The Hon. Gayan Janaka

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, the Opposition claimed even earlier that the country lacks rice and that rice prices are high. They have resumed the same routine.

¶ 02 Let me tell the Opposition this: Two months ago when we took office, the Presidential Secretariat had 800 vehicles, but the Paddy Marketing Board had only one lorry. Now the Opposition forgets all that and asks us, “Where is the rice? Rice is expensive.” It has only been two months since we formed the Government. We are a Government that takes food security very seriously. Food security is our policy, and we have no hesitation or uncertainty about it, Hon. Presiding Member.

¶ 03 You know the state of the country we inherited—bankrupt. Today, schoolchildren are in the galleries. We remember that students could not even study for A/Ls due to power cuts. Paper was unavailable for exam question papers. After two months of taking over such a country, the Opposition asks us about rice and rice prices—issues they created. They should be ashamed.

¶ 04 As a responsible Government, we have intervened. We are restarting a collapsed process. This is not a random, sudden shortage or mere price spike. It is the logical outcome of 76 years of governance that left the economy bankrupt, society broken, and politics eroded. Whether we liked it or not, we had to take charge from that point. The people trusted the National People’s Power because they believed only we, under the strong leadership of Anura Dissanayake, could rebuild. We have begun laying strong foundations for recovery, Hon. Presiding Member.

¶ 05 When we took over, not only was the country bankrupt, but there was no accurate data on harvests or rice availability, nor a clear picture of upcoming challenges. The Agriculture Ministry told us there was a surplus and that 68 percent of fields were sown. We did not make decisions blindly on such numbers; we verified and found a developing shortage. The country needs about 4,000 metric tons of rice per day. Accordingly, to avoid shortages, we decided to import for 18 days—70,000 metric tons. Even after bringing in 167,000 metric tons so far, challenges remained because the previous Government could not even present accurate data. We are now bringing a further 8,000 metric tons, and consignments are arriving. That is the reality.