Govt. accuses Opposition of attempting to gain political brownie points from COVID-19

• Dismisses offer of support from Opposition, reiterates reconvening Parliament unnecessary 
• Accuses Opposition not sticking to initial pledge to support Govt. 
• Court proceedings may be conducted via video
• Fresh inmates to be quarantined to prevent virus spread within prisons 
• Says Govt. working on bringing back all overseas Lankans  

Dismissing the open statement of support from Opposition parties, the Government yesterday said repeated requests to reconvene Parliament was only done to gain political mileage from the COVID-19 outbreak.  

Speaking to reporters in Colombo, Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena charged the Opposition of adopting double standards on the Government’s COVID-19 response. He argued even though the Opposition had earlier pledged to support the Government to mitigate COVID-19, recent activities had raised concerns about genuineness.

“At the early stage of the outbreak, the Opposition met the President and pledged their support to combat the virus. However, recent calls to reconvene Parliament has raised concerns of whether they really want to support the Government or not,” he said.

Gunawardena contended that according to the Constitution, even if Parliament was reconvened it would not be useful to contain COVID-19.

Justice Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said the President is only allowed to reconvene Parliament to approve extending a State of Emergency. Silva claimed the Opposition political parties were requesting the President to do something that was not legally supported by the Constitution.

“It is obvious that the Opposition is attempting to gain political mileage from this COVID-19 crisis. This is unacceptable behaviour from the Opposition,” he charged.

The Minister pointed out that the Government has taken tough decisions to contain the virus but assured that necessary measures would be taken to provide relief to vulnerable communities.

Referring to measures taken by the Justice Ministry, Silva said the Ministry was considering conducting court proceedings via video conference. He also noted new inmates would be quarantined to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to inmates.

Responding to questions on bringing Sri Lankans in foreign countries back to Sri Lanka, Minister Gunawardena said the Government had already taken measures to do so. “People in foreign countries are requested to register with the relevant Sri Lankan mission in that country. In the first phase, we have brought students. We will do everything to bring Sri Lankans back and ensure their safety,” he said.