President Gotabaya Rajapaksa must appoint a Prime Minister and a Cabinet and immediately step down thereafter, Tamil National Alliance MP M.A.Sumanthiran said. Speaking to the media yesterday he pointed out that in the absence of a Prime Minister and a Cabinet, all the powers are concentrated on the President, but the people have lost faith in him and have been calling for his resignation for over a month.
“The President has to be blamed for the current state of affairs in the country. He declared a State of Emergency, but it has to be approved by Parliament within 10 days. For that, he should have gazetted a summoning order of Parliament parallel to the State of Emergency Gazette. As he had not done that, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena asked him to convene Parliament immediately. Parliament can meet without a PM, but a new PM and a Cabinet should be appointed soon,” he commented.
In a separate Twitter post, the MP further said that the Defence Ministry’s shooting orders to Tri-Forces is illegal, observing that all Secretaries cease to hold office when Cabinet is dissolved, according to Article 52(3) of the Constitution.
Thursday, May 12, 2022 – 01:03