Lawmakers threaten ‘total Government shutdown’ as political impasse continues

Lawmakers warned President Maithripala Sirisena to “take heed” of consecutive token motions passed, cutting funds to the Prime Minister’s Office and all Ministries, or risk total Government shutdown as Parliament exercised its full control over public finance in a sixth vote that showed a majority against the purported Government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday.

Speaking during the debate on the motion to cut funding to pay Ministers’ salaries and perks, including air travel – domestic and international – and their personal staff, TNA Jaffna District MP M. A. Sumanthiran said the motions presented to the House on Thursday and yesterday were symbolic of the first time Parliament was actually exercising full control of public finance.

“When the Constitution says Parliament shall have total control over public finance, it should be something tangible. The motions taken up in this House yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) is bringing to the notice of the Executive what Parliament can do,” Sumanthiran said.

Failure to heed the message of these motions, which only stop monies being drawn from State funds to pay salaries and other emoluments to Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers and State Ministers, could result in Parliament taking more drastic steps, the TNA Legislator asserted.

“If they do not pay heed to these tokens, we must say that Parliament can take steps to shut down the Government,” he warned.

The motion, which was carried with 123 votes in favour and 0 against in the 225-member Legislature, warns that any official acting in violation of the resolution of Parliament will be “dealt with according to the law”.

Sumanthiran informed the House that the TNA had told the President at a meeting about 10 days ago that no confidence motions were passed “in Parliament and not at the Presidential Secretariat”.

“It is the Speaker who must be satisfied with if a NCM has been passed or not. Not the President,” he charged. Once a NCM has been passed in Parliament, according to terms of the Constitution, the Cabinet of Ministers “stands dissolved”, Sumanthiran explained. “This happens by operation of law as soon as a no confidence motion is passed,” he said.

“We can’t allow people to violate the Constitution willy-nilly – so these are follow-up steps,” the Jaffna District lawmaker said, referring to the motions to cut off funding to Ministries. “This is what Parliament can do if its decisions are not being recognised and respected by others,” he added.

Bureaucrats will now face a litmus test as they decide whether to place signatures on payments to be made to purported Ministers and Deputy Ministers running their Ministries.

“The public servants should take note of what Parliament has done here today,” warned UNF MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne after 123 MPs voted to cut off funding for the Office of the Prime Minister on Thursday.

Over a month into a debilitating political crisis that was triggered by President Sirisena’s controversial appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister, Parliament has consistently voted to defeat the disputed regime six times. The last three votes were conducted peacefully through electronic voting after the UPFA decided to boycott sessions, citing the alleged bias of the Speaker, after three raucous votes led to fisticuffs, flying books and chairs, and chilli powder attacks. UPFA MPs were the protagonists of the attacks, but police are also investigating claims that UNP MPs Palitha Thewarapperuma and Ranjan Ramanayake had brought sharp objects into the Chamber on 14 November.