President obstructs premier’s future leader!

Friday, 13 February 2015 

On the orders of the president, the defence secretary today (13) issued a gazette extraordinary to curtail the powers of state defence minister Ruwan Wijewardena, who is being promoted by prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the future leader of the UNP.

According to this gazette notification, of the 15 institutions that had been under him, only four – namely Ranaviru Seva Authority (RSA), defence services and command staff school, defence services college and the national cadets corp - remain with him. Anoma Fonseka, wife of Gen. Sarath Fonseka, is due to take up duties as chairperson of the RSA next week.

In this situation, the three armed forces nor any camp come under minister Wijewardena, and all of them come under the purview of President Maithripala Sirisena, who is the defence minister.

Recently, Gen. Fonseka told the media that defence responsibilities have been given to those who are without knowledge or experience in the related subjects. Our sources also say that the president has invited Gen. Fonseka to ally with the SLFP in contesting the upcoming general election.