Stepped up to save country: MR

• Says he cares not for titles after Speaker refers to him as MP
• Alleges Speaker biased and working for UNP and “Western embassies”
• Contends he could have waited for an election but was concerned about economy    

Delivering his speech to Parliament, MP Mahinda Rajapaksa criticised Speaker Karu Jayasuriya for not accepting him as prime minister and claimed that he had stepped up at the invitation of President Maithripala Sirisena to save the country from economic collapse. 

According to Rajapaksa, Parliaments elected in 1947, 1951, 1956 and 1960 were dissolved prematurely to hold elections under similar situations allowing Sri Lankans to elect a new government at their preference.

Despite protests from United National Party (UNP) lawmakers seen seated on the Opposition side of Parliament, Rajapaksa held that he still has the charisma to address the nation rather than taking refuge under titles that do not last long.

“Remember that I have held various tiles before including the title of the President. I have held the prime ministerial portfolio and various ministerial portfolios before. I don’t care about titles. This post is no big deal for me. It does not matter for me if I become a MP or the prime minister or just ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa’. Do not think that I am speaking because I want to be the Prime Minister,” he said.

With his supporters now seated in the Government benches of the Parliament, Rajapaksa explained to the House the invitation he received was to rebuild the nation and claimed that the economy was on the brink of collapse due to currency depreciation, fuel price increases and sales of State assets to foreigners.

“We saw the President dissolving the former National Economic Commission and striving to mitigate the damage on the economic front. We have also heard of arguments during the Cabinet meetings between the President and the former Prime Minister who were at loggerheads. It is in that context we witnessed the expose with tape records of a conspiracy by a group of UNPers with some Police officers to assassinate the President and the former Defence Secretary. It is with this development that the President took a decision to remove the UPFA members from the Government,” he added.

Rajapaksa noted that even though he had the option of rejecting President Sirisena’s offer, he felt that as he belonged to the largest party in the Opposition, it was his duty to step up and assist to resolve the problems before the country. 

“With the pulling out of the UPFA members, the Coalition Government that had existed thereto was dissolved. Thereafter, the President with the powers vested on him invited to me accept the prime minister post and to form a government. There were two choices before me – one was to accept the invitation or to reject it. I could have responded to the President by telling him to continue with the UNP as he did for nearly four years because there was one more year to go for the completion of that Government’s term. But we are the main force in the Opposition. We are the biggest political party in the country. We are bound by the duty to come forward to avoid the country being sliding into disaster. We have a responsibility to support the President’s effort to prevent a disaster and to uphold the national interests. Accordingly, I accepted the responsibility of saving the nation from further chaos and crisis,” he held.

“I also had a question as to what would happen to our country if it would continue one more year under the former Government. From January 2015 the UNP Government had obtained foreign loans amounting to $ 21 billion. That uncontrolled borrowing was the biggest damage to the country’s economy. What we established is only an interim government till the next elections. That was why only a few Joint Opposition MPs obtained ministerial posts. While the nation was plunging into the depths of disaster, we as the Joint Opposition continued to call for a general election to solve the crisis,” he added.

Rajapaksa also slammed Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and alleged that he was violating the Constitution, the Standing Orders and the Parliamentary traditions. 

“Our Speaker, in accordance with his party’s and Western embassies’ wish, says that there was a passing of a no-confidence motion against me and the Government through the voice vote. You cannot pass motion from a voice vote. There is a new trend stating that the former Prime Minister is back in office after the so-called no confidence motion and some former ministers have their former offices too, stating that they are in power now. It is the President who appoints the prime minister and cabinet, not the Speaker of Parliament. Neither Parliament nor the Speaker has been given such powers by the Constitution. The Speaker must be unbiased,” he stressed.

“Now, there is a conflict of opinions between two parties in Parliament. I propose that there is no meaning in attempting to solve this problem by 225 members here and to refer it to electors numbering over 15 million in this country. Let them decide the government they need. That is the Parliament tradition. As politicians we all must understand that as per our Constitution sovereignty is with people not with Parliament. I am happy to hear that JVP was stating yesterday that they would support if there a motion to the effect of going for a general election after dissolving Parliament. I would like to ask the UNP their standpoint on the matter. I hope they would inform Parliament today of their standpoint,” he said. (AH)