Samarasinghe, a former diplomat, has led Sri Lankan delegations to Geneva on two occasions amidst serious challenges from the international community over alleged war crimes and human rights violations during the final phase of the war. He is no alien to Geneva as he has held a key position in the Sri Lankan mission in Geneva as a career diplomat back in the 1980s.

However, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made this move despite vehement opposition from External Affairs Minister Prof G.L. Peiris who heads the Sri Lankan delegation to Geneva this time.

It is a ‘public secret’ among the political circles that Prof Peiris and Samarasinghe, who handle key responsibilities for Sri Lanka in the international sphere, are not the best of friends. The main reason behind the deep-rooted animosity between the two heavyweights is the fear lingering in Peiris’s mind that Samarasinghe is eyeing the Foreign Affairs Ministry, posing a serious threat to the former’s job security.

Pieris-Samarasinghe clash in the run up to Geneva

One of the main allegations against Samarasinghe coming from the Foreign Minister’s camp was that at the last UNHRC session Samarasinghe antagonized India by issuing a media statement prior to the vote saying he was 200% confident that India would vote in favour of Sri Lanka.

“At one point, the External Affairs Ministry of India was entrusted with the task of making a decision on the US sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka. That was the time when Sri Lanka stood a chance of winning India’s support. It all changed due to certain media statements issued by Samarasinghe on India’s support. As a result, the Indian central government came under heavy pressure from Tamil Nadu to vote against Sri Lanka,” an official close to Professor Peiris said.

This time, the composition of the delegation looks interesting as Samarasinghe has been included as a member of the delegation headed by Peiris. In addition, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga and Monitoring MP of the External Affairs Ministry Sajin de Vass Gunawardena have also been named as members of the delegation. Some assume that Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga will be the ‘unofficial’ head of the delegation as he played a significant role in the recent past as a special Envoy of the Sri Lankan government in terms of garnering the support of the international community.

India’s position at the UN Human Rights Council was a topic that was widely discussed among the political circles of Sri Lanka this week. However, top echelons of the government were of the belief that India has only meager chances of voting in favour of Sri Lanka as the ‘Tamil Nadu factor’ is playing a crucial role in India’s political sphere with the country’s general election around the corner. However, the Sri Lankan government is now doing its political calculations on Geneva leaving the ‘Indian Factor’ out of the equation. The government at the moment has high hopes on African region as a ‘power bloc’ in the UNHRC that would support Sri Lanka.

Norochcholai, Salt and Pavithra

In addition to the Geneva Challenge, Norochcholai coal power plant too is becoming a major concern for the government as the Norochcholai issue is gaining ground as a popular topic on electoral platforms of the opposition.

While the government and the CEB is struggling hard to find a solution to the Norochcholai crisis, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, the Minister of Power and Energy, seems to have changed the tune somewhat with regard to her position on the coal fire project in Norochcholai.

In parliament she recently defended the coal power project by saying that the investment was well paid for by the amount of power it had generated to the national grid. She said that the CEB has already earned the cost of construction of the Norochcholai power plant.

She further requested the opposition to cease the big noise they are making on this matter, pointing out that the Victoria power plant which was built during the UNP Government had broken down 19 times during the first two years post commissioning and the Kothmale plant was shut down for 19 months continuously.

She also explained that Norochcholai has already earned Rs 65 billion from power production through coal and if the same number of units was to be produced using petrol it would have cost a lot more. She also said that the Coal power plant had cost Rs 42 billion to construct and comparing it with the Rs. 65 billion it has earned, it has more than covered its cost.

Whatever the arithmetic may be on these numbers there is no doubt that coal is a cheaper source of fueling our thermal power plants to produce much needed electricity, but somehow our focus on it seem to have got waylaid by so much bad publicity stemming from constant breakdowns at the Norochcholai coal power plant. Was Minister Wanniarachchi taking a cue from what P.B Jayasundara said at a meeting at Treasure about a week ago when he implied that there was some kind of hidden hand moving this anti coal lobby?

In addition to this there had been some rather strange happenings in the Lakvijaya coal power plant. There had been media reports of salt found in the condensers which caused a temporary shutdown. The report said that even the CCTV cameras that were there to monitor all activities have been repositioned and therefore the authorities could not identify any culprits. All this smacks of some kind of sabotage, which is being investigated!

All this is happening when the next phase of the coal power project which will add another 300 Mega Watts to the national grid is about to happen soon. This additional power source is vital at this point, especially since our reservoirs will not be producing to full capacity due to the onset of drought and our petroleum fired thermal plants will be a very expensive option. So it’s no doubt that coal will be our solution for low electricity costs, but is there a hidden hand moving against it?

Commenting on the ‘salt issue’, UNP Parliamentarian Ajith P. Perera who once sought a Parliamentary Select Committee on the Lakvijaya coal power plant said the suspicion was actually directed at two parties.

“On the one hand, suspicion is directed at some elements in the CEB who are trying to cover up the real issues pertaining to the Norochcholai plant. By creating ‘artificial issues’ such as this, they can divert attention from the main technical faults of the plant. On the other hand, suspicion is directed at the Chinese Company who constructed the plant.

It is a known fact that the Chinese company is attempting to take over the control of the power plant as the CEB is no longer in a position to manage the problem. It should be investigated whether the Chinese Company is attempting to trigger new issues at the Norochcholai coal power plant aiming to expedite the takeover plan,” the Parliamentarian told The Sunday Leader.

Muzammil returns to Working Committee

Parliamentarian Wijedasa Rajapakse, one of the prominent lawyers in Sri Lanka who was once the President of the Sri Lanka Bar Association has now been appointed to the Leadership Council of the party, replacing Thalatha Atukorale, who declined the offer to be a member of the apex decision making body of the party. The decision was made at the Working Committee of the party which took place at Sirikotha on Monday.

However, the highlight of the Working Committee meeting was the presence of Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil at the Working Committee meeting. It was just a few weeks ago that Muzammil threatened to resign from the party in protest of the decision to leave his wife, Feroza Muzammil, out of the electoral race. However, some of his close friends tried hard to change Muzammil’s mind and keep him in the Working Committee of the party.

As he walked in, Muzammil was greeted warmly by his colleagues who said Muzammil’s presence is of great value to the Working Committee. However, during the working committee meeting some seniors of the party strongly criticized the behavior of Muzammil and that of MP Ravi Karunanayake after the final decisions of the nomination board were announced.

UNP seniors annoyed at Ravi and Muzammil

One of them was Malik Samarawickrama who was once the Chairman of the United National Party. They were of the opinion that washing dirty linen in public is not going to be of any help to the party. Muzammil has come under severe criticism from rank and file of the UNP over his conduct as the Mayor of Colombo.

They allege that Muzammil has stopped criticizing the government since the day he assumed office as the Mayor of Colombo. In a context where the party has allowed Muzammil to function freely as the Mayor of Colombo, they say that it is a wrongful conduct to criticize the nomination board decisions of the party simply on the grounds that his wife was not given nomination.

In addition to the Western and Southern Provincial Council elections, Presidential Election too has become an important topic among the movers and shakers of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party. The discussions took a new turn when Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thero, in an interview with a Tamil newspaper, openly stated that he would contest the Presidential election as a single-issue candidate aiming to abolish the Executive Presidency. UNP seniors too, over the past few days, were discussing as to how they could position the party in the battle to abolish Executive Presidency which, according to them, has plagued the entire political body of Sri Lanka.

Although the UNP is still indecisive as to whether the abolition of Executive Presidency should be the party’s main slogan at the next Presidential Election. They have already decided that it should be the ‘main rallying point’ of the common opposition. Some UNP seniors have already stated that ‘abolition of Executive Presidency’ will unite several strategically important factors such as Sarath Fonseka, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thero against the government.

A large majority of the party believe that the UNP should take the initiative to form a common opposition front before the next Presidential Election. However, the question arises as to who should be the main stakeholders of such a political front as the JVP has already distanced itself from coalition politics. Some of the UNP strategists opine that by fielding a single-issue candidate the UNP will be in a better position to draw the support of the JVP.

Hirunika’s true colours revealed

The ongoing provincial council election campaign has brought out the true colours of some politicians who earlier appeared before the public as true crusaders of justice and democracy. One of them is Hirunika Premachandra who first positioned herself in media as a bereaved daughter seeking justice for her slain father. Speaking to media weeks after her father’s death, Hirunika said her family did not even have a proper avenue of income with the demise of her father.

Nearly three years down the line, Today Hirunika is surrounded by hefty bodyguards and convoys. A back up vehicle follows her wherever she travels. Some senior Cabinet ministers who handle key responsibilities in the government are amazed at the manner in which Hirunika is steering her extravagant election campaign.

A well known journalist in the English media, posted a Facebook status update on Friday, explaining what happened in a private hospital a few days ago.

“Hirunika Premachandra came to a private hospital in a nice jeep with another nice jeep as backup. She waited till her many bodyguards, some armed, indicated that it was safe for her to alight. Then she went swiftly inside. I felt a real fool for having interviewed her back then, way before she proved herself to be a hypocrite.”

A few days prior to this status update, another senior journalist posted a picture on twitter illustrating how Hirunika Premachandra’s convoy were breaking traffic laws in Nugegoda in broad daylight. This clearly shows that the 26-year-old is grooming herself to be a ‘politician’ in every sense of the word. Although she has pledged, quite emotionally, to change the present political culture of Sri Lanka, such evidence demonstrates that she, more than any other candidate contesting the Western Provincial Council election, is immersed in the political culture that is filled to the brim with hypocrisy. ( Courtesy: Sunday Leader)