made by a small\r\ninner circle with limited exposure to input and ideas from\r\nthe country's public or elite.\r\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"