Government wants media reports kept out of Parliament after Daily Mirror article creates stir

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana

Colombo, May 19 (Daily Mirror) - A Daily Mirror report on May 19 titled ‘Rupee value slides against major currencies’ created a debate in Parliament with a question whether Members of Parliament (MPs) should make  comments on what is published by the media.

The debate arose when MP Rauff Hakeem raised a matter with regard to the report and said certain social media posts have sensationalised the story. He did mention that the matter was discussed at the last meeting of the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF).  However, the MP said he only inquired from the Central Bank Governor on inflation rates. 

“The Daily Mirror has reported a fact,” the MP also said.

Leader of the House Bimal Ratnayake who responded said a committee member is bound to make a presentation in the House on behalf of the committee itself and cannot highlight issues pertaining to himself. 

“There are ways and means though an MP could highlight any issue arising from a media report," he also said.

Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne also endorsed the view of Minister Ratnayake and said MPs should not talk about media reports in the House. 

“Talking about media reports in the House would create unwanted issues,” he said.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, who joined the cross talk, argued that an MP has the right to raise issues pertaining to media reports if there are such issues.