The Hon. (Dr.) Nihal Abeysinghe

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, thank you for this opportunity to make my first address to this august Parliament. I wish to thank the people for the mandate we received. For decades and generations, the people of Sri Lanka have struggled against injustice, unfairness, and oppression, making thousands of sacrifices. Our victories in the recent Presidential and Parliamentary elections were due to the unwavering courage of countless dedicated men and women. I pay tribute to them, and particularly thank the voters of Kalutara District—Horana seat—who supported the National People’s Power to secure eight seats in Kalutara.

¶ 02 Over the last few days we have debated various matters, and today we are on the Interim Appropriation. First, I note that the National People’s Power team represents this Parliament. Some seasoned MPs spent days making various statements about the JVP, but offered limited views on the Interim Appropriation itself. They should have spoken about what was commendable in past interim accounts, what shortcomings exist here, and how to better structure expenditures. Instead, these seasoned MPs made childish remarks about the JVP.