The Hon. Sajith Premadasa
Sajith Premadasa accused the Government of imposing burdens on poor and middle-income people, electricity consumers, and professional valuers through the Bills under debate, specifically alleging interference with the Institute of Valuers’ role in pricing and appraisal. He questioned the Government’s handling of trade policy, noting that Sri Lanka’s claimed 20 per cent US tariff advantage had been undercut by India’s 18 per cent rate, and asked whether negotiations were underway to secure better terms if Bangladesh also received similar treatment.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 I will take a bit more time, Hon. Deputy Chair.
¶ 02 You practice pickpocket politics: fleecing the poor, the middle class, electricity consumers — while profiting from coal. Now, with the Institute of Valuers’ powers on pricing and appraisal, you plan to pickpocket that profession too through today’s Bills. Shame! Pickpocket politics has a short life.
¶ 03 You must protect the people. Your incompetence will create another crisis. You boasted of a 20 percent US tariff advantage; now India’s rate is 18 percent. If Bangladesh also gets 18 percent, what then? Are you negotiating with the US for better rates? What is your plan? Stop governing by lies and theft; deliver on your promises.
¶ 04 Thank you.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 5 February 2026 ·No. 23269 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/13043
Cite as: The Hon. Sajith Premadasa. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 February 2026. No. 23269. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/13043