There has recently been a flurry of comment and speculation about whether, due to a technical flaw in the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (2015), former President Rajapaksa may actually be eligible to offer himself for election at the next presidential election, although it had so far been universally assumed that he was disqualified by virtue of having been twice elected previously to the presidency. A legal argument to this effect has most completely been made by the distinguished jurist, Dr. Nihal Jayawickrama. In his ...Continued

One day, I was in a hurry to get home after visiting a patient at a leading private hospital down Kirimandala Mawatha and got into a three wheeler from the ‘hospital stand’. Preoccupied as I was with the condition of the patient and the other errands I had to run, it was only after I was almost halfway home that I realized that the meter was running at Rs 50 /- per km, more expensive than an AC cab with four wheels! All three wheelers ...Continued

The Sri Lankan government’s move to write off microfinance debts and place caps on microfinance rates in the 12 districts of Trincomalee, Ampara, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa is certainly a welcome one.  It shows clear attention to one of the most significant issues troubling post-war Sri Lanka, a country which, in a round of studies conducted by the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium was found to be one of two countries to exhibit a high level of sustained indebtedness.  Academics and ...Continued