Trilingual sessions in Parliament a must!

The first step of policymaking is to raise matters of concern in Parliament. Rather than warming chairs as was seen in previous occasions, the incumbent government and its cabinet of ministers have a gamut of issues to discuss about within their own subject ministries. Recently, Deputy Speaker Dr. Rizvie Salih spoke about the threats of over tourism and complaints of aggressive behaviour shown by Israeli tourists in areas such as down south. Even though he spoke in English he should be commended for raising the matter in Parliament.

MPs should speak and that’s a must but these sessions should be aired in all three languages so that the Sinhala and Tamil speaking masses too would know what is happening in Parliament. There have been instances when former MPs had shown poor participation in Parliament. The responsibility of a policymaker goes beyond attending sessions in Parliament. They have a duty to speak on behalf of people. They need to consult experts in various subject areas and propose solutions. This country has grappled with far too many problems due to lapses and loopholes in the so-called system. This government was elected on a promise of correcting this system. It’s true that it would take time to fix things but they need to start from somewhere.

Ruling party MPs have exposed corruption in Parliament and these statements are absolute eyeopeners to the public. The government should continue on this path because people are eagerly awaiting tangible results from this change of governance.

Mahesh Perera

Nugegoda