Published on: November 30, 2022

Media reports claiming the President is planning to establish District Development Committees instead of Provincial Councils are false

Recent media reports attributing a quote to the President stating that the Provincial Councils will be replaced with the District Development Committees is incorrect. President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s response in Parliament yesterday (29) has been reported by several media in such a way that the meaning is distorted.

During the ongoing Parliamentary budget debate responding to a statement by MP Maithripala Sirisena the President stated that the District Development Committees (DDCs) will be established within the Provincial Councils. The DDCs will provide a platform for coordination between the Government, the Provincial Councils and the Local Governments for all executive decisions. This will ensure the process is not duplicated and will reduce financial wastage.

Apart from that, the president has not made any statement about the dissolution of provincial councils.

Mission

The Presidential Media Division is fully responsible for socializing the views, actions, decisions and statements of His Excellency the President through the media. Electronic, print and new media will contribute to this through a credible and engaging approach.

The media department works as a source of information on the subject of the President’s vision and mission by maintaining good coordination with public and private media organizations and journalists.

National policies, plans and measures are explained to the people through the use of high quality media. Identify the fallacies and reveal the truth.