Sri Lanka cancelled its weekly post-Cabinet press briefing on Tuesday after both designated government spokesmen were out of the country simultaneously.
Cabinet Spokesman and Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa was attending the 21st Asian Media Summit in the Maldives. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath — who usually fronts the briefing when Jayatissa is unavailable — is on an official four-day visit to Belarus from May 12 to 15.
“We kindly inform you that the press conference to announce Cabinet decisions will not be held today (12th), as the Cabinet Spokesman and Minister of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, is currently abroad to attend the 21st Asian Media Summit held in the Maldives,” the Department of Government Information said in a statement.
The Tuesday briefing has been the principal weekly forum for journalists to question Cabinet decisions and seek clarifications from the government under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power administration. No alternative briefing was scheduled.
The cancellation comes as the government faces sustained media scrutiny over a controversial coal procurement contract, an electricity tariff hike approved last week, the US$2.5 million Treasury cyber heist and a US$625,000 misdirected Postal Services remittance amid the duplicate poverty-alleviation transfer issue.
Cabinet decisions taken Monday — including amendments to the Animals Act and the State Mortgage and Investment Bank Law and the Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre trust — surfaced via The Island rather than the cancelled briefing.
