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COLOMBO, May 22 (APD) - Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena, on Monday re-shuffled his cabinet and appointed nine new ministers to key portfolios in order to strenghten his unity government.
Just hours before the re-shuffle, Sirisena along with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had held closed door discussions with their respective political parties.
On Monday, Sirisena on his official Twitter account said he had appointed nine ministers and a state minister in a re-shuffle that had been on the cards for several months.
Some of the ministers who were re-appointed was Finnace Minister Ravi Karunanayake who was re-appointed as the new Foreign Minister, Ports Minister Arjuna Ranatunga who was re-appointed as the Minister of Petroleum Resources and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera who was re-appointed as the Minster of Finance and Media.
Trouble has been brewing in the country's first ever formed national government with internal bickering tarnishing the image of the ministers.
The national government was formed in 2015, with the merger of the two main political parties in the country - the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Sirisena and the United National Party led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Monday's reshuffle was the first major re-shuffle since the formation of the national government in 2015.
Talks of a reshuffle had been on the cards for several months but had been continuously put off due to objections raised by the UNP ministers.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
