Saturday Nov 09, 2024
FT
Saturday Nov 09, 2024
Saturday, 9 November 2024 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Putting a halt to crossovers is one of the key promises that the NPP made to people during our election campaigns. Now we are ready to fulfil these pledges through the right process. All our promises to the people have been spelt out in the NPP’s manifesto. When the law is implemented, the Parliamentarians can cross over to any political party that they wish but they will lose their seats at the Parliament. This will be a common law for all political parties
Fulfilling promises made by the National People’s Power (NPP) before the Presidential elections, the Government would bring a chain of new laws, including a new Act to end Parliamentarians crossing over to other political parties, NPP’s Colombo district candidate Sunil Watagala said.
“Under this law,
Parliamentarians have the liberty of crossing over to any political party but the moment that they crossed over, they will lose their seats in the Parliament,” he stressed adding that the new law will be common for all political party representatives in the legislature.
He told the Daily FT in an interview that the NPP Government was determined to end the ‘business of selling and buying’ Parliamentarians as this practice would lead to serious corruption and integrity of other politicians, who have a good track record of serving people genuinely, would also be suspected by people.
“This is why the NPP wants two-third majority in the Parliament to bring these new amendments to change these bad precedents in Sri Lanka’s political culture. Putting a halt to crossovers is one of the key promises that the NPP made to people during our election campaigns,” Watagala explained.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
 |
| NPP Colombo district candidate Sunil Watagala |
Q: What is the progress of your campaign so far?
A: It seems that only the NPP is running for this election campaign. I see most of the political parties in the Opposition are going slow in their political campaigns. It is very clear that the NPP will come into power and it shows with the votes given at the last Presidential Election and also with the massive crowds gathered at NPP’s political campaigns. Therefore, people have already decided that the NPP will be the Government but Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) or any other party will become the Opposition. The NPP is campaigning hard to form a strong Government with a majority of seats in the Parliament.
I don’t have a separate campaign for myself as such but the NPP is doing the campaign as a collective national campaign giving the opportunity to people of this country to select the most suitable NPPers to be in the legislature.
Q: What are the needs that you are aimed to address in the Colombo district, if you are elected?
A: My goal is not only to serve the Colombo district. I am a legal professional who has been practically engaged in solving legal matters for over 30 years. I am expecting an opportunity to be involved in preparing new legal frameworks to change the existing corrupt practices in the country.
Q:The Opposition claims that the NPP has nominated inexperienced candidates and they have not served people even in their respective areas. What is your view?
A: What they say is true because we don’t have experience with what they have. Yes, the NPP has an inexperienced set of fresh candidates while their politicians are having experiences in misusing public money and wealth. Politicians with such experiences are not in the NPP’s list. Therefore, we will have a fresh team of Parliamentarians this time in the legislature. We had only three MPs at the last Parliament but this time we are confident that over 150 politicians, including fresh young politicians, will be elected to the Parliament. They will come there with clean hands to serve the people on a voluntary basis. Their salaries will be credited to a public bank at Borella.
Q:Is it true that instead of young NPPers, senior JVP politicians at ground level will come to the Parliament and the young NPPers are disappointed because of this?
A: I completely refute that allegation as both the JVPers and NPPers work together as one political party. There are no differences or divisions as such within the NPP. This is a false scenario created by our opponents. We are doing this campaign together to achieve a common goal to steer this country towards prosperity. All those who contest under the NPP will come into the Parliament, if they are elected by the people. People have to exercise their franchise wisely without considering these lies. We have no divisions like JVP or NPP as now everyone contests and performs under one united political party called the NPP.
Have you heard about any conflict among our contestants from any of the electorates? There are no disputes among our candidates. They campaign together for the victory of the party to come into power.
Yes, the NPP has an inexperienced set of fresh candidates while their politicians are having experiences in misusing public money and wealth. Politicians with such experiences are not in the NPP’s list. Therefore, we will have a fresh team of Parliamentarians this time in the legislature. We had only three MPs at the last Parliament but this time we are confident that over 150 politicians, including fresh young politicians, will be elected to the Parliament. They will come there with clean hands to serve the people on a voluntary basis. Their salaries will be credited to a public bank at Borella
Q:Since you are coming from the legal profession, what are the main loopholes in the country’s legal system that the NPP is looking at to correct in the future?
A: It is very clear that we have given a pledge to the people of this country that we would bring new laws and also a new Constitution. The NPP is the only party that talked about reducing the perks and privileges of the retired Presidents and also for the Parliamentarians.
The NPP’s Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake brought a proposal against crossovers by Parliamentarians when the then Government was tabling the 19th Amendment. But it was ignored as they wanted to continue with ‘buying and selling Parliamentarians’ for huge amounts of money during elections.
The Government intends to bring that proposal back to the Parliament as an Act. This is why the NPP wants two-third majority in the Parliament to bring these amendments to change these bad precedents in Sri Lanka’s political culture. Putting a halt to crossovers is one of the key promises that the NPP made to people during our election campaigns. Now we are ready to fulfil these pledges through the right process. All our promises to the people have been spelt out in the NPP’s manifesto.
When the law is implemented, the Parliamentarians can cross over to any political party that they wish but they will lose their seats at the Parliament. This will be a common law for all political parties.
This will be the smallest Act in the country’s history. It has only two sentences, which state that ‘Any Parliamentarian has a democratic right to change the political party as per the wish but at the moment he or she crosses over to any other political party, he or she will lose the parliamentary seat’.
By implementing this law, the Government hopes that the Parliamentarians who are being traded for money will be stopped and a new political culture will be created with genuine people’s servants with dignity.
Majority of laws and regulations passed with two-third majority were not implemented for the benefit of the people of this country but in many times they were used to sell public entities. In the future, the Government will introduce laws and regulations within the scope of protecting fundamental rights of the people.
Q:How confident are you that the NPP can secure 150 seats as you said to have power in the Parliament?
A: It is very clear because at any given time people are asking for the NPP to take over the Government but they will not ask any other political party to come into power. Therefore, we invite people to cast their votes not to appoint a strong Opposition but to have a strong Government.
We are the only political party that knows the pulse of the people. We want to bring the change that they expected from us to bring people-friendly laws and regulations therefore we need a strong majority in the parliament. The NPP is very much confident that the people of this country will give us that strong majority to move forward.
Q: However, after a few weeks of the Government coming into power, some political critics claim that the NPP Government is gradually losing its popularity. How do you view this claim?
A: We completely reject this claim as we are getting a huge popularity at this moment than it was on 21 September. This is because we have proved that all those allegations made against us before 21 September were fabricated lies.
Now those who didn’t vote for us are regretting that they couldn’t be a part of our victory and are waiting to vote for us at the forthcoming elections.
Our leader and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has clearly said that the Government can rebuild not only with those who supported the NPP but also with those who voted against us. He requested not to insult those who voted against us and not to throw even a pebble to attack our opponents and also not to have celebrations or light firecrackers. Then people realised the value of real change.
Those who claim that the NPP has lost its popularity are created by those political parties who have lost their vote bases as most of their voters have voted for us or are waiting to vote for us on 14 November. These are baseless opinions and the NPP or our voters will not be affected by such claims. We have been able to gain voter confidence more not by talks but by fulfilling their promises so far. People have seen the behaviour of the ninth President of Sri Lanka, who is totally different from the former first President to the eight President of Sri Lanka.
It is very clear that we have given a pledge to the people of this country that we would bring new laws and also a new Constitution. The NPP is the only party that talked about reducing the perks and privileges of the retired Presidents and also for the Parliamentarians. The NPP’s Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake brought a proposal against crossovers by Parliamentarians when the then Government was tabling the 19th Amendment. But it was ignored as they wanted to continue with ‘buying and selling Parliamentarians’ for huge amounts of money during elections. The Government intends to bring that proposal back to the Parliament as an Act
Q:An NPP female candidate, being a lawyer, confirmed later that she has thrown false corruption charges against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family to gain votes to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. How ethical is it to mislead your voters? Are you going to take disciplinary action against such NPPers, as you said on the nomination day?
A: It was said that her views were distorted. The NPP has information and evidence that a huge lot of money was taken abroad. We know that under their governments these allegations will be swept under the carpet. This is why when a top official of the then Government and a team, who went abroad to investigate about such money, a first citizen of this country asked the team to return back.
Under the NPP Government, we will bring those who steal public money before courts through a proper investigation process. The Executive President has given the authority for the relevant institutions by removing all barriers to proceed independently. The NPP’s Lawyers Collective has given a proposal to the President on how to bring all top people including politicians to the book following a transparent and well documented legal process.
If any one has acted unethically, actions will be taken within the party to protect the integrity of the party. In this incident also we will take action according to party rules and regulations if it is proved that she has made false remarks.
Q:However, it is said that the Government has failed to deliver, especially bringing corrupt politicians before law, as promised before the Presidential polls. Will you continue to take action against those politicians who have allegations of corruption?
A: Yes, the Government will definitely initiate legal action against corrupt politicians. We request people to give us time. We are just a few weeks old but within that short period we have taken action against former ministers Johnston Fernando and Lohan Ratwatte. We will strongly move forward with our fight against corruption and corrupt politicians once the relevant institutions are established with proper directives.
Q: People are now talking about a rift between the JVP and NPP. What is the truth about it?
A: There is no truth in this allegation. The JVP and NPP are a collective political party. JVP is a part within the NPP. Look at how the three-member Cabinet which comprises two JVPers and one NPPer who is Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya- work together beautifully to run the country. The rest of the members follow the same in the NPP and there is no division within the party. These are baseless statements by the politicians in the Opposition to create a rift between JVPers and NPPers at ground level but they are well aware that there is no such division within us and they are working together for the NPP’s victory to form our strong Government.
