Large cabinet highlights Govt. inefficiency: Tissa

By Dharisha Bastians

The necessity for such a large coterie of ministers indicates the Government’s glaring inefficiency and highlights the fact that providing economic relief to the people is not a priority for the ruling regime, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said yesterday.

Attanayake told a media briefing in Colo-mbo last morning that it was the average Sri Lankan citizen who would have to bear the expense of a cabinet of ministers that was constantly bloating in size. “Tens of millions are spent on maintaining each minister every year. Ordinary people meanwhile have no relief in terms of the cost of living,” he said.

According to Atta-nayake, the Government is using labelling tactics to hide the fact that Sri Lanka can now claim to have the world’s largest cabinet. “They have senior ministers and subject ministers and monitoring MPs – a better way to categorise them would be as buffaloes and cows. In the end, is it the citizen who must pay for all of this,” he charged.  The UNP General Secr-etary said already nearly every Government MP had ministerial rank, contributing to the increase in public cost just to maintain the Government. “Monitoring MPs are provided additional privileges, extra vehicles and security – who pays for all this?” Attanayake said.



Whenever the cost of living and the prices of vegetables go up, the Government responds saying that it has no control over prices because of inclement weather and world market price increases, the UNP General Secretary said.

“If the cost of living was entirely dependent on the weather, why do we need a Government and so many ministers? What is their role then in keep inflation low and providing relief for the citizens?” Attanayake said.

He alleged the Government had “sacrificed” Champika Ranawaka at India’s altar, after External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris went to India last week and told officials in New Delhi that it was Ranawaka who had been blocking the Sampur power project. “They will hand over Sampur to India in exchange for them going slow at us in Geneva in March,” Attanayake said, adding that “Ranawaka has been a sacrificial lamb in this operation.”

Ranawaka’s lost the Power and Energy portfolio to Pavithra Wanniarachchi in Monday’s cabinet reshuffle.