Soon after the appointment of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, number of District Governors were appointed and as a result, there were widespread rumours that former Sri Lankan cricketing legend, who supported President in election campaign, would be appointed the Governor of Northern Province.
One such post is given below. This post was shared multiple times on Facebook congratulating Muttiah Muralidaran on being appointed as the governor for Northern Province. The caption of the post in Sinhalese is as follows: “උතුරු පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරධුරය මුරලිට”
Fact Check
We noticed that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa swore in six Governors soon after assuming duties on 21st of November 2019, the same day this claim about Murali being appointed as the Northern Province Governor was published. The names of the newly sworn in governors are given below:
Later, the President at the Presidential Secretariat swore in two more governors for Eastern and North Central Provinces on 4th December, 2019.
After these appointments there was much anticipation about the Northern Province Governor position and Murali’s was discussed as a possible candidate for the position. As rumors of Murali to be appointed as the governor of Northern Province gathered steam, Murali clarified that there was no truth behind these rumors and he has no interest in politics, during an interview with the Hindustan Times recently. A screengrab of the interview published by Hindustan Times given below:
Finally putting an end to all the speculations, on 30th of December, former Customs Director General & current secretary to the Health Ministry, PSM Charles was appointed the Northern Province Governor in front of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. A tweet by President Rajapaksa in this regard given below:
PSM Charles who preceded Dr. Suren Raghavan as the Governor to the Northern Province is a Special Grade Officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service with a vast experience. Furthermore, she went down in history as the first woman to be appointed as the Governor of the Northern Province, officially assuming duties on 2nd January.
Northern Province Governor’s Secretariat
Conclusion
From our investigation, it is evident the claim that Murali has been appointed as Northern Province Governor is false. PSM Charles, a special grade officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, was appointed as the first female Governor of Northern Province recently.
Title:Murali appointed as Northern Province Governor ?
Fact Check By: Sathyajith SubasingheResult: False
