SRI LANKA’S MARXIST-LEANING PRESIDENT APPOINTS CABINET AMID ECONOMIC CRISIS

Mon 18 November 2024:

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Monday picked a 21-member Cabinet after winning a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary elections last week.

Dissanayake will keep ministerial portfolios of finance, defense, and digital, while educationist Harini Amarasuriya again took oath as the prime minister of the island nation.

Dissanayake won presidential elections in September and ran the government with a three-member Cabinet until last week’s general polls where his National People’s Power won 159 seats in a parliament of 225 members.

The swearing-in ceremony of the Cabinet, which was telecast live, took place at the Presidential Secretariat in the capital Colombo.

Prime Minister Amarasuriya will also hold the ministry of education, higher education as well as vocational education.

Vijitha Herath has been appointed foreign minister.

Ananda Wijepala is the new public security and parliamentary affairs minister while Bimal Rathnayake has been tapped as transport, highways, ports and civil aviation minister.

Dissanayake is likely to pick deputy ministers in the coming weeks.

Sri Lanka has been undergoing a financial program by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following a default in 2022.

An IMF delegation led by Peter Breuer is on a week-long trip to the island nation to hold talks with the new government as well as conduct a third review of Sri Lanka’s economic reform program of $2.9 billion.

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Here are some facts about Anura Kumara Dissanayake:

Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born on November 24, 1968, in Thambuththegama, Sri Lanka, into a working-class family. His father was a labourer, and his mother a housewife. Mr Dissanayake was involved in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party during his school years and was the first student from the college chosen for admission into the university.
He studied at the University of Peradeniya before leaving due to threats during the political unrest of the 1987-1989 JVP insurrection. Mr Dissanayake later graduated from the University of Kelaniya with a degree in physical science in 1995.
Mr Dissanayake rapidly rose through the ranks of the JVP. By 1995, he was appointed the National Organiser of the Socialist Students Association and joined the JVP’s Central Working Committee. By 1998, he secured a position in the JVP’s Politburo. This was significant as the JVP re-entered mainstream politics under Somawansa Amarasinghe, initially supporting President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government before eventually criticising it over various issues.
In 2004, Mr Dissanayake was appointed as a cabinet minister in President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government. He handled portfolios like agriculture, livestock, land, and irrigation. A year later, Mr Dissanayake and other JVP ministers resigned in protest against a joint agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE for tsunami relief coordination.
Mr Dissanayake became the leader of the JVP in 2014, succeeding Somawansa Amarasinghe. He ran as the JVP’s presidential candidate in 2019, securing third place with 3 per cent of the vote. He again announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections under the banner of the National People’s Power (NPP), a leftist coalition he built. He made a remarkable comeback, winning 42.31 per cent of the vote in the first round and 55.89 per cent in the second round.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake was inaugurated as president on September 23. He is a Marxist politician who made history by becoming the country’s first president from a third party. He has been a vocal critic of Sri Lanka’s economic policies, particularly those that he views as necessary to the country’s working class. He strongly opposed the IMF’s conditions for a $2.9 billion bailout, advocating for a renegotiation of terms, tax reductions like the Pay-As-You-Earn tax, and the elimination of VAT on essential goods.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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