Both UPFA and UNP corrupt: Anura

• Slams both MR and RW for protecting criminals during their Governments 
• Severely criticises President Sirisena for “unconstitutional” appointment of MR
• Says MR only took PM post to protect himself and family from corruption cases 
• Commends Speaker for standing up for democracy 
• Insists MS, RW and MR always put political agendas before serving people. 

Delivering a powerful speech in Parliament yesterday, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake charged that both the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) under MP Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as the United National Party (UNP) coalition under MP Ranil Wickremesinghe proved to be corrupt, accusing both sides of being in agreement to protect the other from corruption investigations.

JVP MP Dissanayake seconding the adjournment motion moved by JVP MP Vijitha Herath spoke extensively on the impact of the impasse between the Executive and Parliament on the economy of the country. 

Dissanayake accused the Wickremesinghe-led UNP, the Rajapaksa-led UPFA and President Maithripala Sirisena for putting their political agendas first, without remaining within their mandate and discharging their duty towards the general public.

“Everyone, including the UPFA, UNP and the President, had their own deals and they were all protecting each other from legal action against their crimes and multiple corruption charges. The UNP-led Unity Government is responsible for the Central Bank Treasury bond scam. Timely action should have been taken against UPFA MPs Wimal Weerawansa, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Johnston Fernando and Rajapaksa family members with pending corruption cases,” he charged.

According to MP Dissanayake, the UNP Leader and his close allies have no right to claim themselves to be the protectors of democracy and there is no difference when it comes to President Sirisena either. 

“The President has no right to rule the country according to his whims and fancies. He cannot take decisions just off the top of his head. His decision to appoint a new prime minister was done secretively and unconstitutionally. So why did Rajapaksa decide to accept this crippled government? The only reason Rajapaksa accepted this offer to become the newly-appointed prime minister was because of the list of cases files against the Rajapaksa family,” he said.

The pending court cases that could have been an issue for the Rajapaksa family included former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa given his alleged involvement in the Avant-Garde issue, Dissanayake noted. Not stopping there, he also heaped equal blame on the UNP for the Central Bank bond scam. 

“Namal Rajapaksa has two cases, so does Basil Rajapaksa. There is Gamini Senarath’s case, Weerawansa and his wife have a case each. All these cases would have been taken up by February 2019. That is why Rajapaksa took the prime minister post to defend these people. While holding office, the UNP together with the President took a decision not to summon former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa to the CID. There was also an agreement between Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa on the same topic. They did not support the CID to conduct investigations on deaths and torture of media personnel such as Lasantha Wickrematunge. The first change this purported government wanted in the CID was transferring IP Nishantha Silva who was handling these sensitive cases,” Dissanayake said. 

MP Dissanayake also observed that the political culture in Sri Lanka had become extremely uncivilised, where MPs had allegedly demanded financial bribes not only to change sides but even to remain with their side.

“It has come to a stage where the price per MP is decided by his size and weight. MPs have taken money not only to cross over but also to not cross over. We need to change this and the JVP will commit to it. We are a political party that lost over 60,000 members at one stage and know the value of democracy. We should not allow the President to destroy democracy. Although 8 January 2015 was the starting point to curtail the powers of the President, we were not able to complete it with the 19th Amendment. The President violated the Constitution and dissolved Parliament. The President has violated the Constitution on several occasions. If the coup is not acceptable and indecent, don’t expect decency from the forces coming to end it. President, listen to this, you don’t have any right to find decency in the force we will bring in to establish democracy,” warned MP Dissanayake.

According to MP Dissanayake, what took place on 26 October is not an acceptable method to change governments. 

“We have seen governments getting defeated and removed using elections. The Parliament can also remove governments and establish another making use of the majority. We also accept people taking to the streets to get rid of tyrants. These are the only acceptable ways to get rid of the ruling party and to bring in a new government. On 26 October what took place was nothing of this sort but a clear violation of the Constitution. It is nothing but a political coup. If this took place in another country, it would have been ended in a blood bath. We should thank the public for not taking it to those extremes,” he explained.

Dissanayake also commended Speaker Karu Jayasuriya for his constitutional and lawful conduct to uphold democracy. (AH)