Former President Maithripala Sirisena said that he appointed an Auditor General during his tenure as President and that the entire process took no more than about an hour.

He made the remark in response to a question raised by journalists on the failure to appoint an Auditor General for several months.

“I have also appointed Auditors General.What I have to tell (President Anura Kumara Dissanayake) to learn from that. If you look at how it was done, it is simple. It is a one-hour task,” he said.

Responding to questions on the National People’s Power (NPP) facing defeat in municipal council budget votes, Sirisena said such situations could be addressed democratically under the local government law through a vote. He added that any individual is free to exercise their vote democratically in such circumstances.

Commenting further, the former President said it was still too early to determine whether a government was moving in the right direction within its first year in office.

“Generally, it is only after about three years that we can properly assess whether a newly appointed government is performing well or making mistakes,” he said.