Geneva debacle: The realities behind the diplomatic rhetoric

Shocking statements by ministers make matters worse for President

By Our Political Editor

If the debacle at Geneva last week was bad enough for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, some of the things some of his Ministers are saying in public are making matters worse for him. Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva had already dropped a bombshell by making a public confession that he was responsible for breaking the legs of a media activist who had to leave the country thereafter. The Police said they would inquire. The problem being that these inquiries never end. President Rajapaksa was fuming at the Minister's utterance. What he told some friends this week that he would do to Mervyn Silva is unprintable. Then, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardene had his own version of new maths calculating how a family of three could easily live on Rs. 7,500 a month. He was basing his arithmetic on a hostel where students spent only Rs. 2,500 a month on their food. The political cartoonists had a field day lampooning the minister, one of them even indicating from where he was talking. President Rajapaksa had asked him how he came to these figures. The Minister had said this was what he found out from those students, and that he was only referring to their food bill for the month; to which the President asked the most obvious questions; "who paid for the upkeep of the hostel?" and "who pays for the "gas", to which the Minister had said "the government". His Livestock Development Minister Arumugam Thondaman had sent President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga a text message saying that he "wants to resign" because the government had reinstated the MILCO Marketing Manager who was facing charges of corruption. The Marketing Manager is reported to have approached MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardene among others to get reinstated. The President had not wanted Weeratunga or anyone in government to react to Thondaman's latest threat to quit. The only comment came from the President's Press Secretary Bandula Jayasekera who said sarcastically "this is not the first time he has resigned". In fact, officials at the President's office recalled how on a previous occasion Thondaman had arrived none the worse for liquor at the Bandaranaike International Airport and threatened to quit the government because officials at the airport had ignored him. As expected Thondaman met President Rajapaksa, remains well entrenched in the cabinet and flew to his home away from home, India the next day. President Mahinda Rajapaksa feeling the heat at Expo 2012 held at the BMICH. Pic by Susantha Liyanawatte Full Story>>>