09/01/2005 - The Sunday Island Political gossip on All Party Government of Reconstruction, UNP disinterested Political circles are gossiping about the possibility of an all-party government of re-construction being set up in the wake of the Boxing Day disaster, a proposal first made public by the UNP’s Milinda Moragoda in the aftermath of the tidal wave. The ball has now moved on to the government’s court although the UNP has shown absolutely no indication of pushing the proposal. Nevertheless, some of President Kumaratunga’s loyalists in the cabinet have been developing the proposal which according to some reports is now engaging the attention of the president. These reports said that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Susil Premajayanth, Deputy Minister Sripathi Sooriaaratchi, national list parliamentarian Wijedasa Rajapaksa are among those who have discussed the proposal with the president. The suggestion that is now being bruited around is a 50-member cabinet with an equal number of deputy ministers from all parties be appointed with the various political parties given a stake in the government. The suggestion is that this government be appointed for a two-year period during which President Kumaratunga retains the executive powers of the presidency and that a joint prime ministry of the two major parties being established. There is even talk about how many cabinet places each of the political parties now represented in parliament including the TNA, Muslim Congress, JHU, CWC, etc. should get, "one political source said. ‘Naturally the UPFA and the UNP will get the lion’s share with the JVP getting a sizeable slice of the UPFA allotment." Those MPs who will not get cabinet or deputy ministerial office should be given responsibilities for development and re-construction projects with the necessary powers to carry out their duties, it is suggested. ^ Top A Ravaya report said that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had not been enthusiastic about the proposal at first but after long discussions with some of its sponsors had agreed. It said that the JVP had endorsed the suggestion. This report said that the proposal had not been conveyed to the UNP up to now and this would be done at a later stage after it is put into legal shape. However senior UNP leaders said that they knew nothing about this proposal and their party would not support it if they are approached. Anti-climax at Select Committee Political circles were watching last week’s meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee on High Posts where the High Commissioner-designate to Australia, Mr. K. Balapatabendi was expected to present himself for examination. But the whole thing was an anti-climax because Balapatabendi did not turn up. He had written a letter asking that he be excused from attending the meeting as he was extremely busy with urgent work arising from the December 26 tsunami tidal waves disaster. There was no move to compel Balapatabendi’s early attendance before the committee which proceeded to deal with other diplomatic appointments before it. All these were cleared relatively quickly. Former Defence Secretary Chandananda de Silva who is the high commissioner designate to Canada was not among those summoned before the select committee on Wednesday. Some serving ambassadors who are being re-assigned to other capitals and whose names had been published to enable public representations, if any, to the select committee were also not present for clearance at last week’s meeting. A plus for Kadirgamar Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s speech at the so-called Tsunami Summit at Jakarta had rated an A Plus from US Secretary of State Colin Powell who was in Sri Lanka for few hours on Friday on his way back to Washington from Jakarta. Kadirgamar’s speeches are always polished and the one he made at Jakarta was no exception. In addition to the substance of what he says, the former Oxford Union President’s delivery also commands attention. According to diplomatic sources, the foreign minister was confronted with the possibility that the LTTE was working hard to get UN Secretary General Kofi Annan now here to visit a rebel-held area. Some high pressure diplomatic manoeuvres were launched to forestall any such development. The foreign ministry yesterday issued a three-paragraph statement referring to media reports that Annan would visit some places both in cleared and uncleared areas and said only his Hambantota visit, where he was to be welcomed by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, had been specified in any official communication. The communique tersely ended with the observation "For programming and security reasons it is not the policy to discuss the specific places the UN Secretary General would be visiting." It looks like that he will not go to Mullaitivu," one well informed source remarked." If he was going, the Colombo foreign office would not have been saying anything. ^ Top