The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage - Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I move that “the Bill be now read a Second time.”

¶ 02 In addition, I present Item 2 of the Order Paper — Rubber Control (Amendment) Bill; Item 3 — Regulations under the Sports Act; and Item 4 — Regulations under the Judicature Act.

¶ 03 Among the Bills taken up today, I wish to make a few observations on the Samurdhi (Amendment) Bill. The Samurdhi Authority was established in 1995. Thereafter, the Divineguma Act No. 1 of 2013 established the Department of Divineguma Development by integrating the then Samurdhi Authority, Udarata (Upcountry) and Dakshina (Southern) Development Authorities. In 2017, by Divineguma (Amendment) Act No. 2 of 2017, the Department was renamed the Department of Samurdhi Development.

¶ 04 The present amendment is important: all Samurdhi banks in the country will be brought under Government audit. There are 1,097 Samurdhi banks. The approved cadre of the Department is about 25,000. In each Divisional Secretary’s Division, a Samurdhi bank society operates; 335 Samurdhi community-based bank societies are active, with approximately 4 million members. The transaction volume is around Rs. 250 billion. Yet, under the existing framework, these have not been subjected to Government audit.

¶ 05 Therefore, we propose to apply Article 154 of the Constitution (on audit of public corporations) and the provisions of the National Audit Act No. 19 of 2018 to the accounts of Samurdhi community-based banks. Bringing these widespread microfinance institutions under the Auditor General will enhance transparency. Due to reliance on internal audits and departmental oversight, issues and allegations of fraud and corruption have arisen; there are over 500 audit inquiries pending. This amendment will uphold discipline, protect the dignity of approximately 25,000 employees, and safeguard public funds entrusted to these banks through recognized public financial procedures.

¶ 06 Samurdhi was commenced to eradicate poverty. However, the number of applicants for poverty relief and the number receiving assistance have continued to rise. For example, around 2010 there were about 1 million beneficiary households; by 2015 about 1.5 million; and by 2024, when we assumed office, close to 1.8 million. According to the Department of Census and Statistics, total households in 2024 are 5,264,282. For the flagship “Aswesuma” programme administered by the Welfare Benefits Board, 3,744,494 applications have been received—meaning about 71% of households have applied for assistance. Seventy-seven years after Independence, if 71% of households are applying for aid, we must critically reassess our approaches thus far.