The Hon. E.M. Basnayaka

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I come to Parliament for the first time representing Ududumbara in Kandy District. For the first time in history, the National People’s Power achieved a historic victory in Kandy, sending nine MPs — including one representing Ududumbara/Hassalaka after 35 years. People may have heard of Gamini, the hero of Hasalaka; now, among the nine from Kandy, someone represents Ududumbara and Hasalaka. I pay my respects and thanks to all who worked for this.

¶ 02 The Cabinet Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands, and Irrigation spoke of issues in Kandy. I too have questions spanning 76 years that remain unanswered. Some still fail to grasp the country’s deterioration; we are ashamed.

¶ 03 We know Sri Lanka is water-rich, yet in the country you built over 76 years, many lack drinking water. In Ududumbara, Teldeniya, Digana, Matale, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and Ampara, the drinking water issue is severe and tragic.

¶ 04 Earlier, when arranging a marriage, families compared horoscopes. In these districts today, instead of horoscopes, they check if both kidneys are functioning — this is the country you built. Thus we are entrusted with resolving thousands of people’s drinking water problems. The NPP government will deliver.

¶ 05 The human–elephant conflict is also severe in Hassalaka, Ududumbara, Mahiyanganaya, and districts along the Mahaweli. Yet the “princes” who represented Kandy from on high for years never spoke about the innocent people suffering from wild animals or drinking water. Three of them barely returned to this Parliament, but still do not speak of these real issues, though they canvass votes there.

¶ 06 Previously, eight MPs represented these areas, yet did not address even a single constituency problem. Now they question our four months’ spending while acting as if born yesterday. If they had addressed these issues during their 25–30 years here, the questions they ask would not arise, and the NPP would not have come to power. They failed to answer real problems; therefore, the majority now places trust in the NPP — a trust we will not betray. We will rebuild lives. We do not need your tutelage or textbooks. For 76 years you “taught” and “guided” us into this state — Rs. 31 trillion in debt, industries destroyed, sold, and shut, and our youth — our most valuable human resource — forced abroad because they cannot live here.

¶ 07 We assure that under an NPP government we will build a prosperous country and beautiful lives so that our youth can live here again. Do not come to teach us with arrogance. The results of your policies are before you. Continuing the same traditional politics will only further ruin the country. Do not obstruct our work. As new MPs we see some of you trying to be heroes, running TV ads even before credentials are issued. The people no longer accept such traditional politics. The citizens know who we and you are.

¶ 08 Your time is up.

¶ 09 Therefore, end the theatrics — TV acting and heroics — and, if you cannot help, at least do not obstruct us over the next five years. In the country you built, our doctors, engineers, and academics could not live and left. The innocent people have suffered 70 years of tragedy. We must correct it — and we will. The people no longer accept traditional politics. Thank you.