Govt. claims ongoing development projects not election campaign but part of Budget 2024

Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena 

By Charumini de Silva

Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena yesterday assured that the Government’s ongoing development projects are part of the Budget 2024 provisions and not a promotion campaign ahead of the Presidential Election. 

Addressing the media at the weekly post-Cabinet meeting media briefing, he emphasised that the initiatives, including Aswesuma, Urumaya and Jayagamu Sri Lanka, are not being used to promote President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has already deposited funds to contest the Presidential poll.

“None of the initiatives are being used as election campaigns to promote the President,” Gunawardena stated. 

“Even the recently concluded Jayagamu Sri Lanka initiative in Homagama was not used as a political platform. We sought permission from the Election Commission that the election rules will not be broken and it would not be made a platform to promote President Wickremesinghe,” he added.

He also mentioned that due to multiple baseless allegations, the Government announced the cancellation of the 25 scheduled Jayagamu Sri Lanka event in Jaffna. Gunawardena reiterated that the Government is obligated to continue its development work till 31 December 2024. “We are bound to continue the development work and ensure provisions for the projects outlined in the Budget till the end of this year,” he explained. 

In response to claims by the Opposition, he said the rules will only be broken if the Government fails to implement projects for which it has already provisioned funds.

Addressing the recent resumption of halted projects, Gunawardena said following the breakthrough in the debt restructuring process with external creditors, the countries and development agencies that stopped work on development projects have resumed. 

“This is being misread by the Opposition for political gain,” he claimed.

He expressed confidence that the Government’s actions are within legal boundaries and focused on national development rather than political manoeuvring.

Gunawardena also said that they are only rolling out the development work that was already planned under the Budget 2024 where financial provisions were allocated. 

“It is not any sort of promotion campaign ahead of the Presidential Election,” he reiterated.