Former Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa claims the Government is a failure in imposing curfew and says they could have “shut down” the country.
I wonder whether he is talking sense on this subject because the correct word should be “lock down,” because if you “shut down” the country will be completely disabled. What happens when you shut down your computer? It will be totally unworkable and would have to be re-started from the beginning.
But if you lock down you can view but entry will not be permitted, as it will be restricted.
Therefore, if we take his words as shut down or lock down the people living in Colombo will not be permitted to go out and those living outside will not be allowed to enter Colombo.
But it does not restrict the people living within the city limits to move around freely in that area. e.g. people who live in Colombo can move within Colombo freely.
Now we see the consequences of the suggested system and fortunately the wise voters were able to take the best decision to defeat Premadasa from being elected the 7th Executive President of the country.
A curfew means you cannot even move out from your house. The quarantine becomes a reality in this method because the chances of people meeting each other is restricted and only your immediate family members will be quarantined together.
If Premadasa cannot understand the difference between these two methods, I wonder what position he is suitable for.
His other main ambition is to convene Parliament.
I do not know what sense he is talking these days as convening Parliament is not a solution for this Global Crisis and we cannot imagine what he is expecting from it other than an attempt at gaining cheap political mileage.
Now you will realize the consequences of the suggested systems of the former Opposition Leader and fortunately the wise voters were very much higher in the country to take the best decision to defeat this person from being elected the 7th Executive President of this Country.
If he cannot understand the difference in between the “Shut Down” and “Lock Down” methods, I do not know for what position he is suitable in this country.
Also he is advising the Government to follow the systems adopted by the USA as an example in preventing this epidemic outbreak. I wonder whether he knows even the figures of the US related to Covid 19. Now the US have become the highest affected in the world.
Secondly, he came up with another suggestion to distribute Rs. 65,000 to every low income family.
This Government is only three months plus in ruling the country, but Premadasa’s previous ruling period was almost four and a half years. He very well knows the reserves they left and to be honest it was zero. If not for the recent aid that the Prime Minister got from China the people in the country would now be starving.
Even though Premadasa requests the Government to pay compensation to the poor they could not even compensate the Easter victims till November 2019 and there are many who have not got a single rupee due to the poor security and intelligence management of their government.
He very well knows the reserves and the debt burdens they left. To be precious the Health related outstanding was not settled for the last 2 ½ years and the Health department apart from the essential medicine could not even purchase an X Ray negative from the suppliers due to these long outstanding debts.
They are now engaged in a cheap propaganda of condemning the High Global Ratings of Covid 19 management of Sri Lanka stating that it has been manipulated by the Government through friendly sources.
Mr. RanilWickremesinghe their party leader and former Prime Minister during a foreign media statement admitted the fact that our Covid 19 crisis management is far superior compared to many other countries in the world.
I do not know why Mr. Premadasa’s team is behaving in an unprofessional manner of this nature during a crisis where the entire world is trapped without a proper solution.
It shows their incapability of being a proper Opposition in the Country and proves that they are nowhere compared to the present management systems.
They keep spreading insulting and unfriendly statements rather than resorting to any constructive criticism.
This government has proved that their entire management is for the betterment of the people.
I think he should learn many lessons from the present Prime Minister in order to be qualified for that position. After the Easter attacks when parents were reluctant to send their children to school Mahinda Rajapaksa as then Opposition Leader personally visited schools and encouraged parents to send their children to school. He demanded the UNP government to increase measures in lifting the National Security for the sake of the citizens of the country.
A person of Mr. Premadasa’s calibre should act in a more responsible manner as a professional during the time when the country is at a crisis.
Covid 19, irrespective of race, religion or political party will affect any unprotected person and it is time to implement discipline among all citizens.
This curfew is not imposed to implement law and order, but to instil discipline in the citizens.
Wuhan city in China is no longer a quarantined area as they are recovering fast due to the simple reason that their citizens were self-disciplined and helped the authorities to conduct their duties to perfection.
I think at this moment Premadasa should help the Government to implement discipline among the people since he too has a vote base of almost 5.5 million and it would be appreciated if he could try to educate them at least on the disciplinary steps needed to avoid spreading this virus rather than retaliating to the methods carried out by the Government.