President Ranil Wickremesinghe had a busy week due to his visit to India in the middle of the week.
Having to attend a higher ordination ceremony of the Ramanna Nikaya in Matale and a wedding in Wadduwa further intensified the President’s busy schedule. President Wickremesinghe, who returned from Matale, left for India in the afternoon of the same day.
The President has been preparing for his visit to India since Monday. He also took steps to discuss with officials on several agreements due to be signed. The Cabinet meeting was held on Monday evening and the Government parliamentary group meeting was also held on that day. On Monday afternoon, the President received a diplomatic phone call. The call was from Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He said if the President of Sri Lanka had not intervened to get the installment of the loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), they would never have received the money. Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif said that if President Wickremesinghe had not called IMF managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and asked her to support Pakistan; they would have been in big trouble. He informed President Wickremesinghe that he will not forget the help he gave in difficult times.
President Wickremesinghe told Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif that since Pakistan is an old friend of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka will continue to stand up for Pakistan and will not hesitate to provide any support if needed. The President informed him that Sri Lanka’s support will also be provided for maintaining future activities with the International Monetary Fund.
As usual, the President spent Tuesday morning at the Defence Ministry to participate in the Security Council meeting. Following the meeting, he went to Parliament to attend the ceremony organised by the Public Accounts Committee under the chairmanship of MP Lasantha Alagiyawanna to evaluate the performance of public sector institutions.
When President Wickremesinghe comes to Parliament, the office of the President is filled with members of the Government and Opposition Parliamentarians. It is properly managed by President’s Parliamentary Secretary Prof. Ashu Marasinghe. After meeting the MPs, the President went to meet the Tamil party MPs who had been scheduled to meet earlier. The meeting was organised in a parliamentary committee room. Apart from one party, the Tamil party MPs representing the Northern Province participated in the meeting.
The President expressed his stance before the Tamil MPs and said that apart from Police powers, other powers will be given according to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The President also said that he is Ranil Wickremesinghe and not Ranil Rajapaksa while replying to a question raised by MP Sumanthiran.
Tamil National Alliance MP Rasamanickam spoke aggressively targeting MP Pillaiyan who was present and everybody could see that MP Pillaiyan, who was a former LTTE member, was very restrained. MP Pillaiyan replied, “Don’t drag personal disputes here. Let’s talk about the real issue.” Both of them represent the Batticaloa district.
After MP Rasamanickam got up after making his statement, President Wickremesinghe smiled and told the Tamil MPs, “If there were Police powers then, you would have been arrested.”
Proposals criticised
However, when MP Sumanthiran criticised the proposals presented by the President, MP Pillaiyan said that he supports the President’s proposal. Since there is no translation facility in the committee hall, the questions asked by the Tamil MPs were translated by MP Sumanthiran. But as Sumanthiran did not translate what the President said into Tamil, that task was handled by State Minister Suren Raghavan.
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Leader of the House Susil Premajayantha, Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga, Minister Douglas Devananda were also present. The President left with the letter presented to the Tamil MPs to be taken to India. The President instructed his Secretary Saman Ekanayake and Director General of the Government Information Department Dinith Chinthaka and Director General Presidential Media Dhanushka Ramanayake to send copies of the document to the religious leaders including Mahanayakas of the three Chapters.
President’s Parliamentary Secretary Prof. Ashu Marasinghe was surrounded by a group of Tamil MPs after the discussion. “The President told the Ranil Rajapaksa story only to make two people feel it.” Then Ashu Marasinghe looked at the MPs questioningly. “That was said to Sumanthiran and Rasamanickam. Because they are the ones who said ‘Ranil Rajapaksa’.” When the MPs said, Ashu realised the point and couldn’t stop laughing.
In the evening, President Wickremesinghe came to the Presidential Secretariat to meet the new officers appointed to the Election Commission. Commission officials including Election Commission Chairman R.M.L. Ratnayake, an officer from the Attorney General’s Department and a group of officials from the Ministry of Finance were also present.
How much financial provision is needed to hold a Presidential Election next year? We have to prepare the financial provisions for this. We should include that money in the Budget and allocate it.” The President told the officials of the Commission. Election Commission officials said that the estimates will be prepared and given as soon as possible. President Wickremesinghe advised to forward it to the Ministry of Finance immediately and discuss the matter with the Ministry of Finance as well. Meanwhile, President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake said that a program should be prepared to minimise the time taken to conduct the election.
Get-together
That evening, the MPs representing the ruling party were invited to the President’s House for a friendly get-together. The wives and family members of the ruling party members were also present. President Wickremesinghe and First Lady Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe were also present.
During the get-together, when the President went from table to table to talk with MPs, Minister Prasanna Ranatunga and Prof. Ashu Marasinghe who saw this said that the President should be directed to talk not only to the MPs but also to their wives as well.
Minister Prasanna Ranatunga spoke to women Parliamentarians Kokila Gunawardena and Muditha Zoysa and informed them to refer the wives of MPs to the President. The meeting with the MP’s wives and the President ended with them having great respect for the President because they had not had a close conversation with the President before.
Discussions related to the visit to India were held throughout Wednesday. While officials of the institutions related to the agreements to be signed between the two countries were in discussion, the President participated in a wedding at a hotel in Wadduwa area.
Although the President was due to leave for India on Thursday afternoon, he did not forget to attend the Higher Ordination of the Ramanna Nikaya that had been scheduled and fixed earlier.
The Maha Sangha including Mahanayaka of Ramanna Nikaya Ven. Makulewe Wimala Thera invoked blessings on the President for a successful trip to India. At the end of the ceremony, the President went among the people who had come to participate in the ceremony and inquired about their issues. A person asked what the plans are for the future after completing one year as the president.
“My hope is to build a good country for the children. The country has reached a certain level. But there is a lot more to be done. Let’s build the country together,” the President said.
The President said that he had to go abroad and said goodbye to everyone and left. Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and SJB Parliamentarian Talatha Athukorala were also present.
President Wickremesinghe and his delegation left for India on Thursday evening following an invitation by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
They were received in India by the Indian Home Affairs Minister. That same night, the President started bilateral talks with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Prime Minister Modi and the Indian Finance Minister discussed with the President on Friday. That night President Wickremesinghe and the delegation returned to the country.
Water tariff
Cabinet papers have been presented to the Cabinet regarding the increase in water tariff on several occasions, but they have not been approved so far. The Ministers had submitted their observations. Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena presented his observations on three occasions. This matter was also discussed when the Cabinet of Ministers met last Monday.
Premier Gunawardena pointed out to the Cabinet, “We cannot agree to increase water charges in such a way that the small man cannot afford it. Clean water is used for other purposes as well, and it has not been considered.”
“At this time, one has to work carefully,” said another Minister. “There should be a new classification and tariff when clean drinking water is used for other purposes, the Water Supply Board should deal with this,” the Prime Minister said.
Other Ministers also spoke in agreement and Prime Minister Gunawardena highlighted another point. “Now there is a system to recycle and use polluted water, the Water Supply Board will look into that, and let’s make a decision about these water charges so that the increase in the charges for the low income people can be reduced as much as possible.”
With that statement of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet paper related to the increase in water charges was postponed for the third time.
A Cabinet sub-committee chaired by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena took another very important decision. This Sub-committee was appointed to consider the mandatory retirement age in relation to specific services/positions and its other members were Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Industries and Plantations Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, and State Minister of Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe.
Special consideration was given to the serious problem faced by the free health sector due to a shortage of medical personnel.
“After looking at all the facts, we recommend extending the retirement age of those who belong to the categories of specialist doctors, doctors of all ranks, dental surgeons and Government registered doctors to 63 years. This will be effective during 31.12.2024,” Prime Minister Gunawardena explained to the Cabinet while presenting the report.
“Prime Minister, it is very good to apply this to the Registered Medical Officers of the Government. Otherwise the rural health system will collapse due to the retirement of these doctors,” a Minister said.
A group of Opposition MPs met Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena last Thursday at the Prime Minister’s office in Parliament. Wasantha Yapa Bandara, Tilak Rajapakse, K.P.S. Kumarasiri, Udayana Kirindigoda, Upul Galappatti, Asanka Navaratne, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Jayantha Samaraweera, Gamini Waleboda, M. Muzammil, Channa Jayasumana and Kins Nelson handed over a memorandum signed by the Opposition MPs to the Prime Minister.
There was a request regarding the provision of an additional head of expenditure for the conduct of Kandy Dalada Perahera and other outdoor processions governed by the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance. “We must work for our heritage, culture and religion. I am particularly concerned about this. That’s why we met Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardhana,” a Member of Parliament said with a smile.
NCM
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) at its parliamentary group meeting decided to bring a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against the Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
“Today, the health sector is facing a serious crisis. This country has been brought to the point of bankruptcy by acting like this. We cannot continue to play with people’s lives in this way. Therefore, we need to take immediate action to prevent this situation,” Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told his group of MPs. “Certainly. Let’s bring a vote of No-confidence Motion against Keheliya Rambukwella. Look at the Minister’s statements. He doesn’t care about the lives of the innocent people,” MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara said.
“The Health Minister says everybody who goes to hospital won’t come back. That’s why there are funeral parlours in front of the hospitals. A great Minister,” MP Gayanta Karunathilaka said.
“He usually says things like that. I remember one time when Keheliya was the Media Minister, a journalist asked, ‘Look, your Government is attacking even journalists, why are you silent as the Media Minister? Then he had said, “What should I do? I will buy some king coconut and go to see them”,” MP Tissa Attanayake recalled an event in history.
“Talk to all the other parties of the Opposition and start doing this work properly”, Sajith Premadasa handed over the responsibility to General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara and the team.
Accordingly, a No-confidence Motion was brought against Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, on the grounds of irresponsibly importing substandard drugs and surgical equipment, weakening the health sector, resulting in deaths.
Premadasa asked for everyone’s support for the NCM in Parliament. He said “If the members of the ruling party who came to the Parliament by popular vote have a backbone, they should sign this NCM.
The Opposition Leader said, “The health of a country is the life of the people and the deterioration of health is a reason for the collapse of the life of the people.” Another special feature was that many Opposition political parties extended their full support for the NCM.
MP Kumara Welgama, who contested from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and later left it to form the New Lanka Freedom Party also signed the NCM presented by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya against Health Minister Rambukwella.
GSP plus
The European Commission has decided to extend the GSP plus tariff concession given to Sri Lanka by the European Union by another four years until December 31, 2027. “We remember how you intervened in this matter. After the delegation of the European Union came, you continued to request GSP relief from those representatives,” MP Kabir Hashim said.
Earlier, when there was a problem regarding the granting of the GSP plus relief to Sri Lanka, Opposition Leader Premadasa asked the representatives of the European Union who came to meet him to think about the people of the country and grant the relief to Sri Lanka. “We have never said or done anything that harms this country. We do not go around the world carrying tales. When the people of the country are suffering, we are not ready to use that suffering as a shield to gain power,” Premadasa said.