The Hon. (Dr.) Nalinda Jayatissa - Minister of Health and Mass Media and Chief Government Whip

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, at the very outset of this debate my request is that nowhere in the world should the Opposition of a Parliament be left this embarrassed as today—after the President presented the Budget, the Opposition had nothing substantial to say about it, left helpless before the media, stammering without answers. They have nothing to say about the Budget. That embarrassment is now over. Then they turned to the Local Authorities Elections (Special Provisions) Bill debate. Now what do they say? Every Opposition speaker says only one thing: postpone the election—there is the O/L exam; take more time; we cannot face an election now.

¶ 02 We know it is usually governments that look for reasons to postpone local authority elections. That has happened before. In 2011, 2012, 2013 under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government, there were local authority elections. The term of office is four years; therefore elections should have been in 2015 and 2016. But they were not held. Dragging on, elections were held only in 2018. Otherwise, they should have been held every four years. The government in office then—the 2015 government of Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe—feared those local elections and postponed them. Given the 2018 local government results, elections should have been held again in 2022. But in 2022 there was no election. The law allows the subject Minister to extend the term by one year. Using that clause, they pushed it by another year, and thus it was set to be held in March 2023.

¶ 03 However, the then President Ranil Wickremesinghe, as before when he was Prime Minister, again postponed the election; there was no election. We remember well he said, “There is no money to hold an election and no election to be held.” Not only that—during that period he did everything possible to undermine democracy. An election for which nominations had been called and campaigns had begun was postponed. If the Treasury had released funds to the Election Commission at least to print the postal ballot papers, that election could have been held. No election has ever required Rs. 10 billion in one tranche; funds are disbursed in stages. But even for printing postal ballots, funds were not released. That too was obstructed. Those in today’s Opposition who then directly or indirectly aided President Ranil Wickremesinghe now come and say, do not hold the election.

¶ 04 Hon. Presiding Member, I heard several MPs say they need to attend the Budget debate; the Opposition is only about 66 Members while the Government has around 158; therefore they cannot conduct nominations in the midst of the Budget. If that was your argument, you should have made it when appointing the Parliamentary Business Committee, COPA, COPE, and Advisory Committees, to demand representation proportionate to your 66 Members. You did not do so then. Instead, you asked for representation for 13 separate groups. We structured committees proportionate to the 66 Opposition Members and ensured fair representation. Attending those committees is your responsibility. Now you say you cannot even go to sign nomination papers. Let us see in the coming days how you attend Parliament. People should be told how diligently they actually attend. We will send that message this time. If you shout more, it will backfire.

¶ 05 There are also claims that there is no money to place deposits. Even the SJB General Secretary and others said before the Election Commission that they lacked funds for deposits. But many in the Opposition are more engaged in business than politics; those parties have money. There was even talk of Rs. 500 million being asked from our Pelawatte office. Do not turn towards us. A certain MP has already collected Rs. 98 million in compensation. If you need funds, ask Keheliya Rambukwella. As far as I know, the only state money he took was the fertilizer subsidy—if he did even that; maybe under a different name. Everything else he took. He has even taken money from the President’s Fund and received damages. We will reveal more. We will soon provide details of how water and electricity bills were paid while occupying official residences.

¶ 06 Hon. Presiding Member, another point being raised is the so-called upset in the electoral system. This is not a Bill to change the electoral system or the proportional representation system. You yourselves handed in nominations, placed deposits, and campaigned under the existing system. If there were defects, you should have raised them then. Now some, especially new Members, claim this system will not produce a village-level representative, is not democratic, and blocks political advancement. This is an existing law. Electoral system issues can be discussed separately, but waking up today and crying foul has no meaning. We need this election—local authority elections—even if you dislike it. We believe the Election Commission should promptly announce the election, and the people also want it, for two reasons.

¶ 07 First, we need maximum democratization of the country by connecting the masses to governance. Parliament and an Executive President alone are insufficient. People must democratically choose their representatives at ground level. Local authority elections provide that opportunity, enabling villagers to appoint those who will engage in village development projects. Why oppose that? Are you afraid? Why prevent your party’s representatives from entering those councils? Remember, after local authority elections we are ready to face Provincial Council elections too. So, while fathers and daughters come to Parliament, give the villagers their chance to enter Pradeshiya Sabhas and Municipal Councils. Hon. Chamindrani Kiriella, make room for that.

¶ 08 Second, it has been five months since the presidential election and three months since the general election; the country has been run not on a Budget we presented but on an interim account for day-to-day affairs. Now, for the first time, our President and Government have brought a Budget capable of rebuilding the country. Based on that, we are rebuilding. To revive the rural economy and take development to the villages as per the Budget now before us, we need a strengthened representative mechanism. That is why we need local authority elections. There are many projects—Hon. Presiding Member, you know this. For example, the Health Ministry is allocated around Rs. 604 billion—about USD 2 billion. The Education Ministry gets over Rs. 600 billion. That is Rs. 1,200 billion for just those two. This is a Budget that channels funds to the village—for rural economy, roads, agriculture, fisheries, and small industries. This cannot be implemented by officials alone. We must identify village priorities, bring them up, monitor projects, and correct shortcomings. For all that we need the local authority mechanism. Moreover, vital tasks such as waste management and dengue control, which should be driven by local bodies, are stalled. Therefore, to democratize the State and to secure genuine public participation in development, we say: hold the local authority elections promptly. We are ready.

¶ 09 Remember, over the past three months, the people have endorsed what this Government has done; the forthcoming local elections will be a referendum on that. You are afraid because once this Budget is implemented, you will be left with nothing. Then even your lower-level machinery will collapse.