News

Peaceful protests may turn violent if govt inaction persists –LSSP

Published

3 years ago

2022/05/1

LSSP leader Prof Tissa Vitarana in his May Day message says that the poor go hungry and in the face of Government inaction the people have turned to lengthy peaceful protests, but in vain, and now may turn to more violent forms of protest like hartals.

The message says: The Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) gives its best wishes to the working people of Sri Lanka on May Day, the day of unity and celebration of the working class of the world. But with the deepening crisis of global capitalism, aggravated by the Covid 19 Pandemic, the economic burden has been passed onto the working and poor people, with rising prices and frozen incomes. Job losses have occurred due to the owners trimming the workforce and factory closures, leading to longer working hours and increased unemployment. Worker’s rights like overtime payments, EPF etc that the LSSP won are now being cast aside. Steps like contract labour is undermining the trade union movement, which stood at 70% in 1970 and has now dropped to 8%. The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer, with the rich-poor gap widening, both within nations like Sri Lanka, and between nations.

In Sri Lanka more than 60% of the families live below the poverty line and many have to manage on one meal a day. The plantation workers and other workers in the rural agricultural sector suffer most. The middle class too has been affected recently after the dollar crisis.The malnutrition level has gone up to 18.3%, having an adverse effect on the physical and mental development of the children, the future generation. The Government has publicly stated that traders are free to charge any prices, thus exploiting, both the cultivator and the consumer, at their will. State intervention in marketing to control prices is absent. The poor go hungry and in the face of Government inaction the people have turned to lengthy peaceful protests, but in vain, and now may turn to more violent forms of protest like hartals.

. The high cost of living, with a token increase in income to state sector employees, ignoring the private sector, has led to widespread resentment and peaceful protests. The Government needs to have a dialogue with the protestors and address their grievances, but for some peculiar reason it is not, which makes one wonder whether there is an ulterior motive. The trade union movement is weak and this has been further affected by the contract labour system, which the employers manipulate. All these may facilitate the USA achieving its objectives. It needs to have Sri Lanka as a semi-colony and a military base to replace Diego Garcia, which it has had to give back to Mauritiuson an ICC directive. With an earlier Finance Minister, who remains a force in the Government, and the President in consort as American citizens in charge of the Sri Lankan economy it has been made bankrupt. This has justified borrowing from the IMF, and accepting their harmful conditions. The path is being cleared to force us to accept both the IMF terms, as well as sign the MCC and SOFA agreements with the USA. The former to exploit our economy, and the latter to use Sri Lanka asa military base for the USA.

This May Day must be made the occasion to expose these sinister moves, increase public awareness and as one nation prevent their implementation. The LSSP calls upon all progressive and nationalist forces in Sri Lanka to help save our country at this critical juncture. Long live the

Sri Lankan people as one Nation in unity and harmony, and let us overcome the dangers confronting us.

All News Advertisement

News

Cop who accepted Rs 3000 bribe nabbed by CIABOC

Published

4 hours ago

2025/07/15

Priyan

A police officer attached to the Raddolugama police station who accepted a bribe of Rs 3000/- from a motorist has been nabbed by officers attached to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on Monday (14) evening.

It is alleged that the police officer demanded Rs 3000/- from the motorist to return his driving licence without prosecuting him for a traffic offence.

News

GMOA swings into action on Vithana’s disclosure of MPs’ salaries, etc.

Published

8 hours ago

2025/07/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

MP Vithana / Dr. Sugathadasa

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has sought an explanation from Parliament regarding how PAYE (Pay As You Earn) is applied to parliamentarians.

GMOA Secretary Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa has written to the Secretary General of Parliament, Kushani Rohanadeera, in terms of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Information was sought on 09 July, 2025, in the wake of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Kalutara district parliamentarian Jagath Vithana posting his pay sheets from January to May this year on his Facebook.

In addition to information on PAYE, the GMOA has posed a number of other questions to the Secretary General regarding the parliamentarians’ salary as well as pensions.

Parliament passed the RTI Act on 24 June, 2016, and it came into effect on 03 February, 2017. This act, introduced through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, in 2015, is meant to promote transparency and accountability in government.

New controversy has erupted in the wake of Nawa Janatha Peramuna lodging a complaint with the CIABOC seeking an investigation into Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne abusing public property, a claim denied by the Secretary General of Parliament.

According to Vithana’s May pay sheet, his monthly allowance is Rs. 54,285, entertainment allowance Rs 1,000, telephone allowance Rs 50,000, sitting allowance Rs 5,000, office allowance Rs 100,000, fuel allowance Rs 97,428.92 and transport allowance Rs. 15,000. His take home pay is Rs 317, 760.92 after the deduction of Rs 1,200 for catering, stamp duty Rs. 25 and Advance Personal Income Tax (APIT).

Asked whether he regretted the releasing of pay sheets, lawmaker Vithana told The Island that in the run-up to the last parliamentary elections, held in November 2024, he had promised the Kalutara electorate he wouldn’t draw his salary. The MP said that however, he later felt the salary should be accepted and used in support of public welfare projects undertaken by him. “Therefore, the money was used appropriately,” he said, adding that both the government and Opposition MPs reacted with resentment. “I feel sort of isolated in Parliament. Hardly anyone talks to me,” MP Vithana said.

Dr. Sugathadasa said that having perused the pay sheets posted online, the GMOA had felt the urgent need to seek a clarification from Parliament as the lawmakers appeared to have received special status. The top GMOA official emphasised they wanted to establish the truth and used the RTI law to obtain information regarding the MPs’ salaries, pensions and other related information. “The GMOA made the request on 09 July, 2025. We are confident the Parliament will answer our queries,” Dr. Sugathadasa said.

Parliament meets only eight days a month. Attendance is not compulsory and there is no fixed time for lawmakers to attend sittings. Over the years, sittings have been suspended for lack of quorum.

The Island asked the GMOA official whether they would seek the intervention of the RTI Commission in case the Parliament declined to reveal the information sought by them. Dr. Sugathadasa said that the Executive Committee of the GMOA would decide the course of action if Parliament withheld information.

A few years ago Chamara Sampath, of Wijeya Newspapers, successfully moved the Court of Appeal against the Parliament after the latter refused to disclose names of Members of Parliament (MPs) who had handed over their respective declarations of assets and liabilities in 2018 and list of names of MPs who have handed over their Declarations from 2010 to the time he made the request (21 June, 2018).

The Court on 28 February, 2023, reaffirmed the RTI Commission’s stand that Declarations of Assets and Liabilities Law of 1975 (DALL) didn’t prevail over the Right to Information Act no. 12 of 2016 (RTI Act).

According to the Parliament website, an MP is paid Rs. 54,285, entertainment allowance Rs 1,000, driver’s allowance Rs 3,500 (only if driver is not provided by government). Fuel allowances are paid based on the distance from Parliament to the electoral district which each MP was elected and the approved market price of one litre of diesel on the first day of every month, telephone allowance Rs 50,000, transport allowance for personal staff Rs 10,000, and stamps worth Rs 350,000 issued to each MP annually.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

News

Udaya alleges Prez hasn’t given up efforts to bring in outsider as AG

Published

8 hours ago

2025/07/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sri Lanka Educator Service Lecturers’ Trade Union yesterday (14) protested outside the Education Ministry, demanding that the government address their grievances. (Pic by Nishan S. Priyantha)

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader and former Minister Udaya Gammanpila says President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has delayed making a permanent appointment to the post of Auditor General in a bid to bring in an outsider early next year.

Addressing the media yesterday (14), Attorney-at-Law Gammanpila said that three civil society members of the Constitutional Council, who opposed the President’s move, would be completing their term in early January next year. Instead of appointing Dharmapala Gammanpila as the Auditor General, the President had given him only an extension in service so as to get rid of him at the first available opportunity and bring in his crony from the Kelaniya University.

The former lawmaker said that the success of the President’s plan depended on the appointment of pliant civil society members to the CC, ready to help advance the NPP’s agenda.