First members of MS-MR cabinet sworn in

President Maithripala Sirisena appointed part of his new Cabinet yesterday,with newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa being given the Finance and Economic Affairs portfolio. 

In a closed ceremony, Sirisena appointed 12 Ministers to the Cabinet, which will be limited to 30 as per clauses in the Constitution, the President’s Media Department informed via Twitter. 

However, it was not immediately clear why the complete Cabinet was not appointed yesterday. 

Members of the Group of Sixteen, Dayasiri Jayasekara and Thilanga Sumathipala, who were active in orchestrating the current set-up, were not among those who were sworn in yesterday. A notable absentee was former Sri Lanka Freedom Party General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake, who was vocal against Mahinda Rajapaksabefore he was sworn in as Prime Minister by Sirisena. 

The 12 members sworn in yesterday also included three members from the United National Party, led by ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Two of the members, Vadivel Suresh and Vasantha Senanayake, pledged support to Wickremesinghe earlier in the day, only to accept a Cabinet portfolio by evening under Prime Minister Rajapaksa. Some SLFP Parliamentarians who held ministerial posts during the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Cabinet retained their portfolios. The list of appointments is given below.

Ministers

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs - Mahinda Rajapaksa 

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation -UPFA MP Nimal Siripala de Silva 

Foreign Affairs - UPFA MP Dr. Sarath Amunugama 

Minister of Ports and Shipping -UPFA MP Mahinda Samarasinghe

Minister of Agriculture-UPFA MP Mahinda Amaraweera

Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and Rural Economic Affairs - UPFA MP Wijith Wijayamuni Zoysa

Minister of Power and Renewable Energy - UPFA MP Ranjith Siyambalapitiya 

Minister of Provincial Councils, Local Government, and Sports - UPFA MP Faiszer Musthapha

Minister of Resettlement, Rehabilitation, Northern Development and Hindu Religious Affairs -EPDP MP Douglas Devananda

Minister of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development - CWC MP Arumugam Thondaman 

Minister Education and Higher Education - UNP MP Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe

Minister of Tourism and Wildlife - UNP MP Vasantha Senanayake 

State Ministers 

State Minister of Plantation Industries – UNP MP Suresh Vadivel 

Deputy Ministers

Deputy Minister of Tourism and Wildlife - UNP MP Ananda Aluthgamage