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Do not misunderstand the voice of SLFP coalition partner

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28 September 2017 12:24 am - 3     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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With Reference to the column under the headline ‘Irony of SLFP Members Pulling out of government over corruption’ by Ranga Jayasuriya which appeared in Daily Mirror  on page 10 of September 12, 2017; Science, Technology and Research Minister Susil Premajayantha has sent the following response.

The writer has been misled by somebody without knowing the real facts of the discussion some SLFP ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers had with the President, after he had a meeting with SLFP Central Committee members and with Parliamentarians who are with the Government.  

First of all some of those whose names were mentioned in the article did not participate at that discussion. No discussion took place about the defection of a group of ministers. There was no discussion about corruption allegations. The discussion lasted only for 10-15 minutes.  

These Ministers need not make corruption allegations against the Government. The Central Bank Bond issue that happened within two months after the Yahapalanaya Government came into power on January 10, 2015 is now in news headlines almost every day. A layman could understand what happened in the bond scandal and at least who was behind this, running to billions of public money.  


  • No discussion took place about the defection of a group of ministers
  • Nothing was discussed about corruption, allegations
  • Yahapalanaya hits headlines every day over 2015 Bond scam
  • At one stage Auditor General came under fire by UNP parliamentarians
  • Central Expressway Project: Rejected Company re-enters through influence
  • Sri Lankan Airlines: A350 Air Bus lease adds to increasing debt
  • saddened by allegations made against SLFP founder SWRD

The attempt made by the UNP parliamentarians during the first and second COPE committee meetings by putting down foot notes, passing inside information to likely respondents of the bond scam and not allowing the first COPE committee report to be tabled in Parliament by getting interim orders from court and dissolving parliament. At one stage the Auditor General also came under fire by these UNP parliamentarians. Now the Central Expressway Stage III story was reported in the Sunday Times on September 10, 2017 under “Central Expressway Project: rejected Company re-enters through influence.” There will be more news regarding above in the future. 

The Sri Lankan Airlines is in a very bad state, according to information we have received from Trade Unions and other sources. Please check how the new Sri Lankan management terminated the lease agreement for four A350 Airbuses and how much was paid without any gain to the Airlines which only increased the debts of the company. Now, there is an attempt to terminate the purchasing agreement of four Air bus A350s and the termination amount is very much higher than the amount paid earlier.  

How much was paid as salaries and allowances for top officials including the CEO?
In the said article by Ranga Jayasuriya it was mentioned about the Rajapaksa regime and devoted 2/3rd of article to highlight certain allegations. At the last presidential election, and even today, such allegations are made by some politicians.  

The writer has totally misunderstood the SLFP’s problem and highlighted a former UNP’s actions. This was no comparison, as the SLFP had never done politics at the expense of the country. We are sad about the allegation made on the founder of the party, the late SWRD Bandaranaike in this article.  

The economic development in the country for the last 2 ½ years was totally handled by the UNP leaders and the economic committee is headed by the Prime Minister. What happened to the VAT Bill? What happened to the lotteries under the Ministry of Finance, and what happened to the then Minister of Finance at last. It is understandable why the President took steps to appoint an Economic Council.

The writer speaks about the report submitted to the Steering Committee by the SLFP. Focusing on the abolition of Executive Presidency, the SLFP as a party, appointed a committee to report to its central committee about the Interim Draft Report. After having deliberated extensively for weeks, the committee submitted a report to the SLFP CC headed by the President and approved it. This report was submitted to the Steering Committee.  

What happened to the lotteries under the Ministry of Finance, and what happened to the then Minister of Finance at last. It is understandable why the President took steps to appoint an Economic Council

Do not forget, it is the SLFP-led coalition government that came to power with a 2/3 majority in 1970 which introduced the Republican Constitution in 1972. Thereafter, the late President JR Jayawardene who came to power with a 5/6 majority in 1977, introduced the 1978 constitution with the Executive Presidential model following the procedures laid down in the 1972 constitution.

The writer referred to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. If not for the 142 member strong parliamentary group support led by the President, a 45-member minority government led by the PM would not have succeeded in passing it. If we look at the draft bill of the 19th Amendment, there are key amendments highlighted in it to reduce the President’s powers drastically and make the president a figurehead without power and make the PM the executive Prime Minister with more executive powers.The Supreme Court determined that most of the executive powers cannot be abolished without a referendum.

Any ordinary person with little knowledge of the present Politics in the country can understand that even if the entire SLFP group that is with the coalition government leaves the government, still the UNP can run the country till 2020.Therefore the argument in the latter part of the article is baseless.  

It is the intention of the SLFP led by the President to carry forward the middle path in politics and governance introduced by the SLFP founder and within the framework of SLFP policies. This vision has to be within the present Economic, Social and cultural trends while considering the global scenario.  

The voice of SLFPers who are with the coalition, raised against some of the arbitrary decisions by the UNP leaders during the past two years could be justified under the present context. That is for the sake of the country. Therefore we request not to misunderstand the voice of the SLFP coalition partner, because not only at present, but even in the past some of them have raised their voices against the decisions taken by the previous regime as well.  


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  Comments - 3

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  • Premalal Thursday, 28 September 2017 11:46 AM

    The biggest problem with the SLFP is that when cornered they come up with the stock answer "The middle path". There is no such thing as the middle path in governance because you cannot be half right and half wrong at the same time. The only way for good governance is the "Right Path" which our politicians have a big problem with. Any mention of "Right" scares them to death.

    ranjit demel Thursday, 28 September 2017 09:25 PM

    minister do not talk rubbish.voice of the coaliation partner slfp.the president is a puppet and a humbug.allmost all ministers in this yahapalan government wheather slfp or unp are corrupt crimminells,includung you.the boss is the liar p.m. ranil.the former government was not better.if you are genuine then resign.bla bla bla.

    Konde bandapu cheena Thursday, 28 September 2017 09:48 PM

    Anyway, no sensible Lankan believes in the versions put out by ministers.


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