<b>President blasts Premier</b>

Kasun Yapa Karunaratne - Daily Mirror

President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday launched her strongest attack on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe saying she was 'completely and utterly shocked' by what she saw as the Premier's volte face in the controversy over Minister Ravi Karunanayake's behaviour.

In a tough letter to the Prime Minister, the President said some of the ministers were 'shockingly rude and untruthful' and she warned Mr. Wickremesinghe that the constitution gave her unfettered powers to dismiss any minister.

The President said that in recent weeks she had been made the victim of malicious propaganda, falsehoods and calculatedly garbled presentations by some of Mr. Wickremesinghe's chosen ministers who while speaking of cohabitation appeared to be acting more towards decapitation.

Following is the text of the President's letter:

Dear Prime Minister,

I am in receipt of your letter of 19th July, 2002 and have to express regret and surprise at your denial that Minister Karunanayake alleged in your presence that I had brought bombs in my handbag and that I will kill you, bomb you etc; I note that you do not go on to deny, as stated by me in my letter to you of even date, that you had admonished him against making such unfair comments and continuing to talk in that manner. Also, when you met me on the 18th morning, you did confirm my view that such behaviour on his part was quite unacceptable.

I am therefore completely and utterly shocked by your denial of a statement made by Mr. Karunanayake in the presence of many Ministers at an official Cabinet meeting.

While your volte face in this regard, for obvious reasons of political expediency, having regard to the embarrassment that would be caused to you and your party by having to make a public admission of such misconduct on the part of your chosen appointee, and yet insisting on keeping him a member of the Cabinet of Ministers, may be understandable, it is unworthy of you to imply by such denials that my statement is a false allegation and a fabrication.

The continuing abuse, day and night, hurled at me through the government, as well as the so called independent media, intimidated into subservience by your administration, alleging that I have lied, while lying blatantly that this incident did not occur, is incomprehensible and unacceptable to any person brought up to honour the truth and respect human decency. It is difficult to believe that any of this could happen without approbation of the leadership of your party.

You cannot fail to recall how last September, when you were Opposition Leader you faced some political embarrassment consequent on a newspaper leak concerning a secret meeting you had with the American Ambassador requesting him to canvass me to form a National Government with the UNP. You made a public denial of this fact, despite media reports that the American Ambassador had indicated that you had definitely done so.

It is indeed unfortunate that while I have trustworthy witnesses to confirm the truth of what did happen at the Cabinet Meeting on 17th July, I am now denied this opportunity by reason of your public denial and thereby the pressure exerted upon the witnesses to this horrendous happening, i.e. the Ministers present on that occasion and the Cabinet Secretary. Consequent on the existing constitutional anomaly (for which your party alone is responsible), despite being elected the President of the Republic, I am obliged to be a lone figure in the Cabinet Room, among 32 hostile Ministers, some of whom are shockingly rude and untruthful. I am thereby denied an opportunity of even countering any falsehoods stated or any improper occurrences, through the testimony of an independent witness.

I have been made the victim of malicious propaganda, vicious falsehoods, calculatedly garbled presentation of facts by certain of your chosen ministers, in collusion with disreputable sections of the public media. This is an intolerable situation, which I cannot be expected to acquiesce in, without compromising the Office of the President and Head of State. While some of the ministers speak vacuously of cohabitation, their concrete acts appear to be more consistent with an attempt at decapitation!

As for the assertion made in the last paragraph of your letter concerning the constitutional position relating to the formation of the Cabinet of Ministers, I wish to state categorically that there was no agreement arrived at between us concerning the interpretation you now seek to place on Article 44(1)(b) of the Constitution.

When I appointed your nominees to the Cabinet of Ministers on 12th December 2001, consequent to the UNP victory at the Parliamentary Elections, there was no discussion as to the principle pertaining to the act of selecting and appointing Cabinet Ministers. I wish to remind you, in case your memory fails you in this matter also, all that happened was that I requested you to send me your list of nominees and informed you that I shall be appointing them after discussing with you. I urge you to nudge your memory to remember that I refused to appoint one person as a minister because I had found him to be dishonest and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery & Corruption was investigating him. Apart from this, there was no discussion or agreement that appointment to the Cabinet of Ministers would be on your recommendation per se, as you attempt to state in your letter dated 19th July.

In any event, I do not agree with your view in that regard. I am advised that the relevant provision applicable to the removal of a Minister of the Cabinet is Article 47 or Article 44(3) as the case may be and the President has an unfettered discretion in that matter."

-Daily Mirror -