The Hon. D.V. Chanaka

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I will take two minutes from Hon. Jeevan Thondaman’s time. He has been informed.

¶ 02 This Government has failed to respond to the market mafia. If what you promised had been done, these issues could have been resolved.

¶ 03 Hon. Deputy Speaker, let me remind you of a few of your pledges. You said you would raise the PAYE tax-free threshold from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 200,000. You also said you would remove VAT on essential medicines and school supplies, and reduce VAT to 15 percent. You may have forgotten, so I wanted to remind you. Also about salary increases: four months ago, your own people including Mr. Jayasinghe came to the streets demanding a Rs. 25,000 salary hike. We thought that what you demanded in Opposition you would implement in Government. At that time when the Government asked for two more weeks, you said you could not wait two weekends. Yet that Government that could not wait two weeks has now been here for three months. You sought the Presidency and got it. Then you said you did not have two-thirds; the people gave you that too. Now you have a majority in Parliament. So you can reduce VAT, reduce PAYE, raise the tax-free threshold, and increase salaries. You have the power. Use it. It is easy: the Prime Minister no longer uses official vehicles—there are savings there. You say there is no theft now—more savings there.

¶ 04 Back then you said one-third of revenue from a Rs. 5 trillion budget was stolen. Now that one-third is saved. Use those funds to implement salary increases and pay fair compensation for crop damage. Why is it not happening? Or are the thefts still happening as before? The Government must answer.

¶ 05 We also see capable Ministers like Hon. Nalinda Jayatissa entering the Chamber now. Hon. Minister, since a good team like yours is present, please intervene.

¶ 06 Hon. Minister of Trade, please answer this. No one has spoken more about the trade mafia than you. But now rice is being imported without limit. You said 70,000 metric tons of rice would be imported.