President appointed Acting SLFP Chairman

Uditha Kumarasinghe

MAHARAGAMA: President Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed as the Acting Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) at the 16th National Convention of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party held at the National Youth Centre, Maharagama, yesterday.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake proposed President Rajapaksa's name to the Acting Chairmanship of the SLFP. It was seconded by People's Alliance General Secretary Minister D.M.Jayaratne.

SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena announced President Rajapaksa's appointment as the Acting Chairman of the SLFP.

Minister Sirisena delivering his welcome address said the SLFP Executive Committee met on March 6 while the party's Central Committee met on April 6.

The Minister said: "As the SLFP General Secretary, I submit the letter to the Central Committee sent to me by SLFP Chairperson former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga stating she was unable to act as the Chairman of the SLFP within the next few months. In her letter, she had also submitted a nomination for an Acting Chairman to the SLFP."

However after extensive discussions, the Central Committee reached to a decision that it is against the Party constitution to a nominate the name of a member who has not attended the Central Committee meeting to the party's Acting Chairmanship.

Therefore the Central Committee which met on Thursday reached a decision that the SLFP Executive Committee should appoint a new Acting Chairman at today's party convention."

Fifteen resolutions covering Government policy, peace process, foreign policy, economy, working class, culture, youth development, women's empowerment and law and order were also passed at the Convention.

The SLFP extended its fullest support to the Government's peace process aimed at a lasting political solution to the national crisis on the basis of an undivided country and an honourable peace.

The resolution stated that the Party stood for realising the aspirations of all communities and democratic pluralism.

The SLFP expressed its gratitude to President Mahinda Rajapaksa for standing by and protecting the party for more than 37 years in victory and in defeat and ushering in a new people's era after winning the Presidential Election in 2005.

In another resolution, the party expressed its fullest support for the implementation of the Government's Mahinda Chintana programme for rebuilding Sri Lanka as a prosperous nation.

The Party also called for a well-devised foreign policy that would help Sri Lanka to reflect its national interests in a proper manner in the international arena.

On the economy, the Party sought a balanced national economic policy that will fuse the best features of the open economy with local aspirations in a manner that encourages the local producer as well as the foreign investor. It called for a sustainable path to development and people's empowerment.

Another resolution urged the Government to formulate a youth development policy that ensures educational and life skills opportunities for them and allows them to display their talents in a variety of fields.

President Rajapaksa submitted a special resolution in appreciation of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's leadership to the SLFP over the past one decade. President Kumaratunga gave leadership to the SLFP successfully facing violence and terror, he said.

This 15th resolution submitted by President Rajapaksa was unanimously adopted. All resolutions were passed unanimously.