The Hon. Chanaka Madugoda

¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees.

¶ 02 Whoever presents this Bill, first and foremost, we must register our opposition to it. We remember how this Government came to power claiming it was transferring power from the capitalist class to the poor. What we are seeing now is the transfer of the power of the poor back to the capitalist class by contract.

¶ 03 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, when talking about pensions and allowances for Members of Parliament, the Government’s first duty is to table in this House the Chitrasiri Report that was handed to the President, and to explain what it says. That has not been done.

¶ 04 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, we know Members enter Parliament through various paths. Some arrive through their skills and wealth. Others devote their entire lives to politics, sacrificing their livelihoods and income. Another group comes from various professions—doctors, lawyers, senior public officials—who have left state service and their sources of income to be here today. Yet, those very Members now say, “We do not want a pension; abolish it.” If pensions are unnecessary, why not also refuse other benefits—allowances, official vehicles, official housing? If the pension is rejected, those should be unnecessary too.

¶ 05 We heard boasts about coming to Parliament by bicycle, by train, and bringing a lunch packet from home. If so, why not build that culture now? In reality, what is being attempted here is to halt the political participation of people from the lower and middle classes—people like us—and to secure the position of those who already maintain the largest political funds in the country through their party machinery. They can protect their MPs with those funds. Is the real intent of this Bill to abolish the parliamentary pension so that only those with money and massive party funds can endure?

¶ 06 We hear about the coal tender scandal, the 323 containers, and the scandal over the armed forces’ rations tender. Are the funds accumulated through such misconduct to be used to safeguard and look after the 159 on the Government’s side?

¶ 07 It was said only Mr. Kannangara could be mentioned. He was cited because of the principled measures he initiated in 1976. Many in this House—on both Government and Opposition benches—have served without theft, dedicated to genuine public work. Are they protected by this Bill? No. The beneficiaries will be the wealthy, or worse—those with underworld links, narcotics money, and ill-gotten wealth.

¶ 08 With little time left, let me note one more point. A retired MP wrote to me yesterday on WhatsApp. He had taken a bank loan secured against his parliamentary pension. What happens now to such innocent former MPs? However, let me be clear: we did not enter Parliament to draw a pension. Whether there is a pension or not, whether there are allowances or vehicles or not, we will not stop our politics. We will continue to work for the people.

¶ 09 Thank you.