Masses losing patience as politicians are busy with individual agendas

BY Gagani Weerakoon- AUG 12 2018

Tormented by constant fuel hikes and instant strikes, the masses of the country were seen resorting to violence last Wednesday (8) when they decided to protest against the railway employees who went on a lightning strike.

Hundreds of stranded commuters flocked in front of the Fort Railway Station and demanded politicians, including President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to come to the spot and resolve the matter.

The inconvenienced commuters, of whom the majority were part of the work force of the country and in public sector, in an apparent act of distress were seen attacking several trade union leaders of the Railway.

Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera on the day after in Parliament on behalf of the Government extended an apology to both State and private sector workers, students and other citizens, for the inconvenience caused by the wildcat strike launched by the Railway workers.

Samaraweera asserted that he would not hold talks with Railway workers while their strike is on.

“It is my policy not to talk or negotiate with any striking worker. I have followed that policy for the entire political career of mine. If they want to hold talks they can suspend the strike and come to the table,” he stressed.

The Minister further said: “If an increment was given to the Railway workers, as they demanded, there would have been a crisis in other public institutions. If we granted that increment, their salary scales would have been above the salary grades of doctors, school principals and teachers. That was why I opposed their demands for a salary increment at the Cabinet meeting.”

He added that President Maithripala Sirisena had instructed him to prepare a Cabinet Paper to establish a new public service commission to exclusively look into the salaries and wages of the public sector employees.

“It is very unfair for the Railway workers to demand a pay hike only for themselves while the Government was preparing to bring about a mechanism to give salary increments to all public sector workers,” the Minister said.

Meanwhile, the Joint Opposition that boasts to be the ‘real Opposition’, which clearly seems to have taken one major step backwards from its original struggle to topple the Government, trying to secure the post of the Opposition Leader.

After hours spent on debating on the post of the Opposition Leader in the House and separately at the party leaders’ meeting, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Tuesday promised to inform of his final verdict on the matter to the House during the sitting week.

He said that he needed to look into two matters which he did not specify before making his decision.

The Speaker said so after MPs of both sides spoke on whether the post of Opposition Leader should be given to the Joint Opposition or not for nearly two hours.

Soon after the questions round was over, MEP and Joint Opposition Parliamentary Group Leader, Dinesh Gunawardena got up and demanded to know from the Speaker who would be appointed to the post of Opposition Leader. “We are the true and genuine Opposition in Parliament.

We have 70 members in our group and we vote against the Government. The Speaker promised us that he would give his determination on the matter today. Our group is led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Millions of people voted for us. This is not an issue with incumbent Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan. The Speaker should keep that in mind”.

Speaker Jayasuriya: “Yes, I would keep that in my mind”.

MP Gunawardena: “All Speakers before you gave the Leader of Opposition post to the group which had highest number of MPs in the opposition. We have been waiting for three years now. The Speaker should not give priority to a letter given to him by a secretary of a party.

 Parliament is supreme and it should not be misled on the basis of a letter given by a party secretary. If you give an unjust determination for these 70 MPs it would turn this House into an invalid one. You would be held responsible for that. The Government is not in a position to select the Opposition Leader”.

Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella: “There are six parties in Parliament. The Joint Opposition is not a party recognized by Parliament. It is a clique. It is a gang like the Aava Group”.

The Speaker: “When Hon. MP Gunawardena had made that request I asked for it in writing. I told him that if he gives me the request in writing, I would give my decision on 7 July. But he delayed to give the request in writing. When the letter was given to me I told him that I would not be able to give my determination on 7 July. You all have been elected from a party and I am bound to inquire from that party to know about its official position. I need to consult legal experts. I cannot be a dictator”.

MP Dullas ALahapperuma: “Please do not minimize this to replacing Sampanthan with Dinesh Gunawardena. We are fighting for our rights.

From January 2015 to August 2015 the Leader of the Opposition post was held by the UPFA MP Nimal Siripala de Silva. During that period UPFA MPs were in Government ranks too.  There is a precedent of Speaker M.H. Mohamed giving the post of Opposition Leader to MP Anura Bandaranaike in 1993 in the absence of then Opposition Leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Opposition Leader Sirimavo went abroad and wrote to the Speaker to appoint MP K.B. Ratnayake to the post of acting Opposition Leader. But SLFP members wrote to the Speaker and sought Anura Bandaranaike’s appointment to the post. Speaker Mohammed did so. You could follow that precedent”.

TNA MP MA Sumanthiran: “A party which has MPs in the Cabinet cannot hold the Opposition Leader post because that party is represented in the executive. There are 23 UPFA MPs in the Cabinet. Under such a situation selecting the Opposition Leader from the UPFA would be a joke.

There are six parties in Parliament, the UNP, UPFA, TNA, JVP, EPDP and SLMC. The TNA, JVP and EPDP are not part of the executive. The Joint Opposition is not a recognized party in Parliament. If they want to be in the Opposition, they should leave the Government. It is not fair to seek to represent the Opposition while remaining in the Government”.

MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara: “Do you know the position of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) on the matter”.

The Speaker: “Yes they contacted me and spoke on the matter”.

MP Nanayakkara: “There is an issue here. The IPU recognizes this as an issue and advises that it should be solved following Latimar House principles. If MP Sumanthiran was right then how could Nimal Siripala de Silva become Opposition Leader while a group of UPFA MPs were in the Cabinet then? There is a precedent”.

NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa: “ The Speaker is not here to protect the interests of parties but of MPs. The Joint Opposition MPs’ rights have been violated. The rights of the people who had voted for those MPs have been violated”.

MP Kumara Welgama: “I am a senior leader of the UPFA. I was elected from the UPFA ticket. During the 100-day government some of our MPs got minister posts but the Leader of the Opposition post was given to Nimal Siripala de Silva who was also from the Opposition. After August 2015 General Election our party named me, for the post of Opposition Leader and MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage, for the post of Chief Opposition Whip.

But Hon. Sampanthan was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition”.

Puttalam District UNP MP Asoka Priyantha: “This issue should be solved and should not be further dragged on. This issue is a struggle for a post. The JO group was fighting for this post even when they had 52 MPs. When the President went to Polonnaruwa to declare open Pubudamu Polonnaruwa project, UPFA and JO MPs were there. We cannot understand whether the UPFA is in the Government or in the Opposition.

JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake: “The MPs do not know where they stand. Some Opposition MPs criticize the Government and the Prime Minister during the day time and meet the Prime Minister at night seeking solutions for their problems. There was one such who found a solution for his two-passport problem. What we have is a National Government as per the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. As per the provision of the 19th Amendment, there are six recognized parties in Parliament. If the UPFA needs to break the alliance with the Government and become an Opposition party, they could do so.

 Then the number of Ministers too should go down. That is good for the country. When Nimal Siripala de Silva was holding the post of Opposition Leader, the 19th Amendment was not in force. It was passed after that. The Joint Opposition could not call itself a party in the Opposition. You have been elected under the UPFA ticket. There are UPFA Ministers. Your leader Mahinda Rajapaksa had not voted at least once against this Government in Parliament. How could such a person be named for the post of Opposition Leader?”

Anuradhapura District MP Shehan Semasinghe: “There should be an Opposition for the sake of the people. The Opposition we have today is not a genuine Opposition. This is undemocratic.

UNP MP Nalin Bandara: “Those who talk of upholding democracy tried to bury it when they were in power. The Joint Opposition made many predictions. They predicted to get Government power by the Sinhala/Tamil New Year. Then they promised to gain power by Vesak. Thereafter, they pledged to send the Government home within two Full Moon Poya days.
They failed. Today they are fighting for the post of Opposition Leader”.
UPFA Galle District MP Chandima Weerakkody: “We have great respect for the Speaker. He should not lose it by protecting the UNP interests. The Prime Minister holds his position with the help of the TNA. So, the TNA has no right to hold the position of Opposition Leader”.

UNP MP Thushara Indunil Amarasena: “We have a group of backbenchers. We are planning to go to the Opposition side and ask for the Opposition Leader post so, that we would be able to get it although the UNP is part of the Government”.

UNP MP Mujibur Rahuman: “The UPFA group has internal problems. They demand the post of Opposition Leader because of those internal problems. They could sort out the problem with the President. They contested under the UPFA ticket. The President is the Leader of the UPFA”.

Anrua Kumara Dissanayake: “There are only six parties elected to Parliament. The Opposition has 23 MPs. There is another group of 70 MPs sitting in the Opposition from the UPFA. That same party has 26 MPs in the Government too. You have the President from your party. You could get together and form the Government, why ask for the Opposition Leader post? The 70 MPs are under the 26 MPs in the Government. Get together and that group could become UPFA group and ask for the Opposition Leader post.

Minister Harin Fernando: “This is an internal problem of a party. We are wasting Parliament’s time”.
Speaker: “I have acted democratically. I need to consult party leaders and legal experts on this issue. I would give my determination within this week”.
Ending a week’s long b
attle, Speaker Jayasuriya, making a special statement in Parliament, on Friday (10) reinforced the legitimacy of TNA Leader R. Sampanthan as Leader of the Opposition of the Eighth Parliament.

The Speaker, in his statement, said it was his final decision on the matter and he does not have a warrant as per the Constitution to change the Opposition Leader. He added that Parliamentary traditions also do not allow him to make such changes.

The Speaker’s ruling was with reference to the JO’s special written request on the 1st of this month to appoint the JO Parliamentary Group Leader Dinesh Gunawardena as Opposition Leader. They asked for the post claiming that the JO was made up of 70 Parliamentarians from the UPFA.
“I made this ruling after a careful study of the composition of the current Parliament and international best practices,” Speaker Jayasuriya said and added that he had heard all the arguments made on the floor of the House on Tuesday (7) and the opinions of experts on Parliamentary democracy on the post of Leader of the Opposition.

“The Opposition Leader post must be held by a person who is not from a political party now in the Government. According to the Parliamentary Resolution adopted on 3 September, 2015, the United National Front (UNF) and UPFA are partners of the National Government. MP Nimal Siripala de Silva served as Opposition Leader during the interim period after 8 January, 2015. It was different to the present context because there was no such Parliamentary Resolution for a National Government back then.”

The Speaker : “The Parliamentary Group Leader of a recognized political party that does not represent the Government and has the highest number of seats is the Leader of the Opposition. It is the tradition in both Sri Lankan and UK Parliaments.”

Speaker Jayasuriya assured, that he would allocate more time and also grant more seats in the Parliamentary committees for the JO, to be fair and in keeping with its number in Parliament.