Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva
Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva argued that the cooperative movement failed due to politicization, citing alleged political appointments and malpractice under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that led to audits and halted operations. He urged that cooperatives be kept depoliticized, referencing successful models in New Zealand, the US, and the “Shakthi” cooperative, and said his side was ready to share proposals to stabilize rice prices while ensuring fair farmer incomes.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 President Gotabaya Rajapaksa politicized it, appointed directors and engaged in various malpractice; it was audited and then halted. Never politicize cooperatives. Our cooperative movement collapsed because of politicization. In New Zealand and the US, co-ops thrive because they are de-politicized. “Shakthi” was a de-politicized cooperative. We are ready to share how a de-politicized cooperative can stabilize rice prices for consumers and ensure good farmer incomes. Thank you.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 6 December 2024 ·No. 1734424725051921 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/19578
Cite as: Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 December 2024. No. 1734424725051921. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/19578