President Rajapaksa, in his short speech after swearing in the Cabinet on Friday, had stressed that he was serious about his Election Manifesto with its multiple strands of policy, action strategies and commitments to goals across the spectrum of national needs and trajectories.“People gave us a massive mandate with high expectations and we have to meet those expectations by overcoming the challenges ahead of us,” the President had told the newly appointed Ministers at the swearing-in ceremony on Friday. The interim government had been formed to immediately take up the programme outlined in the Manifesto, and not merely to mark time until such time parliamentary elections are held, he had pointed out.

Accordingly, each Minister is now expected to develop plans for the implementation of the relevant section of the programme presented in the Manfesto. At the same time, they are expected to deploy key officials and experts within each Ministry in accordance with targets that will be established to achieve promised projects and programmes, according to government sources.An Advisory Board will vet all appointments and deployments to ensure that the right skills and expertise is mobilised in the correct manner and direction to enable optimum use of human resources.

Political sources said that on no account will there be any leeway given for any favouritism in appointments and deployments that would result in a waste or misdirection of resources.National security has been given top priority and measures are already being taken to ensure social stability across the country and to reassure all sections of the populace regarding community and neighbourhood security in the aftermath of the change-over of government.