Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

Prime Minister's Office (Sri Lanka)

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Formed
  
1947

Website
  
Official website

Jurisdiction
  
Government of Sri Lanka

Headquarters
  
Sirimathipaya, Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha, Colombo

Minister responsible
  
Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister

Agency executive
  
Saman Ekanayake, Permanent Secretary

The Prime Minister's Office is a ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka. It provides the administrative and institutional framework for the exercise of the duties and responsibilities vested in the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. From 1947 to 1978 it was the most powerful office within the government. However, after the creation of the executive presidency in 1978 the post of Prime Minister became more or less nominal and functions as a deputy to the President. Since 1960 the office has been based at Sirimathipaya Mansion, Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha (formerly Flower Road), Colombo at the former residence of legendary philanthropist Sir Ernest de Silva.

Contents

Senior officials

  • Prime Minister – Ranil Wickremesinghe
  • Secretary to the Prime Minister – Saman Ekanayake
  • Prime Minister's Additional Secretary  – J.M. Manglatissa
  • Permanent Secretaries

  • Bradman Weerakoon
  • K. H. J. Wijayadasa
  • K. M. Abeysinghe
  • Hemasiri Fernando
  • M. D. D. Pieris
  • History

    The Office of the Prime Minister was formed with D. S. Senanayake becoming the first Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1947. From the late 1940s until the 1980s, the Prime Minister's Office was located at the Senate Building, along with the Senate office, Cabinet office and the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence. Later it moved to the Sirimathipaya Mansion. Up until the 1960s the Prime Minister's Office was made up of a Secretary (Permanent Secretary) and Assistant Secretary, who were officers of the Ceylon Civil Service, and a Private Secretary, along with clerical and support staff. The structure remains much the same, with the staff numbers increased over the years and appointments made from the public services.

    Terrorist attack

    The LTTE carried out a suicide bombing at the Prime Minister's Office, on January 5, 2000 in an assassination attempt when a female suicide bomber detonated the bomb outside the Prime Minister's Office, killing 13 civilians and three police officers attached to the PMSD.

    References

    Prime Minister's Office (Sri Lanka) Wikipedia