Friday, 13 February 2004 |
Politics |
News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries | Dismissals of 3 non-Cabinet ministers: PM tells President relief work affected Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga that her dismissal of three non-Cabinet rank Ministers had seriously affected the affairs pertaining to relief work and the peace process in the North-East. He claimed that under the Ceasefire Agreement, the Government's powers in respect of Article 1 and 3 of that agreement had been removed with the take over of the three Ministries in November last year and added that these actions seriously jeopardised the implementation of the peace process. The Prime Minister in a letter to the President had stated that at present, the Government is only able to fulfil its obligations under Article 2 of the Ceasefire Agreement and has duly informed this position to the facilitator (Government of Norway), the international community, the donors and the LTTE. Furthermore, the Prime Minister's letter states that as a result of removing the non-Cabinet Ministers, Milinda Moragoda has also resigned. "He is a member of the negotiating team and was also responsible for the mobilisation of funding for rehabilitation and development work in the North-East," the Prime Minister's letter noted. The letter added that the abolition of these Ministries created a serious difficulty to carry forward the basic elements of the peace process and to continue the programs of assistance and rehabilitation which complemented the actions of the peace process crippling the Government's efforts to fulfil its responsibilities under Article 2 of the CFA. The Prime Minister has mentioned non-Cabinet Ministers Jayalath Jayawardena, Noordeen Mazoor and T. Maheshwaran who were in charge of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees, Vanni Rehabilitation and Hindu Religious Affairs. "They were the three key Ministries providing urgent relief and humanitarian assistance and short term rehabilitation activities for the people of the North East," the Prime Minister's letter said. |
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