Joint Opposition demands govt. to be accountable for their actions

Members of parties representing the joint opposition recently held a media briefing stressing the need for the government to be accountable over several issues such as the alleged coal scam. Those present from Left- Patali Champika Ranawaka, Hassan Alaldeen, Prof. G. L Peiris, Ajith Mannapperuma, Mahinda Amaraweera speaking at the media briefing.

Members of parties representing the joint opposition recently held a media briefing stressing the need for the government to be accountable over several issues such as the alleged coal scam. They pointed out that instead of blaming the minister the entire cabinet should take the responsibility for the alleged procurement of substandard coal. Issues relating to the fertilizer shortage, the USD 2.5 million fraud from the Treasury and repression on social media activists too were discussed.

Safeguarding the Energy Minister

Speaking at the media briefing former Foreign Minister and international scholar Prof. G. L Peiris said that the government did everything to safeguard Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody. “On April 10, there was a debate about a no-confidence motion against him (Minister Jayakody). On several occasions the President came to parliament and maintained that the subject minister is innocent. 153 government MPs supported the minister and were engaged in whitewashing. But a week later the entire situation changed. The minister along with the ministry secretary resigned. But the government cannot use the minister as a bait and evade this scandal. This is a series of scandals and the minister cannot do them alone,” he said.

Prof. Peiris further said that the company involved in the contract is not a registered company and that it doesn’t have prior experience in procuring coal. “So it’s not fair to blame the minister when the entire ruling party has been involved in approving the tender for this company. When signing the agreement there was no approval given by the Attorney General. Testing the quality of coal should be done in a laboratory. But the laboratory chosen for this task has no prior experience on the subject. Then there were 12 ships that brought substandard coal. According to the agreement the government had ample opportunity to reject the shipments. They have violated clauses of the agreement. The entire cabinet should accept the blame for this scandal. Therefore this scandal won’t be resolved with the resignation of the minister. It would be resolved when the entire cabinet is made accountable for this scandal. So the entire cabinet should resign. If not a future government can take legal action regarding this incident,” he added.

In his comments, former Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka representing United Republican Front said that the government is challenged with bringing down coal shipments and subsequently procuring coal through emergency purchases. “The shipments expected from one company didn’t arrive on April 20 as expected. It would be unable for ships to sail during high tide season. As a result of this coal crisis the entire power and energy sector is gasping for breath. But the government is keen on finding out what happened in 2008. If the government doesn’t act upon this crisis immediately, the country will experience a power and energy crisis by July/August. In that case the entire cabinet will have to be made accountable. When the company that was supposed to bring fuel was affected due to the Gulf crisis the government called for unsolicited proposals. Eventually the same company that said it couldn’t bring the fuel shipment agreed upon to bring fuel at a premium rate of USD 48 instead of the previously agreed USD 4.08. They are going to procure 248,000 barrels of fuel at this rate. This is an outright scandal. They proposed the bid when the price of fuel increased, but didn’t do so when fuel prices reduced. Therefore this entire incident needs to be probed,” he underscored. 

“On April 10, there was a debate about a no-confidence motion against him (Minister Jayakody). On several occasions the President came to parliament and maintained that the subject minister is innocent. 153 government MPs supported the minister and were engaged in whitewashing. But a week later the entire situation changed”

- Prof. G. L Peiris, former Foreign Minister and International Scholar 

“As a result of this coal crisis the entire power and energy sector is gasping for breath. But the government is keen on finding out what happened in 2008. If the government doesn’t act upon this crisis immediately, the country will experience a power and energy crisis by July/August”

- Patali Champika Ranawaka, former Minister of Power and Energy

“The government blamed the 75 year curse and assumed power. They said they will retract stolen money. But now they are engaged in various scandals from procuring substandard coal to diesel to medicines. They said they will apprehend the perpetrators behind the Central Bank bond scam. But today there has been a USD 2.5 million fraud”

- MP Ajith Mannapperuma of the United National Party

 “What has this government done in terms of development,” questioned former MP Ajith Mannapperuma of the United National Party. “Today a colossal amount of money has gone missing from the treasury. People are struggling to make ends meet. The government blamed the 75 year curse and assumed power. They said they will retract stolen money. But now they are engaged in various scandals from procuring substandard coal to diesel to medicines. They said they will apprehend the perpetrators behind the Central Bank bond scam. But today there has been a USD 2.5 million fraud. The government had also purchased a diesel barrel at USD 286 when the market price was USD 224. They procured substandard coal prior to the Middle East war and the government incurred a loss. But these losses would be covered by imposing taxes on people. If the treasury scandal is being proved the finance minister who is the President and ministry secretary should resign. In that case a snap election should be held to allow people to elect a suitable successor,” he added.

Speaking about the fertilizer crisis former agriculture minister Mahinda Amaraweera representing Sri Lanka Freedom Party said that farming communities are compelled to give up farming because the government is not keen to improve local production of vegetables, paddy and other crops. “This is why the minister says they will procure rice and other items from overseas if a shortage arises. Farmers are unable to find fertilizer such as urea. One cannot blame the Middle East crisis. 

The government doesn’t have fertilizer reserves and it is with the private sector. Currently there’s a stock of around 102,000 metric tonnes of urea. Around 98,000 metric tonnes are required for paddy production. Urea is also needed for vegetables, tea and other crops. In future paddy farmers would have to find alternative sources of income due to this crisis. There’s also a water scarcity as a result of opening spill gates in reservoirs to generate hydro power to cover up the energy demand due to the coal crisis,” he added. 

“The government is repressing social media activists and mainstream media channels,” said Hassan Alaldeen representing Sarvajana Balaya. “From speaker Ranwala’s resignation to the recent USD 2.5 million fraud from the Treasury this government has been involved in various malpractices. The government that boasted about the Central Bank bond scam is unable to find the source of the recent fraud and is blaming it on hackers. But I’m happy that this government is in power. If they were in the opposition they would have conducted protests and become a public nuisance. Sri Lanka has become a gambling spot for fraudsters in the region. The pitch has been set for anybody to do any kind of fraud. We are ready to convince people to join hands with us and protest against these fraudulent acts done by the government,” he further said.