The Hon. Sajith Premadasa

¶ 01 Thank you for the Leader of the House’s altruism.

¶ 02 President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, before the election, pledged at the National Retirees’ Convention in Maharagama on 19 May 2024 to resolve teachers’/principals’ anomalies dating back to 1997. But in the Budget he told them to go home. Moreover, JVP-aligned unions filed the court case on behalf of aggrieved retired teachers/principals, collecting funds from each retiree to pay lawyers. Now the same side says they are ready to settle when the Supreme Court takes it up on 24 November. Do not abandon pensioners; do what was promised.

¶ 03 On the preschool remark: whatever you say about being Marxist and not neoliberal, your operative framework is the IMF program. The IMF revenue target as a share of GDP is 15 percent; you have now exceeded it to 15.9 percent, yielding an extra Rs. 287 billion. Keep it at 15 percent and allocate the extra Rs. 287 billion to poverty reduction, MSME revival, and to catalyze one million new business start-ups.

¶ 04 On primary balance: IMF requires +2.3 percent; you are at +3.8 percent—1.5 percentage points tighter—achieved by either cutting spending or raising taxes. That yields an extra Rs. 479 billion. Use that to empower farmers, fishers, workers, self-employed and women.

¶ 05 I also draw attention to the harassment of Nikinie, Chairperson of the Aratchchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha. Please investigate; do not force her to resign. Empower women economically and in leadership—prove it by action.

¶ 06 A grave risk lies in the macro-linked bonds agreed in the restructuring. Creditors accepted haircuts; but macro-linked instruments will increase debt service as the economy grows, eroding the haircut benefits. This undermines growth incentives and is a serious policy error. I urge removal of these unfair macro-linked features to align debt service with sustainable growth.

¶ 07 Lastly, the “Community Power” program has been politicized—positions given to party loyalists; funds of about Rs. 25 billion are being allocated, with roughly Rs. 1.7 million per GN division, not Rs. 1 million as advertised. Youth societies, Civil Security committee posts, and even upcoming samithi may be politicized. Is this the promised system change? I present this book to the Prime Minister—please study whether the government is implementing what it pledged; then you can judge what is logical and what is not.

¶ 08 Thank you.