The Hon. Susantha Kumara Nawarathna

¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, since morning the Opposition has done what they usually do—collecting words from anywhere to sling mud in this debate on extending Emergency.

¶ 02 The 2025 natural disaster was one of the gravest in our history, inflicting heavy economic losses and many deaths. In the Central Highlands, houses were buried under earth; numerous roads and bridges were destroyed; schools and places of worship were damaged. Two months have passed since, and still some areas cannot be fully restored. Many people remain in rented houses. The President and this Government decided as policy to provide Rs. 500,000 for fully damaged houses and fair compensation for partial damage. The Opposition says compensation has not been paid; but the programme to pay Rs. 500,000 is underway.

¶ 03 Why extend Emergency? Because within this period we must keep intervening swiftly to restore the right to life and normal social life of affected people; to rebuild schools for children who lost them; to restore health services where they failed. Over the coming months we will complete these tasks, and the majority of the country supports extending Emergency to accelerate recovery. Tell us where, in the last two months under Emergency, any citizen’s rights were violated. Nowhere. People’s freedom of expression and protests have been allowed.

¶ 04 We are extending Emergency in good faith to provide facilities to affected people and restore the country. Over 20,000 houses will receive Rs. 500,000 grants; much work remains.

¶ 05 Regarding decentralized funds to temples and similar institutions: there are 25 Ministries, with allocations including for religious sites. In past eras, decentralized funds were abused—including by some Presidents and Prime Ministers distributing them to their favourites. We have decided to allocate decentralized funds to all 225 MPs fairly.

¶ 06 As for the 2026 Budget: despite the disaster, we are not reversing our development proposals; we will proceed, strengthen the economy, and provide unprecedented compensation—raising cultivation support to Rs. 150,000 per hectare, and providing compensation for human–wildlife conflict, among others.

¶ 07 Some said, “Stand straight.” We are doing just that: from the President and Cabinet to MPs and local bodies, we act decisively where needed.

¶ 08 Thank you for the opportunity.