5 November 2019 06:54 pm
The Opposition today challenged presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa to reveal his stance on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement.
MP Dr. Bandula Gunawardana said the MCC would be destructive similar to the Kandyan Convention of 1815 which ceded the country to the British.
“Why all this hurry and secrecy over an agreement which will only grant USD480 million? We challenge presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa, who is a part of this government, to reveal whether he supports or opposes the MCC agreement and whether he will implement it if elected,” he said.
He said the contents of the MCC agreement was only available in English at the moment though the Finance Minister invited the people to study it.
Dr. Gunawardana said he would publish a book on the MCC in Sinhala on Thursday after submitting it in parliament the same day.
Meanwhile, MP Dullas Alahapperuma said international secret services and agents who had helped the government to come into power had pressured it to sign the MCC fearing a presidential election defeat to the government’s candidate.
“These agents had told the government that Gotabaya Rajapaksa will win the election and therefore, the government should rush the agreement. If this is not the case, it could have comfortably waited till after the election to sign it,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)