The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva
Dr. Harsha de Silva referred to past instances where parliamentary procedure was bypassed, including after the 2018 constitutional crisis, during the 2019 presidential nomination period, and under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s tax cuts, which he linked to the economic collapse. He urged the Government not to routinely use its two-thirds majority to suspend Standing Orders and requested more time for the Opposition to study and debate the Vote on Account, including debt servicing provisions and implications of the IMF agreement.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, thank you. I did say it happened in 2018, 2019, 2020. In 2018 it followed the October constitutional conspiracy—Members leapt the Well, broke mics, threw chili powder; police had to protect Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. Subsequently, Mangala Samaraweera proceeded that way. The second time was after presidential nominations were filed. The third time, under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, tax cuts were effected without even summoning Parliament—without a warrant—triggering the collapse.
¶ 02 I am not saying we must keep doing what was done before. We should be better. Do not use a two‑thirds to suspend Standing Orders as a habit. Give us time to study the Vote on Account—how debt service for three months is handled, what the IMF agreement entails. The Hon. Prime Minister said this follows long consensus, but the Opposition Leader showed you were opposed to the IMF agreement. This appears a quick decision with the IMF; please give us time to study and debate.
¶ 03 Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 3 December 2024 ·No. 1733459564028450 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 3 December 2024. No. 1733459564028450. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/29771