By Deshavimala
As President Chandrika Kumaratunga took off to New Delhi to meet the Indian leaders, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) extended their ceasefire by another three months stating it was a goodwill gesture to prepare the ground for talks. Unable to counter the heavy military assaults now underway, the Tigers appear to be building up for a massive attack in the near future collecting arms and ammunition in the process.

This week the Navy destroyed two Tiger boats carrying explosives in the Northern waters. If the LTTE is interested in a dialogue, they need not look for arms. Even during the ongoing unilateral ceasefire there were many violations on their side with the military having proof to substantiate this claim.

Kumaratunga trip to New Delhi on Thursday is believed by many to be an effort to convince New Delhi on Norway’s peace initiatives. Official sources said that if the move becomes successful, the talks were likely to be held in a Western country.

Kumaratunga has to convince New Delhi that the Norway brokered peace moves will not be detrimental to India’s interests. The Indian government has banned the LTTE and want Velupillai Prabakaran, the most wanted man for the murder of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, extradited. Political sources said that India would not back the peace moves if it would be detrimental to its interests in South India region where Tamilnadu is located.

While Kumaratunga flew to India, the Norwegian special envoy who met with LTTE’s Anton Balasingham in London, is expected in Colombo after touching down in New Delhi before his arrival here.

Political circles say that talks between Colombo and the LTTE are likely to kick off in May. However, Kumaratunga has indicated she was not prepared to accept any conditions or ceasefires even during talks. Her government is determined to attack the LTTE as long as it believes in the armed struggle, a highly placed source from Kumaratunga’s secretariat said.

Ceylon Electricity Board

The President on the eve of her departure talked to her confidantes about the plight at the Ceylon Electricity Board where allegations of corruption have been levelled at the top. The lid was blown off by Deputy Minister of Power, Felix Perera who told the SLFP group last week about CEB corruption and the move to increase tariff, was to cover up the sins of those responsible.

Kumaratunga met with Perera last week at her office before making a statement on state TV that three institutions including the CEB were corrupt. She however did not name the other institutions. But, PA sources said one was the Petroleum Corporation and the other appears to be the Board of Investment. The CEB and CPC are the two major institutions that come under Power and Energy Minister Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte.

The CEB engineers union have made several allegations against the CEB management that millions are siphoned off to build mansions for the top people in the Board and if not for these activities, the rates need not be increased from March by such a big quantum.

The UNP is to follow up the President statement about the CEB and two other places being corrupt. At Thursday’s party group meeting, Colombo District MP, Ravi Karunanayake urged the party to follow it up to ask the President to name the three institutions. He said the UNP must ask for a full probe of the CEB’s activities where the management is alleged to have misused funds to build mansions and holiday bungalows for themselves.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who agreed to include the corruption issue in the protests planned against the government urged the membership to forget differences and unite to topple the government early. The UNP has planned several measures to take on the government during the budget debate and to pressurise Kumaratunga not to leave the country during the debate as she is the Finance Minister.

The SLFP is planning to hold its annual convention in a grand manner on March 4 at the old race course to counter the success of the UNP protest march from Kandy to Colombo early this month. As prelude all party organisers were summoned to Colombo last Sunday for a meeting organised by the party General Secretary S. B. Dissanayake, chaired by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremenayake. Dissanayake wanted organisers to bring 500 persons from each electorate with transport provided. He said the Colombo District organisations would decorate the roads and indicated the areas where buses coming from outstations for the event could be parked. The theme of the convention would be decided in due course.

The SLFP central committee met this week to discuss plans about the party convention. The Prime Minister chaired this meeting at President’s House. Several appointments at electorate level was made. S. B. Dissanayake proposed that some awards should be made to ministers who have dedicated themselves to the party. He put forward a list of names but the members did not look happy at the move saying there were more important matters that should take precedence than thinking of awards. "This is like a comedy where we give awards to our own men", quipped Mangala Samaraweera. Mahinda Rajapakse backed him saying that the best award was the ministership and nothing more.

S.B. tried to convince the group that it was a move to recognise the ministers who have dedicated themselves to the party. But Rajapakse explained that the President had rewarded them with cabinet portfolios for that purpose and an award ceremony will certainly turn out to be a joke in the eyes of the public and other political parties. Rajapakse then turned to K. B. Ratnayake who was seated by him to say, "Look here, he has been given a Governorship for his services to the party". "That is correct and I don’t need any more awards", Ratnayake quipped with a smile. Former Governor Stanley Tillekeratne said he placed his signature on the first Republican constitution and added it was the best award he received. Despite these objections, S.B. seemed determined to go ahead even though the Prime Minister nodded in favour of others.

Cabinet Meeting

The weekly cabinet meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister on Tuesday. At the outset, S. B. Dissanayake criticised the decision taken the week before to prevent coaches from holding positions in sports associations. He said he was not present at that meeting. When S.B. tried to defend his position another minister said that certain ministers were trying to safeguard their henchmen when the government was trying to clean sports bodies of favouritism and corruption.

Sports Minister Lakshman Kiriella explained that the proposed law was in force earlier during the United Front Government in 1970-77 but the UNP changed it in 1988. "This led to the situation deteriorating with coaches favouring their trainees and misusing their position", Kiriella said. Finally a five-member ministerial committee was appointed to report back within a week.

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha referred to a text book used in international schools where the word "Elaam" was used. Rauff Hakeem explained that the word was the same as "Ilangai" in Tamil which was Sri Lanka. But Premajayantha was not convinced. He later listened to the views expressed by his colleagues with regard to admissions to top schools in the city. The president walked in at that moment and proposed a committee to look into the grievances where problems arose with regard to admissions.

European Delegation

The European Parliamentary delegation in Colombo spent much time in Parliament during their stay here to acquaint themselves on the ethnic issue. They also made a trip to the North. On Tuesday they were hosted to lunch by the Speaker Anura Bandaranaike. The UNP delegation which met them was led by Mr. Tyronne Fernando and comprised Jayalath Jayawardene, Rohitha Bogallagama, M. S. Sellasamy and Ali Zaheer Moulana. After lunch two UNPers met with some PA ministers and discussed the introduction of a new constitution which the PA intends to move after the budget debate. The government is keen to bring a new constitution to enable Kumaratunga to continue in politics after 2005.

The UNP is not in favour of a new constitution claiming that democracy was eroding fast and the masses burdened with the rising cost of living. It has proposed an amendment to the existing constitution to set up the four independent commissions on police, elections, judiciary and the public service. The government on the other hand is moving to buy over UNP MPs again to ensure a new constitution. A minister is leading this move after Sarath Amunugama performed badly in the previous attempt.