“We all know when the president signals right, he often turns left”

The president waxes eloquent about how he has turned the economy around, but all those are hollow words despite the semblance of normality achieved thanks to the moratorium on debt repayment, TNA MP MA Sumanthiran told parliament on Thursday speaking on the debate on the president’s policy statement.

“Of course the president waxes eloquent about how much he has turned the economy around. All of us know that those are hollow words; it is true that there is a semblance of normality that has been restored.

“With his long experience one must concede that he has steadied the ship somewhat, and we wish to congratulate him on that part. When you have a moratorium on debt repayment, that’s a looming disaster, it gives you immediate relief only to have darker clouds surround the country a little later.

“Similarly the IMF relief enables us to borrow more now.Well we need to borrow, no one disputes that, but that can only take that into further debt. So it seems on the outwards the things are rosy, but in fact they are not,” the MP said.

He continued: “Well we need to borrow, no one disputes that, but that can only take that into further debt. So it seems on the outwards the things are rosy, but in fact they are not. A long term look will tell us, that that is not true. And the country must realize this.

“The country must also realize that the president has declared this year an election year, as though it is entirely at his disposal to decide on election date. We are a Republic, we are not a Monarchy. Our constitution stipulates, the laws stipulate, when periodic elections must be held.

“When local council elections were declared to be held early last year, by a sleight of hand, by not by not signing the warrant to release money, the minister of finance who is the President himself thwarted the citizens of this country exercising their franchise. That’s a violation, that’s a violation against democracy, that’s a violation against constitution.”

Pointing out how last year’s local elections were not held on a ‘no money’ plea he said the president has now decided that the presidential elections must be held. And so the treasury has been advised to release the funds for elections – presidential election and a general election this year.

“Now we all know that when the president signals right, he often turns left. So we are not quite sure what this signaling really is,” he declared adding that you can’t build an economy by depriving people of their franchise. But that is what we see today.

Sumanthiran also highlighted that when the president took office, “he came to this House and he said first shall we resolve the ethnic conflict? He asked everyone in this House, everyone put their hands up. Everyone said, yes, we will do it. And he assured us that that’ll be done before the 75th Independence Day celebrations that happened last year. Now we have gone passed the 76th Independence Day as well, and not a hum, not a word from the president on that issue.”