Parliament debate won't be concluded on Feb 6 - Speaker

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya today stressed that though Parliament would take the bond report and the PRECIFAC report for debate next Tuesday (6) as decided by party leaders, that does not mean that the debate would be concluded the same day.

Mr. Jayasuriya in an announcement pointed out that it was up to the party leaders to allocate more dates to debate the two reports if they so desired and added it was pertinent to clarify on the comments made by certain media institutions on the Parliamentary debate on two reports on February 6.

“February 6 was marked as the date of the debate on the Central Bank bond scam and PRECIFAC report by party leaders at the party leaders’ meeting held last Tuesday with the objective of not to disrupting the LG election campaign. But that does not mean that the debate would be concluded the same day. Prior to this meeting, the Elections Commission had pointed out that the date that had been proposed by the Prime Minister for the debate was not practical considering the ongoing LG polls campaign and the members of the joint opposition and JVP had proposed February 6th as an alternative date for the debate. Subsequently, the representatives of the SLFP and TNA also agreed to have the debate on the 6th. Accordingly, the Prime Minister was informed of the collective decision and under the standing order 14, Prime Minister made a request to Speaker to convene Parliament on the 6th. Therefore, party leaders are free to have a discussion after the conclusion of the debate on the 6th and decide on future dates to continue the debate further if necessary,” Speaker Jaysuriya stressed. (Sandun A Jayasekera)