Kiriella warns speaker not to delay no-confidence motions

Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella called on Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to start the process with regard to the no-confidence motions against the President and the government or else people and youth would surround and sit opposite the latter’s house until he did so.

Participating in debate on the present crisis situation in Parliament on Friday, Kiriella said: “People have surrounded the President’s Secretariat. They have surrounded the Prime Minister’s house. Now they have surrounded Parliament too. If the Speaker delays the process with regard to the no confidence motions, then people will surround his house and he will be compelled to commence the process under siege.”

Kiriella said that time has come for each and every MP to consult his or her conscience. “We must ask ourselves whether the voices of people are heard in this House. This cannot remain the House of Representatives for name’s sake. The MPs have to represent their electorates.

It is because of the failure of parliament to do so people have taken to the streets. Today children cannot go to the school. Undergraduates are frustrated as they cannot attend lectures. Many have lost their jobs. The nation is engulfed by many crises.

“The government must find answers for the problems of people. It is not right to ask solutions from the opposition. We as the opposition kept calling on the government to go before IMF since last year. They did not do so because with IMF they have to be accountable for the money they take.

“They tried all they could to get a loan from a country like China so that they could get their cut from that loan too as accountability requirements are low on such loans. Now when everything started to haywire they rush to the IMF.

“The no confidence motions against the government and the President is the last hope. Delaying them means the Speaker is delaying the solution. If there is no solution even after this, there is no point in our coming to Parliament. I am calling on all of you to listen to the cries of people. They are asking the government and the President to go home,” Kiriella said.