24 January 2023 03:52 pm
Former Highways Minister Johnston Fernando is reported to have sought a cabinet portfolio from President Ranil Wickremesinghe since a new cabinet was sworn in a few months ago, the Daily Mirror learns.
Political sources said that the ministry he has sought is the Trade Portfolio.
However, his request is yet to be approved by the President who recently said that he would not be handing out anymore portfolios anytime soon following the latest appointments of Jeevan Thondaman and Pavithra Wanniarachchi as cabinet ministers.
The President had reportedly told his cabinet that he had no more intentions of expanding his cabinet further anytime soon.
Meanwhile after reading the Daily Mirror article, a spokesman for the Former Minister Johnston Fernando, in a brief statement stated that Fernando had not requested for any portfolio from anyone.
Denying the move, the Spokesman further said that the Daily Mirror should have contacted the former Minister for a comment before publishing the news story.
However attempts by the Daily Mirror to contact the former minister before the article was published, failed.