The Hon. Eranga Gunasekara - Deputy Minister of Urban Development

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I am particularly pleased to express views today on a citizen-centered Budget presented during a challenging year, and to speak based on that Budget.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, there is a saying about some people who never like to look at the sunlight; they always turn their backs to it. I feel that is the situation the Opposition is in today. They do not wish to face the light, so they huddle in caves, afraid and agitated by what falls from the light, and they comment from that place of fear.

¶ 03 As a government mandated by the people’s power, we presented a citizens’ Budget — the first in March this year — and within about nine months, we have been able to bring measurable results here. Given the present state of the Opposition, we can gauge how strong the empowerment of our citizens has been. That is the best evidence we can present.

¶ 04 Before the Budget was presented, the Opposition dusted off old books, highlighted passages, held workshops, and prepared to say they would vote against the second Budget. But what happened? When Hon. President Anura Dissanayake started the Budget Speech in this House, within half an hour to an hour it began to dawn on them that their script had failed. Why? Because, point by point with data and facts, he showed how a collapsed economy is stabilizing; how state revenue is increasing; how foreign reserves are strengthening; how the budget deficit has been reduced; how Mahapola scholarships and allowances for plantation workers and others have been increased. Then the Opposition began to fidget, scratch their heads; some pretended to sleep, some pretended to be ill. Because what they expected was not what was happening here. We told them: even if you pretend to sleep, reality will not disappear. If you truly sleep, the truth will still be visible. The agitation they feel today has been produced by the nine-month process in which citizens and we together have worked. Our plan is to have this citizen Budget, adopted by a large majority, guide the next 12 months — plus the remaining two months — and by the time our comrade Anura Dissanayake presents next year’s Budget, the Opposition will not be able to pretend to sleep; they will be flat on the floor, unable to move. That is the certainty we offer.

¶ 05 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to highlight several main points. Within a year, the people of a country once broken, without hope or a future, have been empowered. That is why the Opposition keeps having to say “sorry; we were wrong; we didn’t see it.” When they start speaking, they can neither praise nor condemn the Budget; they can neither call it foul nor fragrant. They are in an awkward position.

¶ 06 They still fail to grasp what power has been harnessed here — it is the power of the people. This is not the outcome of any single person, group, minister, or MP. It is a citizen uprising; citizen power. That is why we presented a citizen Budget.

¶ 07 Three pillars have enabled the success of this Budget: political culture, fiscal discipline, and financial management. Based on these three, we have begun this miracle. Without them, this could not have been built. Citizens have changed the political culture, setting an example from top to bottom. Fiscal discipline is emerging at the individual, group, ministerial, and systemic levels. Likewise, financial management is being strengthened and protected at every level. Because of that, we can now present the Budget’s successes point by point. The Opposition does not understand this; therefore they ask how this could be done with “such numbers,” based on their old models and data, which always concluded “it cannot be done.” They do not know the way we manage political culture, financial management, and discipline; they do not understand how we have changed the system. That misunderstanding leaves them unable to call it either good or bad.

¶ 08 Let me clarify some issues raised by the Opposition. I saw the Leader of the Opposition and a few others telling the media after the Budget that youth are being deceived and denied jobs. I say: stop this blatant falsehood. We know the old “job-giving” system — sizing people up by height at a tree, or taking applications during elections only to dump them later. Buses were sent to districts and constituencies just because a minister sat there. That was the history.

¶ 09 What are we doing? We promised to give jobs to our youth — not merely as a campaign pledge, but because the state and economy need them. We are organizing a structured process. I table for the Leader of the Opposition: as per Cabinet approval dated 2025.10.29, 62,699 vacancies across 25 ministries have been gazetted. For example: Ministry of Defence 12,433; Ministry of Health and Mass Media 12,009; Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government 8,687; Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs 10,225. In total, 62,699 vacancies have been gazetted.

¶ 10 We have also appointed a committee under the Prime Minister to study and fill these vacancies institution by institution. Several court cases on teacher recruitment are being successfully discussed, and the Cabinet will decide accordingly and reach consensus with the Supreme Court in coming days. That is why the President said we plan to provide 75,000 jobs. When ministries have gazetted vacancies, you cannot claim we are denying youth employment. The youth know the truth.

¶ 11 Under these gazettes, a significant number of graduates will be recruited — not as an election pledge, but because we need them as the foundation of the economic process.

¶ 12 Hon. Presiding Member, your time is over, Hon. Minister.