Hon. (Mrs.) Saroja Savithri Paulraj - Minister of Women and Child Affairs

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to commence this debate on the Clean Sri Lanka Project with a quote from Nelson Mandela: “It always seems impossible until it’s done. So start today.” Throughout today’s debate, the Opposition has repeatedly told us that this is impossible. We say to them: we will not abandon this midstream. We will complete what we have started and make it a full process.

¶ 02 We did not conceive this programme on January 1. Although we formally announced it as a State on January 1, even before the last Presidential Election our aim was to cleanse this country and its political culture. We lined up for that purpose. At that time too some kept saying we could never win power or a Presidential Election. Based on the mandate we received, we proved to this country that we could. They said we could not win a General Election either, but through the people’s mandate we repeatedly demonstrated what we can do.

¶ 03 Opposition MP Chamara Sampath said to “ask for the ‘game’ not from Asachala but from this person.” We say, we are not in a fight with anyone; our task is to defeat the rotten political culture. We began that process. Through the Presidential and Parliamentary mandates, the people of this country have clearly endorsed this mission. The mandate we have is to build, within five years, a Clean Sri Lanka, a new political culture and a beautiful country. Through the Clean Sri Lanka Programme and the State-cleaning process we are carrying out in this Parliament, we further assure the nation that we will deliver.

¶ 04 The Opposition gave us two months, expecting the Government to collapse, salaries to go unpaid, power and gas shortages, the loss of international support, and national breakdown. To those who waited for a Government elected for five years to flee within two months, we say: what you hoped for will remain a dream for five years. Within these two months, a country once labelled bankrupt has been turned back into a State that can service its debt, with economic stability, recovery and regained international confidence, trusted regionally and beyond. Under the leadership of the President, this Government has achieved that, and we assure the people of Sri Lanka of it.

¶ 05 As a country, we are not in any natural or man-made disaster. The economy has not collapsed. We are not printing money to pay public sector salaries. We are honouring the promises made to public servants. We have not suspended salaries, cut welfare for beneficiaries, or disrupted essential services at any time in these two months. We have demonstrated rapid progress to secure people’s livelihoods and their rights. We have kept our promises to public servants. Welfare benefits, especially Aswasuma benefits, have been increased and their duration extended. The fertilizer subsidy for farmers has been raised up to Rs. 25,000. Pensions have been increased by Rs. 3,000. We have acted to provide the “gig bata” (hardship) allowance to officers in the security forces. Fisherfolk have been supported. We are providing 22.5 kg of fertilizer per acre. Not only to Aswasuma families with small children but to all students in schools under 300 students, totaling 800,000, we granted Rs. 6,000 to purchase school books. We have stabilized the rupee. I also wish to note, even in the absence of the Hon. Prime Minister in this House, that the health unit allocated to the Prime Minister was dissolved and its equipment and ambulances donated to the National Hospital—showing we have dispelled waste and corruption.

¶ 06 From the President and Prime Minister downwards, all Ministers’ expenses have been cut, curbing waste. Within these two months we recorded the highest excise (liquor) revenue collection in over 120 years. It was under our Government that Johnston Fernando was compelled to pay excise dues with penalties. We have enforced the law against Arjun Aloysius and others who evaded excise. We will not allow any religious or racist conspiracy to drag this Government down. Regarding Arugam Bay too, the State leadership intervened promptly; the security apparatus acted and defeated the conspiracy, showing Sri Lanka is a stable State. We have assured there will be no room for such conspiracies again.

¶ 07 We will provide further significant relief to the people in the upcoming Budget. As a democratic Government, we will deliver relief to the people.

¶ 08 At this moment our foreign investment is increasing. We have laid foundation stones for factories in the Katunayake Export Processing Zone. Work has commenced at the Eppawala phosphate deposit. The Valachchenai paper mill has been reopened. The prices of high-cost anti-cancer medicines have been reduced significantly. A drug that was sold at around Rs. 76,000 has been tendered among three pharmaceutical companies and is now made available to people at a much lower price. Prices of 90 essential medicines have been reduced. These are benefits delivered to the people within two short months.

¶ 09 We also increased the tax-free threshold on income (which had been reduced to Rs. 100,000 previously) now to Rs. 150,000 to give relief. We know there are issues in the Aswasuma targeting due to the data system created by the past Government, which is inaccurate and corrupt. We assure that within the next two to three months, the data system will be rectified and regularized to ensure accurate and effective delivery of benefits to the rightful groups.

¶ 10 Clean Sri Lanka is not only about cleaning the environment, drains, canals or highways, as our colleague Dayasiri Jayasekara might frame it. It is, in essence, about restoring what the political culture destroyed for 76 years: the dignity of Sri Lanka, people’s right to thrive, national coexistence, and religious harmony. It embodies social, ethical and environmental cleanliness. We will not allow religion or race to be weaponized for politics.

¶ 11 We also need an attitudinal transformation. We must build a society that respects one another. Ultimately, we aim for social attitude change and environmental purity. Within our programme we are running a pilot across 1,000 schools and integrating these concepts into the curriculum—how we develop as a country and bind Clean Sri Lanka to raise a future generation with genuine patriotism, purity, values and character. We will build a society where adults are protected, youth can live happily in community, women and children live free from violence, and a child’s education is not decided by parents’ pocket money.

¶ 12 To those who created the rice crisis while in Opposition, we are seeking solutions. Those who made life unbearable for the people, we are addressing that too. We have only just begun; we will finish victoriously, win people’s confidence, and together build a new country. Thank you for the opportunity.