News
Ex-Rehab & Prisons Reforms Minister:Crisis cannot be solved by releasing prisoners alone
… compares Welisara corona eruption with that of Mahara
By Shamindra Ferdinando
One-time Rehabilitation and Prisons Reforms Minister D. E. W. Gunasekara yesterday (8) said that tangible remedial measures should be taken to address the explosive situation in prisons.
Referring to the recent bloody riots in the Mahara Prison complex, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party emphasised that the problems pertaining to the prison system couldn’t be resolved by releasing convicts and remand suspects.
Gunasekara served as Rehabilitation and Prisons Reforms Minister during 2010-2011 before the Cabinet reshuffle during which several senior ministers were sidelined.
Responding to The Island queries, the former minister who recently quit active politics, said that instead of addressing the growing unrest in prisons, the government appeared to have responded to the crisis caused by the corona pandemic.
Gunasekara urged those responsible for prisons to identify the genuine grievances of the inmates.
Gunasekera said that the government should have taken adequate precautions to thwart the eruption of the corona epidemic in prisons, especially in the wake of the crisis faced by the Navy during the first eruption.
In spite of attempts to deceive the public, thanks to The Island what really caused the corona outbreak at the Welisara Navy base was in the public domain, the former minister said. “The truth is unprecedented congestion caused a corona crisis in that base. Finally, the Navy had no option but to move thousands of personnel stationed at Welisara to bases in the Northern and Eastern Provinces et al,” Gunasekera said.
Comparing Welisara crisis with that of Mahara that claimed the lives of 11 men, Gunasekera said that prisons authorities couldn’t absolve themselves of the responsibility for the well-being of convicts and as well as remand suspects.
“They are the custodians of those who had been entrusted by the courts,” the former minister said. At the time of the Mahara eruption, there had been approximately 2,800 convicts and suspects, the vast majority being the latter.
Gunasekara questioned the rationale in releasing remand prisoners and convicts in response to the congestion. Asked what would be his recommendation, the former Prisons Reforms Minister pointed out that the problem couldn’t be resolved by releasing inmates. Gunasekara agreed with The Island assertion that if emptying the prisons was the solution, then law enforcement authorities and courts, too, would have to curtail ongoing operations especially directed at narcotics and remanding suspects pending investigations, respectively.
Gunasekara urged the government to undertake proper reappraisal of the prisons and expand where necessary to meet what he called public security requirements. The former minister also agreed that it would be a huge mistake on the government’s part to go slow on organized crime because it lacked infrastructure to hold suspects.
Referring to a joint press conference given by the Police and the Excise Department at the latter’s head office, former MP Gunasekara pointed out the Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana was on record as having revealed during 2019 Nov-2020 Nov period 72,000 persons were arrested in connection with heroin, ganja and synthetic drugs such as ICE offenses. If the country lacked the infrastructure to detain suspects it could cause a serious law and order situation, the former minister said, pointing out that the failure to address the issue at hand after the conclusion of the war over a decade ago.
Prisons Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation Minister Lohan Ratwatte told the inaugural meeting of the Justice Ministry Consultative Committee meeting recently the government was planning to release 8,000 prisoners to overcome the congestion.
Gunasekera said that the State should provide basic facilities to the prisoners. “On my first visit to Welikada having assumed duties as rehabilitation and prisons reforms minister over a decade ago, I saw a very long queue there. I was told such long queues were routine as Welikada lacked sufficient toilet facilities. In the absence of proper system to provide such facilities, I sought help from Sri Lanka Red Cross. They swiftly provided funds required to build several dozens of toilets and bathrooms,” Gunasekera said.
Responding to another query, the former minister said that different governments commissioned four reports on prisons reforms and he studied them all soon after receiving the relevant portfolio. Gunasekera said that he was deprived of an opportunity to implement the recommendations in a meaningful way.
The former minister said that appointing commissions after some disaster today was somewhat fashionable. The Mahara riot was a catastrophe which could have been avoided, the ex-MP said. Gunasekera urged the government to examine the complex situation and take remedial measures in consultation with all stakeholders. Gunasekera urged the Opposition not to play politics with the issue but make suitable suggestions.
Lanka Sathosa has reduced the price of the following food items with effect from today.
Accordingly the new retail price (per kilogram) of the items are
Peanuts Rs 995.00
Brown Sugar Rs 300.00
Potatoes (Imported) Rs 180.00
Red Cowpea Rs 765.00
Sprats Rs 940.00
Dried Chillies Rs 830.00
Basmathi Rice (Premier) Rs 645.00
Big Onions (Imported) Rs 230.00
Lentils Rs 288.00
White Sugar Rs 240.00
Latest News
This year’s budget will be presented with the aim of decentralizing the concentrated economy by involving every segment of the population – President
President Anura Kumara Disanayake stated that this year’s budget will be prepared with the objective of involving every segment of the population in the country’s economic processes.
The President expressed these views during a preliminary discussion held on Tuesday (21) at the Presidential Secretariat with officials from the Ministry of Finance regarding the formulation of the 2025 budget.
The discussion focused on the importance of establishing an efficient and productive economic system, emphasizing the necessity of strengthening public transportation and optimizing the utilization of decentralized funds allocated to Members of Parliament (MP).
The meeting explored government intervention and the steps needed to improve public transportation by providing essential facilities.
It was noted that in previous administrations, significant amounts of money were allocated to decentralized funds, but these funds were not directed toward productive projects. Attention was drawn to the need for allocating these resources toward national projects to ensure their effective utilization.
Discussions were also held on regulating the rice stocks held by producers and ensuring that loans provided to rice millers for purchasing paddy are repaid within a year.
The President emphasized the importance of extending the benefits of urban-centered economic activities to the grassroots level and actively involving them in the process, highlighting the need for an economic plan that ensures equitable distribution across all provinces.
He also pointed out deficiencies in the existing welfare distribution mechanisms, stressing the need to identify the genuinely deserving communities and expedite the delivery process to ensure timely support.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando; Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, . Mahinda Siriwardana; Senior Additional Secretary to the President, . Russell Aponsu; and Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, . A.K. Seneviratne, along with other officials.
“Don’t seek to capitalise on our achievements’
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila said that he was delighted that the National People’s Power (NPP) government had decided to go ahead with the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm development project agreement inked during President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency.
The former Energy Minister said so in response to The Island query regarding President Anura Kumara Dissanyake’s declaration at a public rally held at Katukurunda that 61 out of the 99 oil storage tanks would be jointly developed. The President sought credit for the project implying that his recent state visit to New Delhi facilitated it, former lawmaker Gammanpila said.
Declaring that the agreement on the Trincomalee oil tank farm had been signed on January 06, 2022, Attorney-at-Law Gammanpila emphasized that it was tabled in Parliament on Feb 08, 2022. The signatories to the agreement were Sri Lanka, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Lanka IOC and the subsidiary company Trinco Petroleum Terminal Pvt. Ltd., of which CPC retained 51% and Lanka IOC 49%. President Dissanayake, who had been the leader of a three-member NPP ministerial delegation that made a state visit to India last month, couldn’t be unaware of the agreement that was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on January 03, 2022, in the run-up to the eruption of public protest campaign demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster, the PHU leader said.
Having been severely critical of the then government’s plans, it would be unfair of the NPP leader ,who is also the leader of the JVP, to take credit for this strategically important Trinco project.
The ex-MP stressed that Lanka IOC is a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation which is under the ownership of that country’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Alleging that the NPP has nothing to do with the Trinco project, the ex-Energy Minister said that in terms of the agreement that covered lower and upper sections of the oil tank farm – consisting of 99 tanks – 14 tanks were further leased to Lanka IOC, 24 tanks to the CPC and the rest to be jointly developed by India and Sri Lanka.
Of the 24 tanks allocated to CPC, five had been already renovated, the PHU chief said, adding that Sri Lanka and India first covered the Trinco oil tank farm in an agreement at the time of the Indo-Lanka Accord that was forced on President J.R. Jayewardene. Since then there had been a couple of agreements that dealt with the British built Trinco oil tank farm targeted by a Japanese naval task force during the Second World War. Of the 100-tank facility, only one was hit.
The PHU leader said that President Dissanayake also claimed credit for securing, what his media division dubbed, the single largest foreign direct investment worth USD 3.7 bn on a state-of-the-art oil refinery at Mirijjawila, Hambantota, whereas the actual agreement was finalized in Nov. 2023 during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency. SLPP’s Kanchana Wijesekera served as the Energy Minister at that time.
The former Minister urged the NPP to accept the truth. Having repeatedly accusing the previous governments of selling national assets to India, the NPP now pursued the same policy, Gammanpila said, declaring the NPP took the electorate for a mega ride. The NPP had been badly exposed and humiliated in the eyes of the public who really believed their catchy and often touted vow to change the system.
The former Minister said that President Dissanayake’s state visits to New Delhi and Beijing advanced the agendas that had been previously agreed. “That is the truth the NPP is reluctant to accept. The NPP claims on Trinco oil tank farm and Mirijjiwila oil refinery proved beyond doubt that previously agreed projects were continuing,” ex-lawmaker Gammanpila said.
Contrary to routine criticism of the IMF, the NPP leadership faithfully followed the IMF agenda as agreed during the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa administration, the lawyer said, reminding the NPP conveniently refrained from opposing the Economic Transformation Bill that received parliamentary approval during Wickremesinghe’s presidency.
Gammanpila said that essentially the NPP’s overall policies were the same. There couldn’t be better examples than the continuation of the Trinco project inked before Aragalaya and the Mirijjawila project finalised a year after Aragalaya to highlight the NPP’s duplicity, he said.
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