report in The Island, May 23, 2023
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has indicated that he has no trust in the Cabinet of Ministers, and therefore he should dissolve Parliament and let the people choose their representatives so that a new Cabinet could be appointed, says SJB MP Imthiaz Bakeer Markar.
Speaking to journalists over the weekend, Bakeer Markar said that President Wickremesinghe had told Cabinet secretaries that there was no further need for them to submit Cabinet papers. “I could not believe that statement. There the President informed the Cabinet secretaries that there was no need for submitting papers for the approval of the Cabinet, hereafter. The Prime Minister was not invited to that meeting. None of the ministers were there. The President met the Cabinet Secretaries and chief provincial secretaries and his own staff members of the Presidential Secretariat. It is shocking that the President told the secretaries to inform him what needed to be done and he alone would consider what should be and what should not to be approved. The President told them that he would meet those secretaries every two weeks and the secretaries were asked to submit the proposals at those meetings.
“This indicates that the President has no faith in the Cabinet of Ministers. It also indicates that the President can no longer work with the incumbent Cabinet of Ministers. If so, the only option available for the President is to dissolve Parliament and go for a general election so that people can elect a new government.
“The President at the aforementioned meeting invited the secretaries to work with him as a single team over matters that required Cabinet approval and promised that he alone would give the approval. Then what is the use of maintaining this Cabinet of Ministers?” Bakeer Markar queried. https://island.lk/imthiaz-says-prez-has-lost-faith-in-cabinet/
