The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, I believe this debate has clarified many important matters for the people. Since our Government took office, the Opposition has had one aim: to show that we are the same as them—corrupt. They chase after any snippet, regardless of accuracy or logic, to paint this Government as corrupt.

¶ 02 Exposing corruption is indeed the Opposition’s duty—for the people, to eradicate corruption and improve governance. When the National People’s Power and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna were in Opposition, they did that consistently, which paved the way for us to be elected. I am not saying the Opposition should not expose wrongdoing.

¶ 03 But the people must ask whether today’s Opposition exposes corruption out of genuine opposition to misgovernance, or to hide their own past and to claim “you are the same as us.” In this debate and previously, the loudest voices claiming the entire Government, up to the President, is corrupt are those directly connected to past major corruptions or who protected them. That intent is clear.

¶ 04 We did not inherit a perfect system. Procurement processes, policy-making and state institutions had many flaws and were deeply corrupt. These cannot be fixed in 24 hours. Mistakes can occur; our job is to correct them. Therefore, this debate on coal and the COPE and National Audit Office inquiries are important to us, because they expose gaps and loopholes we must fix. We actively participate for that reason. The audits and COPE investigations strengthen our journey towards clean governance, as we promised.

¶ 05 However, the Opposition is not bringing this to fix the system, but to label us and our Minister and Cabinet as corrupt to salvage their politics. The debate is not over; there is time. I ask the Opposition to present evidence. If there is a flaw or error, prove that it arose from a corrupt intent by this Cabinet, this Government, or the Minister. Show where and how. If they claim the President and Cabinet are covering up, substantiate it. If the goal was private gain through procurement decisions, prove it; only then will their No-Confidence Motion succeed.

¶ 06 We accept there are weaknesses to be rectified and procurement strengthened. But you are alleging corruption by the Minister and, therefore, the Government. You still have time—within these remaining hours—to prove that intentional corruption was committed by the Minister or Government. Our pledge to the people is that if such a thing has happened, this Government will act and not hesitate.

¶ 07 We are committed to correcting this corrupt system. COPE’s Chair is from our side; our own Members pursue audit issues. We investigate and take action based on findings.