The Hon. Dinindu Saman Hennayake - Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs

¶ 01 Madam Deputy Chairperson of Committees, today we are discussing several important topics. As a member of COPA, I expect we will have a discussion on the COPA report concerning the Department of Motor Traffic.

¶ 02 Before that, let me recall this: Many here boast that they can do the job—now talking about the economy and foreign reserves. They have forgotten where the reserves went. Like birds, they came, planted the “advice,” and we all know the result: the Government went bankrupt due to the counsel provided to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by that team. Now we are told to take advice again from those bankrupt advisors. If we do that, only divine intervention can help. We will not do so.

¶ 03 They also talk about Sallay today. Why is this brought up now? Because Gotabaya Rajapaksa has a travel ban, and when that comes up, Sallay also comes to mind. Consider the interconnections. It is fine to worship at the Bodhi. But we say: go to the Bodhi Tree and speak also for the victims of the Easter attacks—tell the Bodhi about the tears of those mothers and fathers; speak publicly about that mass murder. Do not only talk to the Bodhi about Sallay or terrorists. Stand for the tears of those parents. People are still suffering, still crying, still under pressure because of that heinous act. You may have done those acts of terror to seize power, but we say we must stand for the people. Let those who bear witness do their duty. Even today there are children who cry for lost parents, widows whose husbands were killed, and children who lost limbs. Who is responsible? You must take responsibility for that despicable act committed for political ambition. You brought that Government. When speaking here, remember who freed Ibrahim. Things that happened in court happened.

¶ 04 We must oppose the fake nationalism at play. Just because you don white, we must expose the raw terrorism inside. We will watch how you govern. If you had not given the ruinous advice that wrecked the economy, we would still have foreign reserves. You must take responsibility. What we have now are the consequences. Our COPA report shows the misdeeds from 2012 onward. So far, the current report covers only the Department of Motor Traffic. We cannot ignore it.

¶ 05 We heard fairy tales when we were small. But after summoning DMT officials to COPA, we heard even greater fairy tales: motor bicycles cleared through Customs becoming registered as Prados and Benzes; motorcycles transformed into luxury SUVs—your work. When discussing these in COPA, with some Members who had already “tasted the gravy,” we saw the extremely corrupt manner of vehicle transactions. We must recall this. We must thank the officers who revealed these issues at the Committee.

¶ 06 Let me draw your attention to specific matters we raised in COPA. Licences issued for religious institutions were misused: out of 158 vehicles imported under licences for religious places, 120 were not given to such institutions but registered to private parties. These are the so-called “respectable” men’s deeds—doing business by selling religion. We exposed them. It may hurt them, but we should honour the public officials who fulfilled their duty by unveiling these.

¶ 07 We know the environment we had: a culture where entire families were cast out if they opposed the regime. Yet public officers still exposed such corruption. We should respect their courage, and thank the Auditor General and audit officials who helped uncover this. We know the end result: serious fraud and corruption—how Prados were brought, how vehicles were wrongly registered, how motor bicycles were used as cover, how money was siphoned. We also saw a recent issue regarding vehicle number plates: Rs. 931 million stolen just from number plates—your usual governance. You want us to do the same. We will not do that. We will not destroy the economy the way you did. Tomorrow, we will rebuild this economy. We will ensure it.

¶ 08 Thank you.