“The economic front is not very good” -J.c.weliamuna Human Rights Lawyer

“T he judiciary is independent to a greater extent. It will take at least another two to three years to ensure the independence of the police and the public service though they are comparatively independent now,” he said.

Commenting on the economic situation of the country he said, “We have been a debt ridden country for many years and therefore the economic front is not very good. There has to be consistency of the economic policies. Now the government is at least attempting to have consistency. They have taken serious steps to win the international community which we had lost previously.”

The government does not have a good communication strategy. So the positive actions they take are not communicated to the public

When asked about the demerits of the government he said that the people involved in corruption and who were holding high authority were not penalized, but were instead retained in office.

“The government does not have a good communication strategy. So the positive actions they take are not communicated to the public. The print and private media are not favouring the government. They were linked very closely to the previous regime and they continue to support them,” he said.

He also said that since the government was a coalition of two main parties’ positives and negative will have to be experienced. “In both sides there are people who want to have their own government instead of a coalition. That is seen in many aspects. If the President and Prime Minister are committed to push the social political reforms together there is still hope,” he added.

Elaborating on the way forward, Weliamuna said that the President and Prime Minister should make decisions together. “They have to take bold decisions as well. For example they must get rid of the corrupt few high officials. They must take harsh but realistic decisions on Macro Economic decisions. You can’t please the people all the time,” he said.