Mustapha accepts delimitation report

Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Faiszer Mustapha said the much-delayed Delimitation Committee’s report with the signatures of all five members was today handed over to him by Committee Chairman Asoka Peiris. At a media briefing in Colombo he confirmed that he had received the report signed by the five members and it would be gazetted in accordance with the Local Government Elections Act once the typing errors were corrected. On an earlier occasion Mustapha refused to accept the final report of the Delimitation Committee on the basis that two of its five members had not signed it - Pic by Kushan Pathiraja 

• Says will gazette once typing errors are corrected, UNP signs report but adds footnote

Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Faiszer Mustapha has accepted the delimitation report which was submitted by the Delimitation Committee yesterday, ministry’s sources confirmed.

Delimitation Committee Chairman Asoka Peiris had handed over the report with the signatures of all five members of the committee, including the United National Party (UNP)’s representative Senior Lawyer Abdul Sattar M. Misbah’s signature, which was the main reason for the delay of the submission of the report. SLFP members signed the report last week and Misbah had signed report on Tuesday morning.

Ministry sources further said UNP representative Misbah had added a footnote to the report, saying that there are more discrepancies in district boundaries that should be addressed.

Meanwhile, Mustapha said that he would take immediate steps to gazette the report before the end of this month.  

Mustapha earlier refused to accept the final delimitation report, claiming that it lacked signatures of two Committee members, including UNP and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) representatives. 

Last month when the report was expected to be handed over, the state Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Priyankara Jayaratne resigned on unrelated issues, plunging the ministry into more controversy. The Minister was forced to cut an overseas trip short to return to the country to accept the report, but when presented he refused to accept the report sans the signatures. 

 Mustapha’s refusal to accept the report when Peiris attempted to hand over the report in the presence of the media, prompted the latter to issue a statement calling out on the Minister for using the commission for political gains. Although several subsequent announcements were made about the handover of the report, it is yet to be officially accepted by the Minister.