The Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna

¶ 01 Thank you for the opportunity, Hon. Presiding Member.

¶ 02 Speaking on telecommunications today, it is clear that the whole country now knows this Government undoes everything—an example being the attempt to remove the Deputy Secretary-General of Parliament, which has now tangled the Government itself. Mr. Hansa Abeyratne, you too be careful—you never know when they will pull the trigger.

¶ 03 Next, the teacher development officers. They are on the streets. Those who once brought development officers out against previous governments are in Parliament today, yet none of them spoke of conditions then. Now, under the JVP-led Government, those very teacher development officers are still on the road. For 7 to 13 years they have served in schools, received various training—longer than some graduates. They have sent students for Scholarship exams, O/Ls and A/Ls; prepared question papers; marked answers—everything a teacher does, they have done.

¶ 04 Hon. Deputy Minister, I wish to note: the country needs about 43,000 teachers; you said you would recruit 23,000, leaving a 20,000 gap. If you remove these 12,000 development officers as well, the shortfall will be around 32,000. I am pleased to say here: you have done one good thing. You have absorbed some of those who were monks serving as development officers into the service as Teacher Development Officers. That is good. I propose you absorb the others similarly. In some difficult areas, schools are run only by a principal and a few development officers.

¶ 05 On teacher recruitment, Government Chief Whip Bimal Rathnayake made a statement I saw on a YouTube channel—that in the past, teachers were recruited by taking them into a room. I condemn this. He should withdraw that statement; it is an insult to the entire teaching community.

¶ 06 Next, coal imports. I am not talking about the tenders already awarded, but about the future corruption they are attempting. Every past government prioritized uninterrupted electricity supply. Hence long-term coal contracts or planned procurements. But what is the situation now? The Government has contracts for 24 coal ships. Norochcholai cannot run without coal. If they do not manage this properly, like in 2022, they will scare the country with power cuts to justify urgent purchases. We all understand the truth behind this.

¶ 07 The Government had 12 to 16 months to procure coal. Long-term tenders should have been called on time; at minimum, competitive spot tenders should have been called ahead of the season. Instead, they waited till the last minute to create fear and then go for “emergency purchases.” I saw a Cabinet decision last week to buy coal under emergency procurement; the newspapers mention it. Here lies the biggest problem. In our history, the worst corruption in the power sector occurred under “emergency procurement”—fuel not procured on time; substandard fuel brought; money siphoned. Before droughts, reservoirs are run down; diesel generators are run; unit costs double or triple. All because of lack of planning, Hon. Presiding Member.

¶ 08 Now the same approach is being used for coal. There are about 70 days left to unload coal at Puttalam; before 10 April it must be done. If they go for so-called emergency procurement now, it will be at the highest prices, lowest quality, under the cover of fear.