The Hon. J.C. Alawathuwala

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, during this debate on the Parliamentary Pensions (Abolition) Bill, our party’s position has been made clear by the Leader of the Opposition: “There should be a pension for MPs.”

¶ 02 Hon. Namal Karunaratne said public opinion is with them. We will see soon. Parliamentary and local elections have been held; now there are cooperative elections. In Kurunegala District, where both of us are from, at today’s cooperative elections we—standing as the common Opposition—won nearly all cooperatives by public vote. I challenge you: bring the Provincial Council elections now, under the previous system. We will support that motion. Then we will see the public verdict. As for the cited research, the presented data are baseless and false.

¶ 03 On pensions: note what people from your own party have said. The late Nandana Gunathilaka, your Presidential candidate, publicly stated he survived on his MP pension—paying for medicines and house rent from it. I table that statement reported on “Ceylonwire.” Similarly, an interview in yesterday’s “Mawbima” with former MP Navarathna Banda of Kandy details his plight if the pension is removed. Think at least about those from your own party who toiled to bring you here—39 MPs who served since 2010. How many are now in dire straits? Some say they are ready to die; they cannot live. Others in different parties face the same. In your party’s case, their life certificates are controlled by your party, worsening their hardship.

¶ 04 You claim 159 Members are sacrificing. But with five-year terms often cut short by early dissolutions, many first-time MPs will never qualify for a pension. Since 2000, unless one served two terms, no pension accrued. Do not pretend everyone is foregoing a pension.

¶ 05 There are about 600,000 pensioners in Sri Lanka. You promised to eliminate their disparities—do that. Do not target a small number of former MPs—some of whom can barely afford medicines. Raise public sector pensions fairly. If you insist on a threshold, at least ensure a pension for those who served 10 years, similar to qualifying years in government service.

¶ 06 Thank you.