Viyathmaga goes to Kegalle

Wednesday, 10 July 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Audience members at the seminar

“What we are experiencing today is the most incompetent, most corrupt and most unpatriotic Government of our history since independence,” says Dr. Nalaka Godahewa.

He made these remarks addressing a seminar organised by Viyathmaga in Kegalle on 7 July.

“Once booming Sri Lankan economy is now stagnant with a growth rate below 3%, unemployment is rampant with the Central Bank itself reporting 454,000 reduction in the availability of jobs since 2015, Bloomberg has rated Sri Lanka as one of the most dangerous countries to invest in, and the losses due to falling rupee is three times more than the cost of all mega infrastructure developments of the previous Government.

“What the current Government is involved in are mostly white-collar robberies. Look at the Central Bank bond scam, look at the manipulation of emergency power purchases, huge Government borrowing at suspicious and unusually high rates, sale of Government assets below par value, manipulation of the tax system with various Gazette notifications to create business opportunities for selected people, investing Government funds through private companies and the list goes on.

“The betrayal of our sovereignty that started with the Government co-sponsoring the Geneva 30/1 resolution is continuing with the Government signing unfavourable trade agreements, sale of strategic assets to foreigners, and now with agreements such as ACSA, SOFA and MCC compact which will not only make Sri Lanka a colonyof foreign powers, but also at the risk of being part of somebody else’s war in the future,” said Dr. Godahewa.

Mohan Samaranayaka, addressing the seminar, suggested that those who have not read the fairy tales of Has Christian Andersen should read the election manifesto of President Sirisena.

“Nothing that has been promised in by the current Government has been achieved, whereas the mandate given by the people has been misused to serve the interests of foreign powers. Sri Lanka is strategically important to the USA to counter the emerging threat of China, which will eventually overtake USA as the largest economy in the world. We should be friends with both these countries, and not be aligned with either of them. But the current Government has already demonstrated that they are biased towards the West, and that is not the best way to handle our foreign relations,” said Samaranayaka.

Shermila Rajapaksa explained the impact of the three agreements, ACSA, SOFA, and MCC compact in detail, while Eranga Ginige spoke about the principles of the Socialist Market Economy that a future Government could consider when forming its economic policies.

The seminar was organised by Viyathmaga district coordinator Dr. Chaminda Jayasena and his team. It was attended by over 500 professionals, entrepreneurs, academics and Government servants.