SLPP discontent with President over SLFPers getting additional subjects in Cabinet shake-up

• Keheliya dethroned as Health Minister
• Dr. Ramesh Pathirana takes oaths as the Health Minister  

By Kelum Bandara 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe effected a mini change in his Cabinet, mainly by removing Mr. Keheliya Rambukwella from the post of Health Minister and assigning it to Dr. Ramesh Pathirana.   

Pressure from various quarters including the health sector trade unions, the political parties and the public have built for a long time to strip Mr. Rambukwella of his portfolio over allegations of corruption, fraud and inefficiency. The health sector has remained crippled for a long time, with the hospitals running short of even essential pharmaceuticals. Patients were at the receiving end due to the influx of low-quality medicinal drugs in certain instances, a phenomenon that claimed several lives in the recent past.    

The main opposition, at one point, moved a no-confidence motion against the minister, but he survived it because of the government’s numerical strength in Parliament.   

A political source said the President mulled the removal of the minister at one point. He is reported to have asked Mr. Rambukwella whether he is ready to be assigned a different subject. The Health Ministry post was offered to Dr. Pathirana earlier too, but he declined to accept it at that time. According to informed sources, he, as a medical graduate, was reluctant to take charge of a subject area where members of his own fraternity operate.   
However, with the President’s persistent request, he acceded and took oaths as the Health Minister yesterday. In addition to being the Health Minister, he will function as the Minister of Industries. In the reshuffle, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has also been appointed non-Cabinet Minister of Plantation Enterprises.   
The Cabinet post of Plantation Industries held by Dr. Pathirana previously has been assigned to Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera. Mr. Rambukwella was appointed Environment Minister in the Cabinet change.   
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the key stakeholder of the current government, is not opposed to the removal of Mr. Rambukwella as the Health Minister. However, the party is perturbed over the assignment of additional subjects to Mr. Rambukwella and Mr. Amaraweera who are members of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).   

“They have been assigned subjects meant for the SLPP in keeping with our understanding with the President. We are only against it. Otherwise, we don’t mind Mr. Rambukwella being stripped of his health ministry portfolio,” he said.   

He said the President did so regardless of the SLPP’s protest registered earlier.