The Hon. Chanaka Madugoda

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, the previous Hon. Member spoke of drinking a cold glass of water. We shall see in future whether that glass is cold or turns red.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, there was talk about the Deputy Secretary-General of Parliament. I will not speak at length on that. From village funeral aid societies to the temple dayaka sabha, your Government tries to capture and convert every committee into your branch, and now, through levelling false allegations against officials, you are trying to make this Parliament too a branch committee. We will see the outcomes in time; I will not go further on that.

¶ 03 On the eve of our 78th Independence Day, your Government must reflect whether it has brought true freedom to the people. Under your Government, citizens’ freedoms have been curtailed, as have those of public servants.

¶ 04 You came to power promising good governance. Today, Government and institutional employees are being subjected to various punitive pressures. Even here in Parliament we see this. An officer at the Badulla branch of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau has been terminated for criticizing the Government. Before you came to power, when you were in the Opposition, you criticized every Government; you ran smear campaigns through media and social media. Now, in power, you level accusations and remove public servants who criticize you.

¶ 05 Hon. Presiding Member, six to seven employees of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation have been dismissed from service because they criticized the Government or expressed views on Facebook. The Government is spreading its power to a point where even expressing an opposing view is not allowed. I wish to alert this House to the pressure on all public servants and institutional staff.

¶ 06 Today, Mrs. Shiranthi Rajapaksa was summoned to the FCID and Hon. Namal Rajapaksa to the CID. No problem — they faced it and will face it. But if the Government thinks it can suppress the Opposition — especially our Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna — with massive repression; if it thinks one can be freed from importing 323 containers; from the great coal scam; from the still unanswered tri-forces food supply tender scandal; from importing substandard medicines that risked lives; and from the President’s broken promise to expose the mastermind of the Easter attacks on 21 April — if the Government thinks it can escape all that while dragging us to the FCID and CID — that is its wrongdoing. As we celebrate independence, we hope the Government will act to confirm the public trust.

¶ 07 I also exposed, during the last sitting week, one of the biggest frauds — which I said occurred an hour earlier — and pleaded not to proceed, but Cabinet approval was given and it is happening today: a multibillion-rupee fraud in supplying food to the tri-forces. No Minister or Government MP has uttered a word. I ask that you respond today.

¶ 08 For example, in the tender for forces’ supplies, one bid priced dried turmeric at Rs. 2,130 per kilo, but your Cabinet approved a bid at Rs. 2,750 — a difference of Rs. 620 per kilo. From turmeric alone, about Rs. 6 million per year is lost. I challenge you to reveal this scam here today. Thank you for the opportunity.