President leaves ‘Indian Ocean Conference’ in a huff

There was an awkward moment at the opening of an international conference on the Indian Ocean in Colombo yesterday(11), when President Maithripala Sirisena walked out with his bodyguards from the hall before the mega meeting began. When the VIPs were invited on stage, President Sirisena continued to sit in his seat in the audience as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Chair of the Global Economy Programme of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, Dr. Ganeshan Wignarajah, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on the Ocean, Ambassador Peter Thomson and Foreign Minister, Tilak Marapone got onto the stage.

Then Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, brainchild of the conference asked Dr. Harsha de Silva to find out why the President was still seated without getting on stage. While there was pin-drop silence, the President was seen murmuring something to Dr. De Silva. Thereafter, it was announced, “Unfortunately the President had to leave the gathering on an urgent matter that required his attention”. A few minutes later the President left.

Officials from the Presidential Secretariat said that Sirisena had not been given prior intimation of his role in the conference and was not told he had to speak. Later on, Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan was invited to join the speakers but he refused. Finally, the organizers called on Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to take the stage. He then occupied the seat reserved for the President but did not speak.