DailyMirror
Presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga yesterday hinted that the new United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Cabinet of Ministers would exceed 40 while the UPFA high command headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was listing and short listing the list of ministers and their deputies.
“The President has still not finalized the list of Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers.
The selection process is time consuming and tedious,” Mr. Weeratunga told Daily Mirror.
Putting an end to rumours that the government may appoint district ministers and project ministers to appease those being left out of the Cabinet, Mr. Weeratunga confirmed there would not be any other posts other than those of Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers.
Mr. Weeratunga said in all likelihood the new ministers would be sworn in on Friday at the presidential secretariat.
The pruning down of the Cabinet will result in several former ministers, deputy ministers and non-cabinet ministers being deprived of ministerial portfolios.
Meanwhile, a former Minister who is assisting President Rajapaksa in finalizing the list of ministers and deputy ministers said the portfolios assigned would be different from what they held in the previous UPFA government.
“A team of MPs assisted by senior officials will be set up to monitor every ministry. The President expects to appoint parliamentary committees (not select committees) which include opposition members to monitor the progress at each ministry. Ministers and their deputies are responsible to meet their targets within a given time frame,” the Minister said.
This is purely to achieve President Rajapaksa’s ambitious plan to make Sri Lanka “The miracle of South Asia” within the next six years. No complacency, excuses or re-thinking will be allowed in pursuing this target now that war is over and the global economic crunch has eased.
The former minister said nobody can complain if left out of the as it was a policy decision by the President. During the presidential and general elections the UPFA pledged to reduce number of ministers. It is an expection of the people as well.