The Hon. Namal Rajapaksa, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Thank you for the opportunity, Hon. Presiding Member.

¶ 02 The nation is facing a massive calamity; many lives have been lost. I express condolences to those families. A large number of people are displaced—perhaps over 400,000 families, and over 1.5 million individuals affected. Property, businesses, schools, hospitals, factories, farming and fisheries communities, and entrepreneurs have suffered heavy losses. Whether there was adequate preparedness can be discussed later; today is not the time. People are struggling to protect their lives and property.

¶ 03 There are two narratives: some blame the Government for not acting earlier; some in Government blame officials for inaction. We even saw a Deputy Minister attempting to shift fault onto officials. However, there is also blame toward the Government. Therefore, I believe the Speaker should appoint a Special Parliamentary Committee—not a sham committee like the one on the “ask the thief’s mother” container matter—but a transparent, honest committee to determine where the failures occurred.

¶ 04 We are in a Budget debate. Even in the previous year, only 20–30 percent of the Budget proposals were realized. A Government that could not practically implement even 50 percent must now, in the face of this disaster, revise the Budget with a national plan for disaster response. The Government itself says losses are US$ 6–7 billion, with a 3–5 percent hit to the economy. Rebuilding villages and normalizing lives, getting children back to school, requires significant additional spending. The President’s Fund grants and house-cleaning grants are good, but insufficient. Revise the Budget.

¶ 05 We also urge you to discuss with the IMF. Inform them of current realities. If, amid floods and landslides, businesses and citizens are further burdened by unlimited taxation under IMF conditions, they will struggle even more to rebuild. Please address this.

¶ 06 Public trust in the State machinery must be restored. Messages are conflicting between institutions and ministries. We can later discuss why the disaster declaration was delayed, whether reservoirs should have been drawn down earlier, and whether evacuations from landslide-prone areas were done in time. But even after the event, the Government’s mechanism must guide people and international organizations effectively on relief and support. It appears the system is still not fully mobilized—perhaps due to your administrative style. Study how President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Government prepared for a similar cyclone warning in 2020, and adopt good practices. In some Divisional Secretariats there is no Divisional Secretary—Walapane, one of the worst-hit areas, lacks a Divisional Secretary. How can relief be provided?

¶ 07 On agriculture, the easiest Government answer is to import vegetables. The Government says 70 percent of harvest is lost; farmer organizations say 30 percent. The President says there is no data; hence he wants a proper assessment. But at minimum, have you arranged logistics to move available vegetables and fruits from Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Bandarawela to other regions? If not, do so. Today a mafia thrives in the gaps, reaping 200 percent margins while farmers bear the losses. The Government must intervene—not with slogans but by ensuring farm produce reaches cities.

¶ 08 We also ask you to pay attention to the burden on people—lives lost, children buried, parents gone, assets destroyed. Medical staff are rendering immense service, risking their own lives in hospitals such as at Chilaw, Walapane, and Nuwara Eliya. Recognize and support them.

¶ 09 People vent their pain—not only at the President, Government, Ministers, Opposition, or officials. Your known response is to arrest those who speak up. Ministers talk about using Emergency Regulations. If under Emergency, you can arrest someone for a social media post that hurts the President’s feelings, why could you not act as decisively to save lives when hillsides were collapsing and floodwaters rose? Reflect on that.

¶ 10 Thank you.