Newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today made the final touches to his administration by appointing a total of 38 State and Deputy Ministers. After the new officials were sworn in at the Presidential Secretariat, President Rajapaksa addressed the gathering.
He reminded the newly appointed Deputy and State Ministers that the appointments were a great responsibility placed on them by the people of the country who voted to create a change, and not a privilege.
President Rajapaksa noted that he was not able to give appointments to everyone who worked for him during the campaign and everyone who delivered a large number of votes from their districts, due to constitutional restraints. He added that he would have preferred to reduce the number of state and deputy ministers. The President explained that such a high number of appointments had to be made because of the large number of responsibilities, mentioned in his manifesto, that need to be fulfilled.
The President went onto state that some of the newly appointed members could have doubts about their portfolios. Speaking to these ministers the President states that the ministries were assigned and broken down based on the needs of the people and urged them to understand the great responsibilities that each of them has been entrusted with.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also reiterated his call to the 15 cabinet Ministers, to grant the newly appointed state and deputy ministers the opportunity to carry out their activities.
