Sri Lankan President announces nation's new consensus cabinet
Colombo, Sept 05 (ANI): Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced his cabinet in the national unity government and urged his ministers to eliminate corruption to march his reformist agenda forward. The announcement was delayed by more than two weeks since the August 07 polls as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe needed parliament approval to appoint more than 70 ministers according to the constitution.
The parliament approved a proposal to increase the number of ministers to 93 on September 03. Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP), which won the highest seats in the last month election, will get 60 ministerial portfolios while President Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will get 33 positions. Sirisena reappointed veteran politician and accountant Ravi Karunanayake as finance minister. Sirisena urged his ministers from both parties to work together on eliminating corruption.
