News
Warning issued over possible bid to postpone presidential election
Herath alleges Budget Office part of flawed political strategy
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Civil society activist Sirithunga Jayasuriya Tuesday (26) said that those genuinely concerned about political strategies of the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government should be wary of possible moves to put off the presidential election scheduled for next year.
Pointing out that both Provincial Councils and Local Government polls hadn’t been held in violation of the supreme law of the land, Jayasuriya asserted that the possibility of the government resorting to delaying tactics couldn’t be ruled out.
Jayasuriya said so at a meeting called by PAFFREL at Mandarina Hotel, on Galle Road, to discuss how political parties, represented in Parliament, and outside, could be encouraged to take the process of releasing manifestos seriously instead of deceiving the electorate.
Recently, UNP Chairman Wajira Abeywardena, MP, suggested that the presidential election should be put off as it could undermine ongoing economic recovery measures.
The veteran political activist told the Opposition not to be so sure the Constitution would be a hindrance to the government strategy. Jayasuriya didn’t mince his words when he explained how major political parties brazenly used manifestos to deceive the gullible.
At the onset of the programme, Executive Director of PAFFREL Rohana Hettiarachchi explained how Sri Lanka could benefit from similar exercises in other countries. Several parliamentarians, including Mano Ganesan (SJB), Buddhika Pathirana (SJB), Prof. Charitha Herath (SLPP rebel group) and Tissa Attanayake (SJB) participated in the programme.
One-time head of Election Commission and Chairman of the Delimitation Committee Mahinda Deshapriya was among the invitees. Polls monitoring groups, civil society and the media, too, were represented. The gathering was told how over the years political parties cleverly used election manifestos as a propaganda tool meant to influence the electorate.
National List lawmaker Tissa Attanayake maintained that an SLPP assurance made in the run-up to the last presidential election contributed to the ruination of the national economy that led to the declaration of bankruptcy in April last year.
The former UNP General Secretary quoted the Finance Secretary as having told a parliamentary watchdog committee as the Finance Ministry announced the abolition of a slew of taxes in Nov. 2019 that it was in line with one of the SLPP manifesto pledges. MP Attanayake said that political parties should pay attention to the practicability of proposals made in their respective manifestos.
PAFFREL Chief Hettiarachchi as well as some members of the audience suggested that the Parliamentary Budget Office could play a vital role in clearing proposals made with an eye on the electorate. The Parliament recently endorsed the setting up of the Budget Office meant to clear programmes or action plans submitted by political parties ahead of elections.
Prof. Herath strongly opposed the concept of a Budget Office which the rebel MP claimed was meant to ensure manifestos of all political parties adhered to the thinking of powers that be. One-time Media Ministry Secretary emphasized that this was fundamentally wrong and could cause irreparable damage to the political party system. Prof. Herath said that proposals made by political parties could be simply rejected for want of the approval of the Budget Office. The MP declared that this sort of strategy was counterproductive and had no practice in any part of the world. In fact, lawmakers wouldn’t be in charge of this project, MP Herath said, adding that officials were to decide the practicability of proposals made by political parties.
Prof. Herath said that some propagated the idea that politicians didn’t know anything, but the civil society was much more knowledgeable. Acknowledging the shortcomings and the failures on the part of politicians, Prof. Herath said that there were serious issues at projects run by the civil society and other non-governmental enterprises. The MP cited Sri Lanka Cricket to highlight the growing crisis the non-state sector experienced and serious flaws in the accounting process in civil society projects. “Their balance sheets are not properly scrutinized,” the former COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) Chairman said.
Prof. Herath alleged that the Budget Office was part of a flawed political strategy. If the Budget Office was in place now President Ranil Wickremesinghe couldn’t have done anything, MP Herath said, asserting that political projects should receive endorsement by the people not that of an Office manned by officials. The SLPP rebel spokesman questioned the validity of the Budget Office though Parliament approved it.
MP Herath stressed that democracy couldn’t be sustained only by conducting elections. According to Prof. Herath, the Budget Office was meant to control political parties that didn’t fall in line with their thinking. Their position with regard to proposals made by political parties could unduly influence the electorate, Prof. Herath alleged.
The gathering was also told that instead of new proposals political parties represented in Parliament and outside and other interested parties, including the civil society should press the powers that be to adhere to the Constitution. Instability caused by taking over of political parties through corrupt means and elected and appointed MPs switching sides particularly for personal rewards et al and deterioration of public faith in the executive, legislature and judiciary undermined the very basis of democracy, the group was told. Reference was made to the formation of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in early 2020 and two members elected from that party forming their own political outfits.
Another issue that received attention was the circumstances of cases pending against sitting lawmakers as well as ex-MPs in certain instances had dragged on for years. The recent imposition of five-year jail term on Senior DIG Lalith Jayasinghe for interfering in the 2015 Kahawatta politics related killing probe against the backdrop of the main accused Premalal Jayasekera (SLPP, Ratnapura) being a State Minister underscored the need for reexamination of the political scene.
Their attention was also drawn to controversial arrangements that threatened the electoral process. The case of three presidential candidates contesting 2010, 2015 and 2019 polls under the symbol of a party that never had an elected member at any level underscored the need to examine the entire setup, the gathering was told.
“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.
The government is planning to hold a conference for Members of Parliament with disabilities for the first time in the country.
Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne had made this announcement during a meeting with the Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission, Jose Ignacio Sanchez Amor, who is also a Member of the European Parliament.
The Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission presented the final report of the 2024 Presidential Election Observation Mission to Speaker Dr Wickramaratne at the Parliament premises, Parliament Media Division said yesterday
During the meeting, Sanchez Amor congratulated the Speaker and the new government, praising the democratic conduct of the elections and the vital role played by the Election Commission.
He had emphasised the importance of strengthening the Commission and expressed his appreciation for the increased representation of women in the current Parliament.
The speaker had thanked the European Union Election Observation Mission for their insights and highlighted the government’s commitment to achieving transparent, corruption-free governance with true democratic values.
Rs 5.5 billion already spent
The government has procured 350 units of biometric hardware, including high-resolution cameras and fingerprint scanners, for its upcoming Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) project which seeks to convert the country’s standard identification card (ID) to a digital ID, according to a report published by the Biometric Update yesterday.
The tender for the balance 400 units of the same hardware had been awarded, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne told Biometric Update on Sunday in Colombo.
Weeraratne said the Department of Registrar of Persons (DRP) had already spent Rs 5.5 billion on the SL-UDI project which aims to boost the economy, enhance services, and address corruption.
Weeraratne said that the previous government had secured a RS 10.4 billion financial grant from India for the project which is estimated at a cost of RS 20 billion (US$67.3 million). This includes two sophisticated data centres to host the platform at two DRP sites, running the platform for three years along with the hardware cost. “The government will need to put in an additional Rs 4.5 billion,” Weeraratne said.
Concerns were raised over potential Indian access to Sri Lankan’s personal data, prompting further negotiation by the NPP government.
The NPP government amended an agreement with India for project development, ensuring local control with non-profit Indian platform provider MOSIP (Modular Open-Source Identification Platform).
MOSIP has been engaged with Sri Lanka’s government on the digital ID programme since 2020.
Weeraratne noted that the services of the Indian partner are used to develop the project and customization of software. He said the new government after analyzing the agreement with India, looked at it positively but insisted on several amendments to safeguard the sovereignty of data and to have control of the digital ID platform.
“The system will be 100 percent controlled and managed by Sri Lankan professionals. The government will undertake login, database, and software updates.”
The DRP is in the final stage of implementation of this platform and training the provisional council personnel. Weeraratne said that collecting fingerprints and face recognition will start next month. The last revision of the Digital ID Act in the country provides for fingerprint and facial recognition.
The Deputy Minister of Digital Economy said that iris biometric scans will come later when the DRP and the system itself are equipped to collect the data.
The project will start by issuing digital IDs for 16-year-olds who are eligible for their first ID. After six months, the project will avail itself for the old national identity cards and convert them into electronic national identity cards (e-NICs), Weeraratna added.
He noted that institutions such as banks will implement digital ID and also have fingerprint scanning facilities to identify the account holders in the future.
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