The Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Madam Deputy Chairperson of Committees, I thought our Hon. Prime Minister would sit a while and leave. Regarding the Clean Sri Lanka program brought under this Adjournment Motion, we are spending two days and much money. We need to know what we are doing here. From university days we know — for any program, there should be a concept paper: who, for what, how, for whom, when, and in what manner. That is what we implement.

¶ 02 On Clean Sri Lanka, the only thing we know is the President’s speech on January 19, where he included many matters. But we do not know them one by one. The person who prepared this program should have come and presented the concept paper, what is to be implemented, and the institutions to be engaged, and the process. As the second citizen of this Government, I thought the Prime Minister would present that. But she too acted in the traditional way, answering random questions and leaving. You claim to be non-traditional, a new group, but did the traditional thing.

¶ 03 Let me cite how other countries did. In Singapore, under Lee Kuan Yew, from 1968 they launched “Keep Singapore Clean,” with a clear set of actions: a public health promotion program, law enforcement, improving sanitation infrastructure, housing for the public, waste disposal systems, public participation, and clean cities — after a four-year review they launched it.

¶ 04 Here, even naming it in Sinhala as “Pirisu Lanka” would have been nice — but you named it Clean Sri Lanka. No issue with the name. The problem is the lack of a plan for the identified tasks, which invites criticism.

¶ 05 Different people understood it differently — like a blind man feeling an elephant. The Police saw Clean Sri Lanka as removing accessories from three-wheelers and buses and repainting doors; then there were protests and strikes; the Government extended deadlines by three months; then now they say pay Rs. 1,000 and there is no problem. Next, I saw some MPs removing water hyacinth in tanks; that is how they saw it. Others cleaned roads; after years they cleaned the Fort railway station; now they say this is Clean Sri Lanka.

¶ 06 I say, let’s do this properly — I support it 200 percent. When the President made his first speech here, I said I consider Clean Sri Lanka very important. But there must be a new system. I saw Hon. Chathuranga Abeysinghe say there is a process and they will present it on the 25th. Hon. Namal Rajapaksa also asked for ToRs, to inform public servants, and spell out the tasks. Since we are debating this for two days, we should discuss the plan. Instead, our Hon. Samantha Viddyarathna spoke of grabbing bungalows and cleaning those — that’s how he sees Clean Sri Lanka. I say that is not it. Some may think catching thieves is Clean Sri Lanka — that is only one side.