I’m typing this on my mobile whilst on my way to the Northern peninsula. Local government elections are scheduled for the weekend, ironically on ,July 23: the 28 anniversary of black July. I wanted to cover these elections since I came back to the country. For me, it’s like participatory democracy being re-born. I’ll be blogging, both on this and ...
The Colombo Municipal Council has been running under a Special Commissioner for the past few years, and whilst the city has seen many improvements over the period, it has not been without its critics. Critics say that the lack of elected representatives in the Council has led to a top-down process of development which is sometimes authoritarian. I spoke to ...
The following is a transcript distributed by the British High Commission in Colombo, of this year’s Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture delivered by British Secretary of Defence, Dr. Liam Fox. The piece is an excellent read, and the subtleties that are there should be noted, when reading. CHECKED AGAINST DELIVERY BEGINS It was 16 years ago that I first met Lakshman ...
The Asian Human Rights Commission released a report on Friday, which documents in detail 323 cases of police brutality in Sri Lanka. A statement released, says: The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has compiled a report of 1500 cases of police torture in Sri Lanka between 1998 and 2011. This particular report summarizes 323 of the most serious cases of ...
According to the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, and I’m merely paraphrasing here. If you don’t show up for the first training, you have to come for the second batch. If you don’t show up for the second batch of training, we’ll put up a third batch. If you don’t come for the third batch, we won’t sell ...
A fortnight ago, at an event organised by the Ministry of Defence, Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that he got free bananas from a shopkeeper in Jaffna. Speaking about the economic prosperity in Jaffna that the Central Bank has facilitated, Cabraal said: “I remember when I went to the market and I bought some plantains. The ...
The leadership training programme implemented by the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Defence has come under criticism by student unions, academia, various political parties and some sectors of the civil society. The leadership training programme commenced last week amidst mixed reactions from the public at large. The ministry however has expressed its confidence that the programme would ...
This guide, written by a wannabe, is a handy guide to live by. It will help you understand how our twisted minds work. For the journalists, think of it as a code of conduct. Some are rules that apply to journos, some apply to friends, and some apply to lovers. We can’t be bothered to sort it out. That’s ...