(December, 16, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) One of the weekly papers based in Colombo, the ‘Lukbima News’ (16/12) published a startling revelation about Sri Lanka President’s unofficial private visit to the United Kingdom. The news titled: ‘Mihin Air follows President to London sans passengers’ reported to the extent the President had abused his powers to fly to the United Kingdom at an undisclosed cost.
The paper went on today, ‘ The Mihin Air aircraft chartered for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Japan, followed him to London, with no passengers on board to pick up the President who was attending his son’s passing out ceremony at the Dartmouth Naval Academy in the UK. The President, who was on an official visit to Japan, proceeded to London on a commercial flight. However, it is not known why the President didn’t fly to London on Mihin Air. The Mihin Air aircraft had been chartered from December 8 to 15, which covered the period of the President’s official visit to Japan and his personal visit to the UK. This was done at a hefty cost, possibly to provide a further cash injection of public funds to the money-guzzling airline’.
The news further strengthens the claim that the President is abusing his powers by taking the leading ministries under his control. The president is constitutionally the head of the defence forces and has established a new precedent by becoming the Finance Minister of Sri Lanka. The President’s brother Gothabaya Rajapakse is the Defence Secretary and another brother Basil Rajapakse is his personal advisor.
With the sky rocketing cost of living for the people in Sri Lanka, the President’s lavish life style is expected to cause further problems for him. A bread making bakery owner in the outskirts of Colombo said, ‘When we are struggling to cope with the business when cost is spiralling without any control to the level of bring us to a breaking point the President is behaving worse than a lavish Hollywood star abusing the finance of the country’. The bakery owner further said, ‘Will JVP and JHU who speak for the ordinary Sri Lankan’s take this scandalous conduct of the President?’.
The paper went on today, ‘ The Mihin Air aircraft chartered for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Japan, followed him to London, with no passengers on board to pick up the President who was attending his son’s passing out ceremony at the Dartmouth Naval Academy in the UK. The President, who was on an official visit to Japan, proceeded to London on a commercial flight. However, it is not known why the President didn’t fly to London on Mihin Air. The Mihin Air aircraft had been chartered from December 8 to 15, which covered the period of the President’s official visit to Japan and his personal visit to the UK. This was done at a hefty cost, possibly to provide a further cash injection of public funds to the money-guzzling airline’.The news further strengthens the claim that the President is abusing his powers by taking the leading ministries under his control. The president is constitutionally the head of the defence forces and has established a new precedent by becoming the Finance Minister of Sri Lanka. The President’s brother Gothabaya Rajapakse is the Defence Secretary and another brother Basil Rajapakse is his personal advisor.
With the sky rocketing cost of living for the people in Sri Lanka, the President’s lavish life style is expected to cause further problems for him. A bread making bakery owner in the outskirts of Colombo said, ‘When we are struggling to cope with the business when cost is spiralling without any control to the level of bring us to a breaking point the President is behaving worse than a lavish Hollywood star abusing the finance of the country’. The bakery owner further said, ‘Will JVP and JHU who speak for the ordinary Sri Lankan’s take this scandalous conduct of the President?’.
 One of the weekly papers based in Colombo,...){kind=link}
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