The Hon. Ajith P. Perera

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, first, I am grateful to this Government for bringing forward the implementation of the Personal Data Protection Act. Although full implementation is not yet complete, as the person who initially drafted that law, I am pleased about the Government’s commitment to advancing this most important data protection legislation for our economy, even if time has passed. I urge prompt investment and provision of the necessary capacity to operationalize it swiftly.

¶ 02 We keep hearing that the Cyber Security Bill has been drafted and finalized, but Parliament has still not had an opportunity to debate it. All stakeholders want to see cyber security legislation passed by this House. During my tenure as the subject Minister, the Bill was fully prepared and finalized. The subsequent Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government completely altered it. Now your Government has brought amendments and is moving it forward. That is your prerogative. A new law on cyber security is essential for this country, and it should be brought without delay. I therefore request that it be placed on the Order Paper as soon as possible and proceeded with for passage.

¶ 03 Our young Member Amila Prasad Siriwardhana raised an important issue today. I thanked him and then sought some clarifications from him and, thereafter, from the Deputy Minister of Digital Economy about his position on it. Hon. Lal Kantha, there is a serious problem here. Under our law, a person who has a contract with the Government is disqualified on the day of handing over nominations for a Parliamentary election. You will recall, Hon. Lal Kantha, in the Dilan Perera-Rajitha Senaratne case, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne lost his National List seat on that basis. Hon. Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister, you accepted that on the day you handed over nominations you held shares in that company, and there was a Government contract with that same company—as you yourself stated. Legally, you should have withdrawn from that contract before handing over nominations.

¶ 04 Hon. Albert Silva, elected from Galle, similarly lost his seat due to having a contract with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Therefore, Hon. Eranga Weeraratne, based on what you said in this House today, there is a legal disability for you to continue as an MP. I take no pleasure in saying this; I regret it. The post needs someone who understands the subject—an engineer or technologist—because the President, as the line Minister, does not have time to delve into the details. Whether knowingly or not, an issue has now arisen: on the day you signed the nomination papers, you were a party to a Government contract. Thus, you were disqualified to be an MP. That is a serious matter—even if it is not directly my concern, it must be stated since the issue has surfaced.

¶ 05 Next: did you resign from that company, how did you resign, do family members still hold shares, do you hold any shares, and while so interested, did you or your company continue to enter into contracts or sub-contracts with the Government? Is there a conflict of interest and a breach of the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament, particularly Section 17? Those interested in this should inquire. Since it is the same subject, I will not dwell on it further, but it must be resolved.

¶ 06 Hon. Presiding Member, another matter. After this Government assumed office, it reached an agreement with a company called EDOTCO to build telecom towers across Sri Lanka. Previously, operators like Mobitel, Dialog and Hutch either individually or jointly built, operated and agreed on terms for such towers. EDOTCO, which now has the contract, is affiliated to the Malaysian telecom group.

¶ 07 I raise these questions: - Was the opportunity to build telecom towers across the country given to EDOTCO through an open tender? Who were the other bidders? How were prices determined? - Reports claimed that awarding this contract to such a company would reduce prices for consumers. I fail to see how. Competition among multiple firms is what yields lower prices. Granting nationwide tower-building power to a single company raises concerns.

¶ 08 Hon. Lal Kantha, it is surprising you are unaware: EDOTCO’s parent group is the same group that controls Dialog in Sri Lanka. Dialog and EDOTCO are siblings under the same parent. The largest market player, Dialog, has its parent controlling a subsidiary that will undertake the entire tower business nationwide. This appears, on the face of it, to be unsolicited. If it is not, show us the process. We have not seen an open tender. The serious risk is the creation of a private monopoly, especially favouring Dialog.

¶ 09 [Interruption by The Hon. Eranga Weeraratne — rose.]

¶ 10 Hon. Deputy Minister, please respond in your time. I have limited time; you have plenty. Please answer during your speech, not now.