President assures greatness by creating clean political movement

President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday said the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had now initiated the path to build a clean political movement, and through this initiative it would bring the country to a position of greatness.

He made these remarks at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium while addressing candidates who are contesting the local government elections under the UPFA and SLFP banner.

Addressing the candidates, the President further stated that the important step in the process of building a clean political movement for the country over a long period of time would commence through the Local Government elections to be held on 10 February.  

President Sirisena said that the main obstacle to building this country was that many politicians were guilty of fraud and corruption, which is why it was necessary to speak of a political movement without any corruption in the election manifestos of the political parties as well as on the election platforms of every political party.

The President said that he was committed to transforming the SLFP into an honest and clean political movement and said that after himself, the SLFP Chairmanship would not be handed over to one of his family members but the younger generation of the SLFP.

Expressing his views regarding the initiatives taken to build Sri Lanka as a developed and prosperous nation, the President said that in response to a request he had made to the Pakistani Prime Minister, the Premier has agreed to send 40,000 metric tons of fertiliser to Sri Lanka to provide solutions to issues relating to fertiliser.

The meeting was summoned to apprise SLFP candidates about the forthcoming local government polls.

During this event, all candidates promised to practise proper governance within local government institutions while protecting the principles of the SLFP.

The Senior Vice President of the SLFP former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, SLFP Senior Vice President Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, ministers Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Susil Premajayantha, other senior party members, SLFP General  Secretary Duminda Dissanayake, UPFA General Secretary Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, leaders of political parties affiliated to the UPFA and over 8,000 candidates who contested the upcoming local government elections under the UPFA and SLFP banner were present at this occasion.