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New Cabinet
Ministers sworn in
[Sunday, January
28, 2007 - 11.14 GMT]
Government gains majority in Parliament
A new Cabinet of Ministers was sworn in before President Mahinda
Rajapaksa today.
This is the first restructuring of the Cabinet of Ministers since
President Rajapaksa took office as Executive President in November 2005.
Fifty one Members of Parliament were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers
before the President at the assembly hall of the Presidential
Secretariat.
The new Cabinet of Ministers will include 10 members from the Opposition
United National Party (UNP) who have crossed over to the Government. The
former Deputy Leader of the UNP, Mr. Karu Jayasuriya was sworn in as
Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs. In all there are 10
members of the UNP in the new Cabinet.
The leader of the SLMC, Mr. Rauff Hakeem also took his oaths as Minister
of Posts and Telecommunications, leading six MPs from the SLMC who are
joining the Government.
Thirty three Non-Cabinet Ministers and 19 Deputy Ministers were also
sworn before the President today.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa retained his portfolios of Defence, Public
Security, Law and Order, Religious Affairs, Finance and Planning, and
Nation
Building.
Nineteen MPs from the UNP including its senior members Messrs. Karu
Jayasuriya, P. Dayaratna, Gamini Lokuge, Milinda Moragoda, and M. H.
Mohamed, and others who crossed over to join it in 2001 such as Prof. G.
L.
Peiris, Mahinda Wijesekera, Bandula Gunawardena, and other long-standing
UNPers such as Mr. Naveen Dissanayake, Naomal Perera, and R. M.
Dharmadasa
Banda are among those who crossed over to the Government today.
With the addition of these UNP and SLMC members to its ranks it is
estimated that the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa now has the
required
number of seats for a working majority of 113 in Parliament.
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Last Updated
Date: January 28, 2007 - 11.14 GMT |
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