The sudden demise of former Minister Mangala Samaraweera was the most heartbreaking and shocking news within political circles last week and several of his political colleagues in Government and Opposition ranks expressed their heartfelt condolences over his untimely death. Former Minister Samaraweera passed away on August 24 at the age of 65 following a two-week battle against Covid-19.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a condolence note in his Facebook said, “I am deeply saddened to hear the sudden demise of Mangala Samaraweera, a former Minister of the United National Party and a former Member of Parliament, an honoured politician who made a significant service to Sri Lankans by actively participating in many struggles and launching great transformations in the course of Sri Lankan politics”.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa described Mangala Samaraweera as a firebrand politician who left an indelible mark in the country’s political history. He said Mangala was a friend ever since he entered politics in the 1980s, despite differences of opinions and ideologies. He was a social democrat, and later a liberalist, who stood for justice and equality. He also espoused reconciliation.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa in his condolence note said Mangala Samaraweera was a man of the age who respected humanity and was committed to the vision he believed in according to his conscience”.
UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said the untimely demise of Mangala was a great loss to the nation, the United National Party and to him, personally.
Wickremesinghe said Mangala was an outstanding politician who always stood firm for his convictions, which involved a Sri Lanka where all were free and equal and where human rights were upheld. “He had an innovative mind that could think out of the box. Mangala was also a great communicator who championed reconciliation among all our people.”
The JVP in a statement noted, “There was a clear difference between his political ideology and ours, he was truly a gentleman. He never used ethnicity or religion for political gain. He had liberal views, and stood by those policies even when those were politically disadvantageous for him.”
Cabinet meeting
Last week’s Cabinet meeting was held via Zoom technology under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. All Ministers had joined the Cabinet meeting on time through the link given to them.
The report on the Cabinet Sub Committee appointed to rectify the salary anomaly of teachers and principals was presented to the Cabinet. Then the discussion on the Committee report commenced.
Mass Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma who is also a member of the Cabinet Sub Committee said that they held discussions with the trade unions. The majority of them are in favour of the Subodhini report while some have issues regarding that. The Committee had studied it extensively.
Minister Alahapperuma said, however, the Committee unanimously agreed that the salary anomaly of the teachers should be rectified. The solution given to the teacher’s salary anomaly should not lead to creating salary anomalies in other public sector employees.
Minister Wimal Weerawansa said the salary increase of teachers should be implemented as early as possible. He said the forthcoming Budget should introduce the program for it and explain to the country as to how it will be implemented.
Stern action
At the end of the Cabinet meeting, Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardana made a request to the Prime Minister. He said, “The entire country is very keen on the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting. Last week, it was discussed at the Cabinet meeting on the issue of the lockdown in the country. What was decided at that meeting was the President after making a special statement would discuss with the experts and take a decision later.
However, within 24 hours of that decision, a letter signed by three Cabinet Ministers requested the President to declare a lockdown. There is no issue in sending that letter. However, before the President went through and discussed that letter, it was released to the media. That is the issue. Outsiders may think there is an issue in the Cabinet. I request the Prime Minister to take stern action regarding such incidents in the future,” the Minister said.
Conspiracy
SLPP General Secretary MP Sagara Kariyawasam has urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to investigate and take stern action against the letter signed by the 10 party leaders of the SLPP-led ruling coalition requesting a lockdown, contravening a collective decision taken previously by the Government not to go for a lockdown.
The letter addressed to the President signed by Government heavyweights such as Ministers Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila and Vasudewa Nanayakkara had called for a lockdown of a minimum of three weeks to contain the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the Covid-19.
General Secretary Kariyawasam told a media briefing at the party headquarters recently, that the act has inconvenienced the Government. While expressing the SLPP’s displeasure regarding the letter, Kariyawasam said the Ministers of parties affiliated with the Government had agreed with the decision not to impose a lockdown at the Cabinet meeting, considering the economic crisis it could lead to. However, they did an about-turn and sent a letter urging a lockdown.
He said that as this was not the first time the Government has been put into difficulties; such conspiracies have to be looked into. Kariyawasam said as parties affiliated to the Government, they should act more responsibly and should have expressed their displeasure at the Cabinet meeting instead of going against the decision later.
Cat’s paw
Minister of Power Gamini Lokuge, at the same press briefing, said if these Parliamentarians were not in favour they should have directly informed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instead of embarrassing the Government. The Minister said it looks as though the Government members who had sought the lockdown have been used as an international cat’s paw. Lokuge further said the 10 Party Leaders had gone against Government consensus adding, “We are disappointed by what they did.”
Symbol of democracy
However, addressing the weekly Cabinet press briefing, Co-Cabinet spokesman and Mass Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said the Government has no internal disputes with its constituent parties. He, however, said the parties affiliated with the Government are making various requests and hold different viewpoints.
The Minister said this is a symbol of democracy within the Government. When asked why 10 constituent parties of the Government wrote to the President requesting a lockdown, at a time when the President was having a different opinion regarding it, Minister Alahapperuma explained the 10 parties had to make the request because they did not have time to express their opinions at the Cabinet meeting last week.
The Minister said last week’s Cabinet meeting was held until around 10.00 p.m. and Ministers Udaya Gammanpila, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Wimal Weerawansa left the meeting around 8 p.m. He said the lockdown conversation took place after 8.00 p.m.
The Minister said this was the only reason that some coalition parties were compelled to write to the President seeking a lockdown. “This is not the first time we have seen Government-affiliated parties express different opinions within or outside of Cabinet meetings over certain issues,” the Minister said.
SJB Parliamentarian Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said the lethargy and miserable attitudes of the two leaders of the Yahapalana Government led to the Bond Scam and the Easter Sunday attack. He said although the attack was not prevented, they took steps to provide relief to the people in all other areas.
At a press conference at the Opposition Leader’s Office, Fonseka said, “Although we created an environment for conducive living for the people, due to the lethargy of our leaders and their miserable attitudes the Bond Scam and the Easter Sunday attacks happened.” However, the Ministers of this Government are boasting now and one MP said if the people can’t eat dhal, they could eat green gram instead. But, a kilo of dhal is Rs. 265 and a kg of green gram is Rs. 850.
These Ministers are playing with peoples’ lives. These Ministers don’t understand the difficulties in the peoples’ lives. He said one MP said that the price of fuel was increased to prevent people from leaving their homes. Field Marshal Fonseka said this sort of attitude and actions have placed huge burdens on the people.
At a time when people are frightened of the coronavirus, the Government has placed them under further stress by increasing the price of medicines. Now they are claiming that they have increased the price of medicines to prevent stocks being bought up. He said, “These irresponsible actions by the Government have greatly burdened the people.”
Sling mud
SLPP MP Dilan Perera said when the Government was conducting a transparent probe into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, a conspiracy had been hatched to stifle Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith based on remarks attributed to the ex-Attorney General concerning the carnage.
He charged that an MP from the SJB involved in a hit-and-run accident and causing grievous hurt to a youth, was spearheading this particular plot against the Cardinal.
MP Perera alleged that a group led by this particular MP was carrying out a sinister campaign to sling mud at the Government related to the Easter Sunday attacks, while also plotting to oust SJB Leader and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa from his position.
Open dialogue
SJB Parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake said considering the increasing number of Covid-19 patients and deaths reported from all parts of the country every day due to the coronavirus, the Government should at least invite all the Members of Parliament and political leaders outside Parliament to have an open dialogue to discuss about the important steps to be taken in the future to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Attanayake said although the country’s main Opposition the SJB made repeated requests from the Government about the importance of convening an All-Party Conference to discuss the current health situation, the Government has not so far given any positive response in this regard. “Now the Government is used to taking various opinions from people who have no experience in the health sector and as a result the health situation in the country has aggravated,” he said.
He said there was no point in making various statements over the country’s health situation on television and through newspapers and again the SJB, a responsible Opposition, requested the Government to call for an All Party Conference immediately to discuss this important issue.
Donation
The entire Cabinet of Ministers have decided to donate their salary as Ministers for August to the Covid-19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund.
The Cabinet at its weekly meeting held on August 23 had approved a proposal made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to contribute the salaries of the Ministers to the Covid Fund. Premier Rajapaksa has said that all Ministers will donate their August salaries to the Covid Fund in response to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s request that all people be prepared to make sacrifices if the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid 19 is to be extended.
SLFP fund
State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara told the media that the SLFP has set up a fund to help those affected by Covid-19. Jayasekara said the SLFP was collecting donations for the fund to help victims of this pandemic.
He said all SLFP Parliamentarians have already donated Rs.100,000 each to this fund. He said, “All SLFP Provincial Council, Pradeshiya Sabha and Urban Council members have consented to make donations to this Fund to help the people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
SB against lockdowns
SLPP Parliamentarian S. B. Dissanayake voiced his opposition to lockdown the country. He told a media briefing on Friday (August 27), that the ongoing quarantine curfew should be lifted on August 30 as planned.
MP Dissanayake said that closing the country may be an appropriate measure to curb the spread of Covid-19 but the people experience severe social and mental issues due to lockdowns.
He said that according to a group of 6,000 experts, continuous lockdowns can lead to excessive suicide attempts among children and youth. He urged politicians and journalists to refrain from instilling fear about the coronavirus among the public. Voicing his displeasure in imposing lockdowns, Dissanayake said that while the current lockdown must be lifted as previously scheduled, people should be encouraged to take all precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
‘Heavy blow’
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa on Friday charge that the Government has decided to provide a so-called relief bag of goods to the value of Rs. 1,988 instead of the Rs. 5,000 allowance given to the needy.
A statement issued by Premadasa noted that the Government had snatched the relief bag of the quarantined people and had already dealt a heavy blow to the helpless people. He also said that the statements made by the Government regarding the delivery of this relief bag to homes free were also false. Premadasa said that the Government has taken steps to create unrest instead of relief at this critical moment.