Government to have special program to manage essential services, not taskforce: Amaraweera

By Chamodi Gunawardana  

President Maithripala Sirisena does not plan to establish a special taskforce to curtail the rights of trade unions, but he has proposed a special program to ensure the continuity of the essential services of the country, senior Minister and United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera told Daily FT.

Amaraweera said that the proposal of Sirisena to define a program to monitor essential services including health and education has been misrepresented to the public.

“Some parties have said that President Sirisena is going to establish a taskforce to control trade unions in order to abolishing their rights. Some Opposition political parties have tried to take advantage of that. However, I should clarify that the President has no intention of controlling the trade unions of the country,” he said.

Amaraweera also stated that President Sirisena had already conducted discussions with senior ministers of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) since his plan was to set up a regulatory body for essential services with the collaboration of the SLFP and United National Party.

“The President wanted to see that both parties were working together for the betterment of the Government and the country, not for their own party,” he said.