Seetha: “I can’t be faulted for using what a State Minister was entitled to…’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (01) said former President and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe owed an explanation as to why he had accommodated so many friends and associates on government payroll and showered them with a range of perks and privileges amidst the country;s worst-ever economic crisis.

Gammanpila said Wickremesinghe’s actions should be examined, taking into consideration his repeated appeals to the public to bear up growing difficulties.

The disclosure of Wickremesinghe’s team underscored how the UNP leader exploited the developing economic-political crisis for his benefit and to the advantage of his friends, the former Power and Energy Minister said. Responding to another query, the ex-Colombo District lawmaker said that some members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), too, benefited.

Alleging that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was seeking to take political advantage over abuse and misuse of government property by the previous regime, in the run-up to parliamentary polls in November, Gammanpila said that a bankrupt country couldn’t afford to squander taxpayers’ money on cronies.

“We expect the IMF to take up this issue with the relevant officials at the next round of talks with Sri Lanka,” Gammanpila said, declaring this was likely to be a major topic during the General Election campaign.

The number of parliamentarians, and former MPs, who had received vehicles from PMD was astonishing, the ex-Minister said. In spite of what he called an extremely politically difficult environment, Wickremesinghe was under heavy pressure to contest the Presidential Election against all odds for obvious reasons, Gammanpila said.

There hadn’t ever been so many MPs and ex-MPs on a particular list of beneficiaries prepared by the Presidential Secretariat at any given time, the ex-parliamentarian said.

Among those who had received vehicles via the Presidential Secretariat was the then State Health Minister Dr. Seetha Arambepola. Responding to The Island query in this regard, the ex-parliamentarian said that Cabinet and State Ministers were entitled for three vehicles each. Dr. Arambepola said that as the Health Ministry was able to release only two vehicles for her, the Presidential Secretariat made available the third vehicle. Asked what it was, Dr. Arambepola said ‘a Benz.’ Of the three vehicles allocated one was used by her security guards, she said.

During Aragalaya in 2022, a mob caused significant damage to three privately owned vehicles parked at her Battaramulla residence. The former Minister claimed that it wouldn’t be fair to find fault with her for using what she was entitled to. The new government could decide on perks and privileges afforded to parliamentarians afresh but the former shouldn’t be vilified for exercising what has been there.

Gammanpila said that at the behest of Wickremesinghe non-existent positions had been created to accommodate his associates. What ex-parliamentarian Sagala Ratnayake did in his capacity as Presidential Advisor on national security is nothing but a mystery to me, Gammanpila said, adding that a proper audit was necessary to find out how much public funds were spent by those assigned to the Presidential Secretariat and other places after Wickremesinghe’s election as the President by Parliament in late July 2022.