The Hon. K.V. Samantha Viddyarathna

¶ 01 I tell the people: understand the Opposition’s pain. Corruption has been halted; development is moving fast; a period of revival has begun — and that is their pain. We challenge you: we will produce more megawatts during our tenure than you did in 76 years. The structural changes we make today will deliver that.

¶ 02 You cry about workers’ rights. Remember: in the 1980s, for asking for a Rs. 10 pay rise, your mother party sacked hundreds of thousands of public servants. When public servants asked for pay, promotions, or protection of graduates, you answered with tear gas and batons; you hung people on lamp posts; 60,000 were victimized. This is your history. Today, without posters or strikes, this Government increased wages for public and private sector workers — given at the counter, not by force. We are a workers’ Government, a people’s Government, a progressive Government. No harm to the nation will be done under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s leadership.

¶ 03 Your time of carving up the CEB and handing it to cronies is over. We seek rapid development and national efficiency, as developed countries have done by producing and distributing energy fairly.

¶ 04 Finally, alongside this debate, we bring regulations under the Tea (Export Duty and Control) Act, No. 16 of 1959, to levy Rs. 3 per each kilogram of tea exported. Not for corruption, but to credit the funds to the Sri Lanka Tea Board to provide fertilizer, promote tea cultivation, and strengthen market promotion. We ask your support to pass this too.

¶ 05 In the past, when the Treasury was empty and dollars short, industries that brought dollars were neglected and driven to losses. We must restore them, modernize factories and machinery to global standards. “Ceylon Tea,” once number one, is now fourth — after China, India, and Kenya — due to your governance. We will restore it. These reforms and regulations are part of changing the old order and moving into a period of revival. We thank all officials who helped prepare these three sets of amendments, and even the few in the Opposition who supported. Thank you.