State Minister Dilum Amunugama says no individual can issue orders to the Prime Minister as to where he should and should not visit during official visits.
The State Minister was responding to questions raised by media, over Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s recent media briefing where he criticized the Premier over his plans to meet Pope Francis during his official visit to Italy.
He said the purpose of the Cardinals statement is unclear.
However the State Minister added the Premier did not have any plans to visit the Head of the Catholic Church. Media also questioned the State Minister of the necessity of emergency laws during the coronavirus pandemic.
In reply State Minister Amunugama said emergency laws were necessary to control the inflating prices of goods during the pandemic.
State Minister Amunugama said providing control of pricing to one person, namely the Commissioner-General of Essential Services, was necessary even during the food crisis in the North.
He added businessmen were concealing stocks of essentials to create an artificial demand within the market, and therefore added emergency laws were necessary to prevent this.
