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Sajith accuses govt. of hiding behind IMF and not having a strategy to overcome crisis
By Saman Indrajith
The government did not have a social contract with the people, Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament on Monday (21).
The government had to tell people what its strategy for overcoming the crisis was and secure the cooperation of all stakeholders, he said.
“We are facing a serious crisis. We are not the only country to face a crisis. Many governments have successfully faced similar crises and they have done this by coming into a social contract with the people. The Ranil Wickremesinghe government has no contract with the people. The only contract the President has is the one with the 134 MPs that voted him into power,” he said.
Premadasa said that MPs have been debating the 2023 budged for days. However, the rationale behind the budget is not revealed to the MPs, the opposition leader said.
“The government has come to a staff level agreement with the IMF and all its policies are based on that. However, the MPs have not seen it. The Parliament is supposed to determine state finances, but this is not true. Everyone knows this. The government is also using the IMF agreement to fleece the people. If anyone criticizes the economic policy of the government, its leaders say that this is what the IMF wants, and that Sri Lanka will be in deep trouble without IMF funding. I don’t know about the IMF, but rich henchmen of the government are benefitting,” he said.
Premadasa added that the budget 2023 has many inconsistencies. It talks about encouraging exports while burdening exporters with taxes.
“The ministers talk about an environmentally friendly budget and about digitization. This is good but where is the money allocated for this? This is not different to the 2022 budget presented by Basil Rajapaksa. The average Sri Lankan is taxed while people involved in corruption are given tax breaks. The sugar scam had cost the state 45 billion rupees. The state is not taxing cigarettes. Officials don’t want to tax tobacco because they are getting money from big tobacco,” he said.
Basil Rajapaksa reduced the taxes on tobacco, Premadasa said. Under a Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) government those who had stolen state funds will be punished and these individuals will have to pay what they owe the state, he said.
“The government is trying to embezzle EPF money again by introducing an insurance scheme for the private sector. 20 percent of the money allocated for welfare will be used for administration work. We need to change this. How do we identify poor people and ensure that the money doesn’t go to cronies? I heard a professor saying that the best way to identify the poor is to look at people’s electricity consumption. This is a good method. We need to do a survey on poverty. We should have done this after COVID. If we had done research and taken steps, we wouldn’t be seeing this level of poverty,” he said.
A sum of LKR. 9,687,462, raised from day’s salary officers of the Police Department, has been donated to the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund, established to support the recovery of communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah and to assist in rebuilding the country following the disaster.
To date, officers of the Police Department have contributed over LKR. 74 million to the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund through three such contributions of one day’s salary.
The donation was presented on Wednesday (22) afternoon at the Presidential Secretariat by the Personal Assistant to the Inspector General of Police, Senior Superintendent of Police C. C. Bamunuarachchi, to the Secretary to the President, Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.
Chief Inspector Udaya Kumara, Officer-in-Charge of the Police Secretariat, was also present on the occasion.
[Presidents Media Division]
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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Northern, North-central, North-western, Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, and Eastern provinces and in Monaragala district during the day time
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Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa has called for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to investigate the illegal diversion of Treasury funds, amounting to US$2.5 million to a third-party account.
Premadasa has said both the chairmanship and a majority of the Committee’s membership should be held by the Opposition to ensure impartiality.
The government has not only failed to account for the loss of US$2.5 million but also deliberately withheld information from Parliament, the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) and the public, Premadasa has told the media, accusing the ruling party of seeking to deflect responsibility by initiating an internal departmental inquiry, which he describes as a biased process designed to justify predetermined conclusions.
The Opposition Leader has said only a transparent and independent probe could establish the facts, adding that such an investigation could be effectively carried out through a Parliamentary Select Committee led by the Opposition.
He has also warned that the alleged failure to inform Parliament about the missing funds amounted to a serious breach of accountability.
Police officers donate LKR 9,687,462 from day’s salary to ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund
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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Northern, North-central, North-western, Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, and Eastern provinces and in Monaragala district during the day time
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