President tells Ministers, Deputy Ministers:

Be dedicated

Chaminda Perera

‘Ministries have been created to make the country’s development process easy and the role played by each and every Ministry contributes to the country’s progress immensely’

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday appealed to new Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers to dedicate themselves to fulfill the people’s aspirations. Addressing the newly appointed Cabinet and Deputy Ministers at the Presidential Secretariat after the swearing-in ceremony, President Rajapaksa stressed that the masses gave an overwhelming majority to the Government with much expectations and they need to be accomplished to fulfill the people’s aspirations.

He added that the people have approved what the Government did in numerous occasions in the past and the new Ministers and Deputy Ministers should retain the peoples confidence by steering the country to progress.

The President said that people having correctly understood the Government’s mission in the past, have given a clear verdict to the ruling party at the last General election. “A ruling party rarely receives a clear mandate as against the Opposition during an election,” he added.

He said Ministers and Deputy Ministers should set an example to the freshers in Parliament by showing unity and utmost discipline in and outside Parliament. “Ministries have been created to facilitate the country’s development process and the role played by each and every Ministry contributes to the country’s progress immensely,” he explained.

President Rajapaksa added that the determination of a Ministry’s purview is very difficult. “We faced a predicament in doing so. These Ministries were created to strengthen the governing mechanism,” he added.

He stressed that the Cabinet is collectively responsible for the decision taken by the Ministers and they should have an in-depth knowledge of the working of their Ministries.