State Minister of Samurdhi, Household Economy, Micro Finance, Self-Employment and Business Development Shehan Semasinghe said that anybody who wishes to be in the Government criticises and points out its mistakes, it is not an issue at all and they are open for it. However, if somebody is doing it deliberately to embarrass the Government while being a stakeholder of it, then a decision has to be taken regarding them.
The State Minister in an interview with the Sunday Observer said, “The people didn’t give us the responsibility just because they wanted a change. They wanted the then disastrous Yahapalana Government out and elect a capable leader who can take the country’s leadership. After the people made such a sacrifice on their part, if certain members within the Government are trying to draw their personal agendas to topple the Government or planning for another election, those people should be out from the Government.”
Excerpts
Q: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa delivering his Policy Statement in Parliament recently announced a cultivation war (Vaga Sangraamaya) as a priority in 2022. Would you like to comment?
A: We are starting a home gardening project in April. As an initial step, we intend to take 2 million families into this program. First we will get the consent of the people who are willing to join the program. They will be given an allowance for being a part of the program. It could be a monetary allowance or things which they require for home gardening.
Q: Some Tamil politicians such as TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran have said that the President’s speech in Parliament didn’t touch upon the issues faced by the Tamil people. Your views?
A: One policy statement cannot touch each and every issue raised by politicians as they wish. The President delivering his policy statement in Parliament made an open invitation for all communities to work together and said that he is willing to work with all communities to lead the country. That means it is an open invitation to all political parties including the TNA.
Q: Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has said that they are exploring the possibilities to reach out to the international community, including the United Nations to seek justice for the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks as all the attempts by the Catholic Church to get justice have failed. Would you like to comment?
A: The 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks were very unfortunate. It is obvious the decisions of the former Yahapalana Government paved the way for those brutal Easter Sunday attacks. We can understand the feelings of those who have been affected due to the Easter Sunday carnage. Those terror attacks also caused a huge impact on the economy. As a responsible Government, we will extend our fullest support to the law enforcement authorities. But we cannot get involved in the judicial process. We will expedite other investigations which we have commenced.
The people who are held responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks need to be punished as soon as possible. Investigations are going on. We can understand the thoughts of the Archbishop as we all know after those terror attacks how responsibly he acted to ensure a peaceful environment in the country. The Government has no intention whatsoever in protecting any of those who are held responsible for this.
Q: Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said the Government is using Covid-19 pandemic to sweep all the issues raised by the public under the carpet. Your comments?
A: Covid-19 cannot be swept under the carpet. Anything which has emerged as a result of it has to be addressed. The first two years of the President was focused on controlling Covid-19.
We have achieved that to a great extent. It is the responsibility of everybody to make sure that there won’t be any other Covid-19 wave as that would have a huge impact on all sectors. The Opposition Leader doesn’t realise the gravity of it. At one time he prescribed plaquenil to be taken as a medication for Covid-19 patients. When the people who prescribed plaquenil talk about Covid and post-Covid situation, we can see they just talk without any understanding of the pandemic.
Q: SJB Parliamentarian Diana Gamage proposed in Parliament that a resolution should be passed in Parliament to extend the current term of Parliament and the President by another two years to cover up the time lost due to Covid-19. Has any such discussion been held within the Government?
A: That has not been discussed within the Government. It was the first time that the MP expressed her opinion regarding that. Apart from that nothing about it has been discussed.
Q: You have said if former President Maithripala Sirisena is not happy with the Government he can leave and fulfill the agenda of the Opposition. Could you explain?
A: It is not only for him. We don’t want anybody to create problems within the Government. The people didn’t give us responsibility just because they wanted a change. They wanted the then disastrous Yahapalana Government out and elect a capable leader who can take the country’s leadership.
After the people made such a sacrifice on their part, if certain members in the Government are trying to draw their personal agendas to topple the Government or planning for another election, those people should be out from the Government. If anybody who wishes to be in the Government criticises and points out the Government’s mistakes, it is not an issue at all and we are open for it. However, if somebody is doing it deliberately to embarrass the Government while being a part of it, then a decision has to be taken regarding them.
Q: Certain sections including some politicians are under the impression that Sri Lanka could not move forward without changing its political culture. Do you agree?
A: Unfortunately, some opportunistic politicians have also been elected by the people. These politicians don’t allow any of the leaders or Government to function and achieve the wish of the people. They are only following their personal agendas to realise their petty political gains. The people should take a strong stance regarding anybody who is going on a personal agenda at the next election.
Q: How do you respond to Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s claim that the majority of the 6.9 million people who voted for the Government are under the impression that the Government has failed to fulfill its task?
A: First we should ask the Opposition Leader whether the 5.4 million people who voted for him are happy with the role played by him. Then only we can answer the other questions raised by him.
Q: Is there any truth in the speculation that the country is heading towards a food crisis?
A: It is such speculation that has paved the way to create a lot of issues. As a responsible Government, we will ensure that there won’t be a food shortage in the country. We will not compromise on food security and food safety. The people should not be worried about it. We have a problem of importing goods because of the foreign currency issue. Hopefully, it will be get resolved this year with our plans. As an alternative, we have taken steps to increase the productivity.
Q: How do you view the demand made by certain sections including the Government’s coalition partner SLFP to abolish the 20th Amendment to the Constitution and reintroduce the 19th Amendment?
A: Nothing of such has been spoken within the Government. When certain people in political parties don’t deliver on the responsibilities given to them by the Government as and the people, they try to create other issues and try to comment on it.
If they are in the Government, first they should look at the policies of the Government and help the Government to progress rather than creating ideas and other issues which don’t relate to the Government policies. They also voted for the 20th Amendment in Parliament. If they didn’t want to implement it, they should have voted against it at that point.
Q: Still farmers stage protests demanding fertiliser to engage in their cultivation. Has the Government been able to sort out the fertiliser issue of the farmers?
A: The policy of green agriculture will proceed. The private sector will be allowed to import chemical fertilizer. The Government will continue its campaign to promote organic fertiliser.
The President delivering his Policy Statement in Parliament said there are certain areas that need more attention. The difficulties the farmers went through especially in the distribution of the organic fertiliser and the lack of fertiliser will be sorted out in the next season. We had to face some issues. Shortcomings will be rectified by the beginning of the next season.
Q: Has the Government been able to address the foreign reserve crisis?
A: The foreign reserve crisis was not a creation of us. It was not a creation of Covid-19 per se. It was a slow mismanagement of the economy by the former Yahapalana Government. But I don’t intend to put the entire blame on the former Government. The foreign reserves shown during their tenure were always with borrowed money. US$ 7.2 billion reserves which were shown on books were with US$ 12.5 billion ISBs and foreign reserves were not even exactly half and close to nearly 50 percent of them were borrowed money.
During the tenure of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the borrowed money the ISBs issued was US$ 5,500 million but we maintained the reserves of US$ 8.6 million. Our reserves were more than the borrowed money. As a Government, our policy was to service these debts rather than defaulting. It is not good for Sri Lanka to be a defaulted country.
The tourism industry which had the biggest impact is picking up slowly. We had issues on remittances as most countries were closed and Sri Lankans couldn’t go abroad. Once we balance the demand and supply on Dollars, this crisis will be sorted out. We have over US$ 6.5 billion debt to be serviced in 2022, an equal amount which we serviced in 2021.