Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday alleging that some media outlets disseminated false reports on the appointments of the cabinet ministers by the President said he would make a statement in Parliament in January on the appointment of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Calling the media outlets, which had reported that President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed some names proposed by the Prime Minister’s office for cabinet minister posts, as ‘black media’, the Prime Minister said black media which published such false information should be exposed to the country.
The Premier said he did not sent the name of MP Vijith Vijithamuni de Soysa, who crossed over from SLFP to join the UNF government, to the President and was surprised by the media reports claiming that the President has struck the MP’s name from the list.
The media reports on several MPs who had not been nominated by him have been published and media institutions which published the report have not inquired about this, the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said that since this is a matter for the Parliament and the Prime Minister’s office, the relevant MPs could sue the media outlets and charge millions as damage.
“I think Mr. De Soysa and other will be able to collect a hundreds of millions as compensation if they file action against the media which published the false reports,” he said.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he will provide the names of the ‘black media’ outlets to the wronged MPs.
The Prime Minister said that the country should learn about the behavior of offending media outlets in the recent past and an opportunity will be presented in parliament to debate the issue.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
