<b>Proposed removal of Ravi Karunanayake:Govt. denies President’s allegation</b>

The Island

The Office of the Government Spokesman yesterday made the following comments on the action proposed by the President to remove Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ravi Karunanayake from the Cabinet of Ministers.

The proposed basis for this action is entirely fictitious. The President purports to consider taking this action on the ground that Ravi Karunanayake, at the cabinet meeting held on July 17, "hurled the allegation that the President had brought bombs to kill the Prime Minister in her handbag". However, all who were present at this cabinet meeting are well aware that no such allegation was made by Karunanayake. Karunanayake’s reference was to a handbag containing not bombs or explosives in any form, but sophisticated video and recording devices. No reference was made at any time during the cabinet meeting to an attempt on the part of the President to bomb the Prime Minister or the Cabinet.

Moreover, when the Prime Minister met the President the following morning (Thursday July 18) the President made no reference whatsoever to any alleged statement by Karunanayake, relating to the presence of a bomb in the President’s handbag. Had the President raised the matter on that occasion, the Prime Minister would certainly have stated that no such allegation was made at the cabinet meeting.

The Prime Minister was, therefore, taken entirely by surprise when he received the President’s letter dated July 19, during the evening of the 19th. Although the cabinet meeting took place in the evening of Wednesday July 17 it was only two days later that the President referred, for the first time, to a supposed allegation by Karunanayake with regard to a bomb in her handbag. Within hours of the receipt of the President’s letter dated July 19 and just prior to the Prime Minister’s departure from the country, the Prime Minister responded to the President clearly stating that Karunanayake did not make the allegation which the President attributes to him.

It is abundantly clear from this sequence of events that the purported basis on which action so grave as the removal of a minister from the cabinet is contemplated is entirely without foundation in fact and is consequently unwarranted.

With regard to the constitutional provisions applicable to the appointment and removal of ministers, the Prime Minister has explicitly stated in his letter to the President that he formed his Government in December last year on the agreed premise that the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers would be determined by his recommendations. This is required by any realistic application of Article 44(1)(b) of the Constitution in the circumstances which exist in our country today.

In this situation, there is no valid reason whatsoever for the action proposed by the President in respect of Ravi Karunanayake.

Courtesy: The Island