Daily Mirror - Print Edition

A crow starts pecking at President, disrupting his plans: Mervyn

11 Jul 2023 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}      

  • Says theft and corruption are rampant

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama

A crow has started pecking at the President and interferes with the President’s plan to restore the country, former Minister Mervyn Silva said.


While addressing a public meeting at the Kelaniya Tyre Junction on the topic of ‘Ape Kama-Ape Rata—Your Responsibility’, he said every party has members who have pending warrants on them.


“Theft and corruption are rampant. They don’t feel the same way we do. They don’t care about the people who develop the country; they only care about their families,” he said.

“As soon as Mahinda Rajapaksa finished the war, he opened his family’s eyes to the ways to earn, steal, and loot money. There was a person from that family who was responsible for all these actions. That is Basil Rajapaksa, who was the thief,” he said.
Mervyn Silva challenged Basil Rajapaksa to take him to court if he was wrong.
“I’ll come to the court. We lived in Beliatta, and Basil used to live in our houses. He ran away when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was attacked in Getamanne. We used to attack the people who attacked Gotabaya. If he had the courage, he would not leave the presidency and run away. Gotabaya also has nowhere to go,” he said.
“All these people exploited public property. These are the people who will be born as crows and dogs in the next birth. Every party has important people who can work.


“The crow called Basil does not allow the President to do his work properly by pulling his legs and setting traps. Now, I am making a request from you. When this country’s economy fell apart and became helpless, no one came forward to save it. Only the President, who was a mature politician, came forward at that time. Sajith hid when asked to come and take over the presidency.
“I have the vision of developing the country. We can restore this country without selling off local profit-making institutions. Everyone, including the public, needs to work hard for it. The holidays in this country should be abolished and turned into work days.


“All the ministers should work. Local wealthy businessmen should be invited to one table to take responsibility for the local institutions that are profiting in the country. They should be assigned to them through an open-tenant system and given time to develop them. Otherwise, it should be handed over to those who are not relatives of Prabhakaran and who are not relatives of the diaspora.


“The heavy burden of spending on former Presidents should be stopped with immediate effect. The parliamentary system should be restored instead of the Executive Presidential system. No President ever spoke about this,” the former minister said. 

  •  I have the vision of developing the country. We can restore this country without selling off local profit-making institutions