State Ministers and Deputy Ministers will be sworn in next week because their lists were not finalised, a Presidential Secretariat source said yesterday.

At yesterday’s swearing in ceremony, UNP national list Parliamentarian Malik Samarawickrama was appointed as Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade was conspicuous by his absence.

The swearing-in ceremony had to be adjourned and interspersed with the speech by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe because Muslim Ministers like Rauff Hakim and Kabir Hashim were at Mosque for Friday prayers.

A few new ministries such as the Megapolis & Western Development Ministry was entrusted to former Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka, Ministry National Dialogue entrusted to Mano Ganeshan and City Planning to Rauff Hakim.

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariayawasam and Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Mahinda Amaraweera had been able to retain their portfolios they held under the previous government.(Sandun A Jayasekera)