The Hon. Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, under the Head of the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, a few points.

¶ 02 I wondered why the Opposition requested this discussion. If they had real critiques of the content and interior of this Head, they have not presented them. Yesterday, under Power and Energy, they focused on monkeys; today, if not monkeys, then bears.

¶ 03 They keep talking about salaries. The Opposition says one thing; we say we increased salaries. The Health Minister comprehensively explained it this morning; even a child in Grade 5 can understand, but the Opposition will not, however much we explain.

¶ 04 Let me illustrate with an old fable. In the jungle, a tiger and a donkey argued. The donkey said grass is blue; the tiger said it is green. They took it to the lion, the judge. The lion ruled the donkey is right and punished the tiger for debating with a donkey — because no matter what you say, a donkey will not accept it. Likewise, we deserve punishment for arguing with this Opposition. People understand us; why argue with them? You cannot fix this Opposition.

¶ 05 This Ministry is crucial because it holds the human resource essential to rebuilding the country. To implement every program presented by the President, the necessary human resource lies within this Ministry under Hon. Chandana Abeyratne. Therefore, a large allocation is made to develop human resources, including salary increases and training. Past governments did not think to develop our human resource or bring in a new young generation with a plan. Now, the Budget provides for substantial new recruitments and for training allocations — to develop human resources, replace retirees, and bring new officers up to standard, as experienced staff retire.

¶ 06 Local Authorities under this Ministry must be strengthened. Local Authority elections are coming; these are the grassroots institutions to serve people, but they were weakened over the past period. Under this Budget, the Central Government has allocated provisions to strengthen Local Authorities. Finances of LAs, which should drive area development, have deteriorated.

¶ 07 There is a saying: “Show the world, ruin the home.” Many LAs, in the absence of elections for years, were weakened. Some Chairmen undertook grand projects beyond their means — built huge buildings like white elephants using people’s tax money — and ended up in debt. In Colombo District too, several LAs exist where funds are sunk into such monuments while lacking money for basic bridges, culverts, and roads. Hence the Central Government must step in to build rural roads. Likewise, this Government must even build the airport passenger terminal. Yet they criticize us without responsibility. At least reflect on what they did.

¶ 08 Under this Head, substantial funds are provided to LAs. Provincial Councils must also function — a feature under the 13th Amendment. The Budget allocates to strengthen all these structures for national rebuilding, not separately for PC, LA, and Centre in silos. We must run at that pace. Therefore, this human resource lies under this Ministry.

¶ 09 Thank you very much.