Industries Minister S.B. Dissanayake said if there are 11 constituent parties in the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led Government, majority of them have secured an MP post thanks to the SLPP. If they were separately contested from their parties, they should have never entered Parliament.
The Minister in an interview with the Sunday Observer said these constituent parties should first realise their strength and capacity. If they have any major issue which cannot be discussed and sorted, they should quit the Government and that is the prime responsibility of a true patriot.
Commenting on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to sack SLPP Parliamentarians Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila from their ministerial portfolios, Minister Dissanayake said the President, Prime Minister and the Cabinet tolerated the situation as much as they could. Finally, it came to a point that the Government cannot move forward in such a manner and that is why the duo was removed from the Cabinet.
Excerpts of the interview
Q: A controversy has been rife on the sacking of Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gampanpila from their ministerial portfolios. What led the President to strip them of their portfolios?
A: Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila made sacrifices to bring President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led Government to power. There is a manner to act within a Government and a broad political alliance. In a political party, we can express our views and act to succeed them. However, once we come out, we should represent our party position. Sometimes, we may not agree to that, but we should adhere to the party position.
Similarly, we can have disputes or clashes of opinions within a political alliance. However, it is paramount important to safeguard the collective responsibility of the Cabinet. Even some of our Cabinet Ministers went to courts challenging the agreement signed by the Government with New Fortress Energy on the Kerawalapitiya LNG power plant.
Sometimes, they could have done that with honest intention. Socialist and Marxist ideas are in the minds of some Government lawmakers but first they should study the reason for the collapse of socialism and how China and Vietnam are rapidly moving forward.
We should accept foreign investments from Europe. That is how China and Vietnam developed their economies. Parliamentarians such as Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila through their political movement may honestly attempt to uplift the living conditions of the people and further safeguard the victory achieved by the Government. The fuel issue also cropped up when rumours were spreading that there is going to be a fuel shortage in the country. While being in the Cabinet, if some Ministers say, we have fuel for another two days, the people panic. When they were in the Cabinet, former Ministers Weerawansa and Gammanpila vehemently criticised Government activities and the conduct of certain Ministers.
They also went to court against the Government. If they resorted to all those activities, the President and the Government tolerated those to the maximum. The President and the Government didn’t tolerate that much regarding former State Minister Susil Premajayantha’s issue. He only made a brief comment to the media regarding the situation in the country. It came to a point that the Government cannot move forward in such a manner and that is why they were sacked from their ministerial portfolios.
Q: Eleven constituent parties of the Government which convened a meeting and unveiled a national policy recently said that they were compelled to go for that option as they were not given any opportunity to express their view within the Government and the Cabinet. Your views?
A: The constituent parties may not have an opportunity to express their views within the Government. It would have been more appropriate, if they had been given a chance to air their views. However, if they were not given an opportunity, the answer is not to conduct an outside meeting and vehemently criticise the Government.
They should have attempted to get an opportunity for that. When looking at the 11 coalition parties of the Government, the SLFP has 14 MPs. It has some vote base. However, the members of Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila’s parties were elected to Parliament because they contested from the SLPP ticket. The same thing applies to MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara as well. Can they enter Parliament if they were not given the opportunity to contest under the SLPP banner?
Q: After they were sacked from their ministerial portfolios, MPs Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammapila have resorted to launching a scathing attack against the Government and the Finance Minister. Your views?
A: Now, they have come out from the Government. I don’t know whether they are still in the Government or not. They have not joined the Opposition. We hope they are still in the Government. They have their MPs as well. Being in the Government, it is a serious issue the present stance taken by two former Ministers to vehemently criticise the President, Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the Government.
Q: If a group of SLPP MPs quit the Government due to the decision taken to sack Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila from their portfolios, will it post any threat to the stability of the Government?
A: The crisis created due to the sacking of Weerawansa and Gammanpila from their portfolios has some disadvantage to the Government. At least now, they should realise how to work within a Government and a political alliance. If they vehemently attacked the Government after they were sacked from their portfolios, it is very difficult for them to be in the Government. If a group of MPs quit the Government, it will lose the two-thirds majority.
When Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President in 2005, he didn’t have the majority in Parliament. Later, he could even secure a two-thirds majority. When President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga assumed office, she had only one majority seat in Parliament. However, she was elected to the presidency twice. Therefore, losing the two-thirds majority won’t be a big issue to the stability of the Government.
Q: People, industrialists and hotel owners have faced hardships due to the shortage of fuel, gas and power cuts. What action has been taken by the Government to rectify the situation without dragging it so long?
A: This political crisis is one of the key reasons for the fuel shortage as well. From time to time rumours were spreading that we were having petrol and diesel for another few days. It was also said that there were no dollars to purchase fuel. When such statements are made, the people panic and try to stock petrol and diesel as much as they can. Then everybody tries to get a full tank of fuel for his vehicle. Then the quantity of petrol and diesel sold a day will increase by two or three-fold which would eventually lead to a fuel shortage in the country.
Earlier too there were similar occasions where petrol and diesel were not available for one or two days, but the people didn’t panic as it was settled. I hope this petrol and diesel issue will be sorted out within the next couple of days.
Q: Addressing the 49th session of the UNHRC, Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith said the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage had been part of a grand political plot, adding that despite their repeated requests and those by civil organisations, the Government has failed to serve justice to the victims. Would you like to comment?
A: What can the President, Prime Minister and the Justice Minister do regarding this court case and judicial process? These are matters which are entirely up to the judiciary and the Attorney General’s (AG’s) Department. It is justifiable the anger and pain on the part of the Cardinal regarding this incident. However, the Government cannot whatsoever interfere with the judicial process.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a special Presidential Commission to look into the incident. The biggest issue of the Cardinal is that former President Sirisena and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s names are also in the Presidential Commission report. However, it is up to the AG’s Department to decide whether legal action can be initiated against them or not. The former Government only pressurised to bring all those who were connected to the terror attack to book.
The former Government didn’t have any intention to safeguard anybody including the former President and the Prime Minister. We all thought that former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernado and former IGP Pujith Jayasundara would be found guilty, but they were acquitted and released by the court. The President, Prime Minister and the Justice Minister cannot take judicial powers into their hands and punish the culprits.
Q: What is the solution to the foreign exchange crisis faced by Sri Lanka?
A: If we take the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), it has resources such as LECO, Lakvijaya, Kelanitissa and Lakdhanavi power plants. Therefore, the CEB can invest nearly 30 to 40 percent of their shares in the market. Then people will compete to get these shares. If they are asked to take shares by dollars, they will do that as well. Then, the electricity problem will be sorted out.
Petrol and diesel are imported by the CPC and IOC. If we can get another two investors and allow them to set up 100 filling stations each, then the fuel issue will also be settled. These are not major issues.
We have to adopt certain measures to solve the dollar crisis in Sri Lanka. In the past, the shareholding rights of private bank owners were restricted to 15 percent. If the 15 percent shareholding right is increased to nearly 40 percent and asks businessmen to bring dollars, they will do that within a few minutes. It is not difficult to solve the foreign exchange crisis in Sri Lanka, but we have to take some bold decisions to address it.
Q: Do you think the Government should go for an IMF bailout to sort out the economic crisis?
A: I think the Finance Minister is having discussions with the IMF. There is nothing wrong with it. However, we cannot do everything requested by the IMF. We should keep in mind that the economies of countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and Hong Kong were developed by setting aside the IMF and the World Bank. We are also a partner to the IMF. If we want, we can go for an IMF bailout. The Central Bank will decide on it.
Q: Is there any impact on Sri Lanka due to the crisis looming in Eastern Europe with sanctions on Russia?
A: It has a huge impact on Sri Lanka. The western world and media has created a distorted picture of Russia. They have created a lot of sympathy for Ukraine, but that is not the truth. Russia and Ukraine are not two countries. It was one country.
In the 10th century, Russia, Ukraine and Crimea created one state and Kiev was its capital. What really happened was Russia and Ukraine were divided into two and forcibly expelled Soviet-friendly leaders in Ukraine by appointing a pro-west puppet leader. When attempts are made to strengthen the NATO camp against Russia, can they peacefully wait? This is the nature of geopolitics.
At this point, US President Biden has just one word to say. That is, they will not accept Ukraine into NATO. Otherwise, if Ukraine President Zelenskyy says they will not join the NATO and the European Union, this crisis will be sorted out. The fault is with the US President and the Ukraine President. Russian President Putin had no other option rather than resorting to that course of action.
Q: Former President and SLFP Chairman Maithripala Sirisena has said that the SLFP will join hands with several other political parties to form a broad political alliance to contest the next General Election. Would you like to comment?
A: The SLFP cannot do anything as they wish. Those who are in the SLPP remain silent as some SLFPers also hold ministerial portfolios of the Government. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is the root course for all these crises in the country. When the 19th Amendment was introduced, they said it would prune down the powers of the Executive Presidency and restore democracy.
However, its ulterior motive was to destroy the political career of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and prevent Gotabaya Rajapaksa contesting the Presidential Election and Basil Rajapaksa and Namala Rajapaksa coming back to politics. The other motive was to turn Ranil Wickremesinghe into the position of J.R. Jayawardene and Maithripala Sirisena to that of William Gopallawa.
It was the Supreme Court which further retained the powers of the President by completely rejecting those attempts. The 19th Amendment paved the way to create a constitutional crisis. As a result, the state intelligence service, Police and the CID were divided into two by putting the country into an insecure situation. This helped extremist elements to launch the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
The Hambantota Port was sold at US$ 1.4 billion, but a single cent didn’t come to our foreign reserves. The former Government issued sovereign bonds and obtained US$ 13 billion. This is the root course for all these problems faced today.
Q: What are your plans to develop the industries sector?
A: The contribution of the industries sector to the GDP is nearly 28 percent. This includes the seven percent contribution of the construction sector, six percent food production and five percent contribution of the apparel sector. The contribution of other industries is less than one percent and is at a primitive stage.
There are nearly 1,035,000 non-agricultural entrepreneurs. Of them, 935,000 are small industries conducted by one to four people. Under livelihood development projects introduced by the Government, if we can increase the number of people engaged in small industries, we can uplift the industries sector. We should focus on manufacturing value added products using our raw materials. We should manufacture all the products which can be manufactured locally.