The Hon. Chaminda Wijesiri

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, before speaking on the Energy Ministry’s Head, I must address a matter of principle. We saw the State Minister of Finance seeking to haul a newspaper editor before the Committee on Ethics and Privileges over an item on the Inland Revenue Act. That is not how Parliament’s privileges are used. If a paper carries an error, you request a correction, or the Minister clarifies here. You cannot summon editors before the Privileges Committee to intimidate the media. This is abuse.

¶ 02 Fuel distributors raised genuine issues; now they are to be summoned by the CID. You pledged not to misuse Parliamentary power. Yet you seek to gag the media and frighten stakeholders to hide your incompetence and lies. We condemn this.

¶ 03 Some here entered this House on fake credentials after leading trade union agitations that crippled the CPC. Now when real issues emerge, you invoke old histories to distract from your failures.

¶ 04 You waved lists of permits then; did you cancel any unlawfully obtained ones? We saw fuel distributors meeting the President, saying they are not trying to topple the Government and that they simply cannot operate without a margin. If you cannot manage, do not bully.

¶ 05 Energy Minister, you are failing. You accused past rulers for blackouts. Now under your rule, we face outages due to your incompetence. Decide whether you can govern. You accused others of corruption; yet today those very people are outside taunting you.

¶ 06 On tenders: we have no issue if Hayleys won through a clean process. But you rejected the main bidder and chose one who failed conditions — to reward allies who helped your campaign. That is not your promised purity. You are leading the country into darkness. People were told to give the country to Anura; we warned that would mean darkness. Karma now answers your false promises. Your core JVP policies are being abandoned; your next election result will be under 3 percent. Wake up — soon it will be too late. The people will reject you and choose a correct path.