The Hon. Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, in speaking on the Votes of the President, the Prime Minister, several DOD institutions and Commissions, first let me raise this: as Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara also flagged staff matters of Parliament, I focus on Public Administration Circular No. 06/2006, which regraded and restructured services and positions based on basic qualifications, aiming to address pay anomalies since 2006. Parliament, with about 850 staff, has failed for 18 years to implement it fairly. Since Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe is here and was vocal on wages then, I draw his attention. I will place this document in the Library. Please act accordingly.

¶ 02 Because of this failure, many have suffered injustice. With a large staff, they expect fairness; hence this request.

¶ 03 Now, to a point from my friend Hon. Bimal Rathnayake’s past speech: he said he was a fast bowler at Ananda College, running in like Michael Holding, but the ball never seemed to arrive! I checked; in fact, it was Hon. Bimal himself running in fast and delivering slowly.

¶ 04 Hon. Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe, do not rise just because I mentioned you. Before we come to wages, I must say: after becoming a Minister, Hon. Bimal is less aggressive. He speaks nicely, then suddenly fires. When madam is around, he fires less; when she is away, he gets emotional and attacks the entire Opposition.

¶ 05 Understand this well: the Rajapaksa rule brought grave problems to this country. I spoke the most about corruption and the underworld back then. We raised our voices despite limited speaking time. We know those were corrupt. Eliminate unnecessary expenditure. As Hon. Bimal said, check the ministries we worked in: myself, Hon. Ajith P. Perera, and Hon. Mujibur Rahuman. There was not a trace of destruction. Even JVP MPs then never accused my ministry of wrongdoing. We can say with pride that we did not steal. Of course, every side may have a few bad apples. But as a group, we were clean, straight, and spoke against corruption. So those accusations do not apply to us. You keep circulating lists – that is why people gave you a two-thirds. Just 3 per cent of swing changed to give you two-thirds to change everything you promised.

¶ 06 But remember, you yourselves helped bring to power those you now accuse of theft and thuggery. We never helped bring Mahinda Rajapaksa or anyone else to power. We fought and in 2015 we waged a major battle against corruption. Those you now point fingers at received your major support at that election. There are videos of your leaders praising the Rajapaksas: Hon. K.D. Lal Kantha, Hon. Bimal Rathnayake, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Hon. Vijitha Herath, Hon. Anura Kumara Dissanayake – all of them. You now criticize the very governance you once lauded. Do your reforms, but do not whip up hatred to run this country.

¶ 07 On development: you cannot run the country on perpetual hostility. To Hon. Bimal, you ran in like Carl Lewis, faster than Usain Bolt, but you did not deliver the ball. You shouted against Ranil Wickremesinghe; tell us the savings achieved. Saving is good. If an MOH lives in an official residence improperly, we will sign to remove it. We have never misused funds. If you cannot send that letter, we will write it; stop waste. This is a poor country; people live on Rs. 35,000–40,000 salaries. Wasteful expenditure in such a country is wrong. We said this long before you did.

¶ 08 Look at your own past and ours. Consider what you now say on the underworld. Hon. Vijitha Herath and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake asked: if people are killed in broad daylight, how will we deal with the international community? These are serious issues. But now you speak differently, normalizing it as routine. National security is not just foreign invasion. In other countries, such brazen acts are seen with revulsion and lower our standing. You yourselves once said, if a Government cannot handle such, it must go.

¶ 09 On wages, Hon. Wasantha said private sector salaries must increase by 40 per cent. They have not. It is difficult, we know; but you fought then for compulsory increases and promised after 60 days.

¶ 10 Next, the rice mafia. You promised to control it “with one stroke,” but have not. On fuel, you said Rs. 125 per litre for ministers would be removed; it has not. You said you would reduce the electricity bill by 35 per cent; you could not. The President said we would make money from graphite – actually, to make graphene. It needs over USD 4 billion investment. With current electricity tariffs, no one will invest USD 3–4 billion. There is a problem.

¶ 11 You promised loans without collateral and at zero interest. In a market economy of supply and demand, you cannot lend without collateral. I ran a programme for women in Colombo District: trained over 10,000 and gave 200 sewing machines on finance without collateral. I paid the down payments expecting they would repay; they did not. It is not practical. Without collateral, people often cannot or do not repay. Do not promise the impossible.

¶ 12 On privatization, you now call it “asset mobilization.” Hon. Lal Kantha says the Government will manage; the President says all loss-making entities will be listed, privatized or closed. You accept privatization. Especially, as State entities go bankrupt, in two years you will see how much SriLankan Airlines will cost this Government.

¶ 13 On Norochcholai power plant and on bringing back LKR 1,800 billion stashed abroad, or attracting 500,000 migrant workers to send dollars – we have seen no results or even serious attempts.

¶ 14 On production, nothing substantial in this Budget. In 2023, trade, industries, energy and economic development was Rs. 0.7 billion; in 2025, Rs. 0.48 billion. We need over USD 12 billion: about USD 4–5 billion for debt service, and by 2028, even the Budget deficit alone is USD 7.2 billion. You spoke of taking exports from USD 13 to 19 billion, but there is no plan. CBSL Governor says monetary policy effects come after 15 months. Unless we start production and industries now – launching at least 500–1,000 factories – we will face a severe economic abyss.

¶ 15 Thank you.