The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chair, as usual this Government runs a 24/7 regime of lies and deception to mask failed governance.

¶ 02 Our pensioners and elders — in their hundreds of thousands — are in dire straits. Earlier, seniors had 15 percent special deposit interest on Rs. 1.5 million deposits. This Government came to protect elders, yet today that concession has been slashed to about 7 percent. They have pushed elders into hardship. Benefits due to our war heroes in the tri-forces, police and Civil Security Department are being cut, including for the disabled.

¶ 03 Hon. Deputy Chair, I also raised a question: under a US–India trade arrangement, India’s reciprocal tariff was reduced from 50 percent to 18 percent while Sri Lanka faces 20 percent. What happens to our exports’ competitiveness to the US market? If tomorrow Bangladesh also gets 18 percent, what happens to our apparel and other sectors? The Government must respond urgently.

¶ 04 Simultaneously, in coal procurement there is a brazen daylight robbery through commissions, while telling the people, “You will pay streetlamp electricity bills in the future.” Previously, local authorities bore those costs; now the Government seeks to shift them onto people. Is this at the IMF’s instruction? Also, when will the next IMF tranche arrive? Is the delay due to not raising electricity tariffs by 11.57 percent as advised? You now tell us to ask Harsha de Silva. Understand: it is the NPP that received the mandate, not the Opposition. You came to power promising to change the IMF deal; now you are subservient to it.

¶ 05 Moreover, your Government represses the Buddhist clergy and the Sasana. Read the Constitution: Buddhism is given a foremost place while ensuring harmony among all religions and communities. You cannot govern by stoking ethnic and religious division. Finally, to Hon. Chathuranga Abeysinghe: your policy is pickpocket politics.