The Hon. R.M. Ranjith Madduma Bandara

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, after a year in office, we must see if the Government met its promises. Minister Vasantha Samarasinghe spoke on public servants—your policy said wages would be revised in six months. The lowest-paid public servant’s increase amounts to only Rs. 1,800, even counting the earlier Rs. 5,000 given by Ranil Wickremesinghe. Under Yahapalanaya, we increased the minimum public-service basic salary from Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 30,000—107%. You only added a few thousand, and by consolidating all allowances to basic, benefits accrue only at pension—affecting about 25,000 who retire annually, while 1.4 million will wait years.

¶ 02 You claim Yahapalanaya stopped pension adjustments—we did not; we raised pensions by 43%. You only gave a Rs. 3,500 pension allowance. You promised to align pensions from 2016–2020 upon taking office, but did not.

¶ 03 On national security and police independence: there are moves to strip the National Police Commission’s powers over transfers and promotions and hand them to the IGP, undermining the 19th and 21st Amendments’ intent to protect independent commissions. This reverses your own policy promises to correct past wrongs.

¶ 04 On Easter Sunday: the President said in early April he would reveal the mastermind by April 21. A year has passed—what justice has been delivered? If Sara is in India as claimed, why have you not sought her extradition? Catholics are still waiting for justice.

¶ 05 On debt: you claimed you wouldn’t borrow. Yet in the first six months, you borrowed Rs. 1,150 billion. From September to March, debt rose by Rs. 1,100 billion. Revenue may be up, but where are the benefits to people? Vehicle imports were allowed, but sales are stagnant as purchasing power has collapsed. Government is getting richer; people poorer. What major development projects have begun? No roads, no bridges. Teachers, who helped you, were promised settlement of two-thirds of the remaining salary anomalies per the Subodinee Report during the first year—when will you deliver? Time is short; I conclude.