Kiriella praises Speaker for story in ‘The Morning’

10 Nov 2022

Kiriella praises Speaker for story in ‘The Morning’

10 Nov 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera Praising Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena over a statement made by the Speaker’s Office to The Morning that the delays in the appointment of certain committees in Parliament were due to the Opposition’s refusal to be appointed to those committees, as the Government has failed to meet their demands, the main Parliamentary Opposition – the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) – stated that the Government should immediately present the agreement between the Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Parliament. Speaking in Parliament, Chief Opposition Whip and SJB MP Attorney Lakshman Kiriella said: “I saw that the newspapers had reported recently that Parliament has been slow to work. There were implied allegations against you (Speaker) too. However, you have given a good answer to The Morning newspaper. Why is the work of Parliament slow? It is because the Government does not provide the information that we request as the Opposition. You have said it well that the Opposition has been demanding access to the IMF agreement for weeks, but it has not yet been presented to Parliament.” Although the Opposition has been invited to be a part of Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committees (SOCs) and other committees, he questioned how they could join any of the committees without the IMF agreement being presented to Parliament. He said that all proceedings in Parliament within the course of this month (November) will depend on whether the Government will present it or not. For instance, he said that there are preparations to restructure several State institutions as per the agreement with the IMF and that therefore, the Parliament should be made aware of such plans. “You are quite right. I am thankful to you. The Government is making allegations that the Parliament is working slowly, delaying their work. It is the Government that has omitted its responsibility. A Budget is coming up, but can we talk about a Budget without the IMF agreement? You (the Speaker) have understood this issue properly. Therefore, the Government should fulfil its responsibility by presenting this agreement to Parliament. We cannot go forward by even an inch without this agreement,” added Kiriella. Meanwhile, speaking in Parliament, SJB Matara District MP Buddhika Pathirana said that he considers the recent letter sent by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to Speaker Abeywardena to be a very bad precedent. He said that he was unable to determine whether the relevant letter was a letter of warning or instruction, but said that no President has sent such a letter to the Speaker, following the introduction of the Executive Presidency. “We all know that there is a system of checks and balances between the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary. There was no history of sending letters to scare the Speaker. Even though Abeywardena is in the Speaker’s chair today, he has made direct decisions for the country since 1987. Therefore, as someone who is hailing from his hometown and school, I request him to consider this letter very deeply,” he added. Following Wickremesinghe informing Abeywardena that Parliament has not achieved satisfactory progress in appointing committees related to far-reaching systemic changes, the Speaker’s office told The Morning on Tuesday (8) that the reason for such delays was the refusal of Opposition parties to be appointed to such committees based on their demands being unmet by the Government, which include the tabling of the agreement between the Government and the IMF in Parliament. When contacted by The Morning, Media Secretary to the Speaker Indunil Yapa Abeywardena said that there were many reasons for delays in appointing committees. For instance, he said that MP Kiriella had said that they would not join any committee until the Government’s agreement with the IMF is tabled in Parliament. As the Parliament is not an entity where a single person or party makes decisions, Indunil Yapa Abeywardena said that MPs representing both the Government and the Opposition should be appointed to committees and that there was no possibility of carrying forward with such committees with only the participation of Government MPs. President Wickremesinghe, in a recent letter addressed to Speaker Abeywardena, had pointed out that although the formation of the National Assembly has been concluded to bring far-reaching systematic changes, satisfactory progress has not been made with regard to other proposals. The President noted that although 17 Parliamentary Sectoral Committees should be established as indicated by the relevant proposals, the Chairpersons for the relevant committees had not been designated while also pointing out that the criteria for selecting youth representatives to be appointed for this purpose are yet to be prepared.

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Kiriella praises Speaker for story in ‘The Morning’

Kiriella praises Speaker for story in ‘The Morning’

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