16 December 2019 11:46 pm
While claiming that the government was adopting double standards on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said today the government should abolish not only the MCC pact but also other agreements such as Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) as promised before the presidential election.
JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath told a news conference that the government was now claiming that there were some positive things in the MCC and that it needed to be revisited and reviewed whereas the government faction earlier claimed that the MCC would be thrown away soon after it came to power.
“Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his election campaign stressed two main points including the April 21 terror attack and MCC pact. He promised to discard the MCC soon after he came to power. But they claim that 70 per cent of the proposals in the MCC were positive. It is obvious now that they criticized the MCC for political ends even without studying it. They earlier claimed that national security and land ownership would be at risk if the MCC was signed. The government should reveal what points in the MCC are beneficial and what are detrimental,” he said.
He said the government has now appointed a cabinet-subcommittee to study the MCC and the Government even informed the Supreme Court that the MCC would be revisited and reviewed.
MP Herath said the US was using these agreements to directly interfere in matters in the Asian region and added that the US had set out 18 criteria to grant the MCC grants which were clear of the US’s ulterior motives.
“MCC CEO Sean Cairncross was appointed directly by US President Donald Trump. He is an advisor of Trump's private staff. Apart from him, the US Defence Secretary is there in the MCC. How can this MCC be termed an independent institution? ,” he asked.
MP Herath said according to conditions in the MCC on development of road network in Sri Lanka, the US was accessible to our road sign system and its data.
“According to road modernising programmes, CCTV system, timetable updating is done by the MCC and US is accessible to all data relevant to that,” he said and added that “on the other hand, the land is not a commodity. It is an inheritance of our ancestors. There is a threat of land ownership of our people through this agreement”
He said national security and sovereignty of the country is at risk through this MCC pact and urged the government to reveal its stance on the MCC without delay. (Ajith Siriwardana)