Now, President wants all ministers to state their opinion on MCC

Bandula Gunawardana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has given the Cabinet of Ministers one week’s time to submit their views on last week’s report produced by the Presidential Committee that examined the proposed MCC agreement with the USA.

Media and Higher Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane addressing the weekly post- Cabinet Press Briefing at the Information Department, yesterday, said that the President had, at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, asked all the Ministers to express their opinions on the controversial MCC pact that had been approved by the previous Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government.

The Ministers have seven days to submit their views, he noted.

Asked why the current government continued to discuss the MCC, which it had, when in the Opposition branded as the first step towards dividing the country, Gunawardena said that no pact that was inimical to Sri Lanka would be signed.

He announced that the SOFA and ACSA agreements signed with the USA by previous Rajapaksa administrations would also come up for discussion along with the proposed MCC pact.

(Source: The Island – By Zacki Jabbar)