මහින්දට ගෝඨාට එදායන්නම ඕන මළගෙදර ඉරිදා හවස හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂට තමන්ට ඉතාමත්ම කුළුපග අයෙකුගේ මළගෙදරක් පිළිබඳ සංවේදී ආරංචියක් ලැබිණි. ඒ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂගේ මාධ්ය ප්රකාශක නීතිඥ මනෝජ් ගමගේ ගේ මෑණියන් මියගිය පුවතයි. එම පුවත ආරංචි වූ සැණින් මහින්ද මහතා කීවේ වහාම මනෝජ්ලාගේ නි…
Mahinda and Gota want to go to the funeral immediately
On Sunday evening, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa received heartbreaking news about the funeral of someone very dear to him. It was the news that the mother of Mahinda Rajapaksa's media spokesperson, lawyer Manoj Gamage, had passed away.
As soon as he heard the news, Mr. Mahinda said that he should go to Manoj's house immediately.
No need to worry, sir. The funeral is on Wednesday. We have time to go today, Sunday.
Even though the security officers said so, President Mahinda wanted to go to the funeral that very moment.
Somehow, when Mahinda went there, the body had been brought and placed at the house. The President expressed his deepest condolences to his dear friend.
It is special that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also present to pay his last respects to the body.
So many people will come to the funeral… Mahinda said.
I think our people will come. Apart from that, sir, the number of people from our profession is increasing.
So you also associate with politicians.
However, it is difficult to think that people from the opposition will come. We are people who strongly express our opinions for politics. Nowadays, there are many people who are angry because of politics. Manoj said.
However, throughout those few days, a large group of legal professionals could be seen staying at that house for Manoj at night.
Every night, that house was a place full of political and social discussions. Some people were expressing their opinions there about how the rule of law is collapsing and the legal sector is increasingly in crisis.
There were many topics such as vacancies in the higher courts, the tenure of judges in the higher courts, etc., and the special thing that was seen was that one day a topic that did not attract the attention of many people was discussed there.
The topic is that there has been a vacancy in the Judicial Service Commission since last March until yesterday.
The Judicial Service Commission is the official independent body that selects, appoints and transfers judges in the field of administration of justice. They are the ones who conduct the recruitment process for new judges.
The Commission has three members. The Chairman is the Chief Justice. The other two members are appointed from the two most senior members of the Supreme Court.
Last March, Justice Thurai Raja retired as a member of the Commission. The next person who was eligible to be appointed to the position was Mr. Yasantha Kodagoda. Normally, the vacancy is filled very quickly, within a week or two. However, for months, no one was taken to appoint a suitable person to the position, which should have been nominated by the President on the advice of the Chief Justice.
After a few months, Mr. Yasantha Kodagoda was inevitably appointed.
Senior lawyers began to talk about why his appointment was delayed. Some were of the opinion that the appointment was delayed because someone in a high position in the legal field was in some kind of dispute with Mr. Yasantha Kodagoda.
Meanwhile, another person made a special point.
“I think the situation is different from yours. This time, the child of someone in a high position in our field and two children of two other judges are appearing for the interview. There is also talk that the relevant person was not appointed because they believed that it would have an impact…” said a senior lawyer.
The way such new stories were exchanged among high-ranking lawyers in the inner circle was also observed by several journalists present there.
Champika's revelation about the lack of reduction in oil prices
After the war in the Gulf region gradually subsided and the Strait of Hormuz opened, world oil prices began to fall rapidly. However, in comparison to that decline, there was a big debate in the political arena regarding the lack of reduction in the prices of diesel, petrol and other fuel types in Sri Lanka.
In relation to this, Champika Ranawaka made a special revelation at a media conference in the past few days. Champika explained clearly why this government is not providing that benefit to the people of the country even though the price of crude oil in the world market has decreased.
“This government saved itself by blaming everything that happened in the past on the Gulf War. They said that no matter what problems arose, it could not be done because of the Gulf War. But now, a situation has emerged in the world where the Gulf War is being resolved. Even the Strait of Hormuz has opened due to that trend.
The price of a barrel of crude oil has dropped to $70. These people, who blamed everything on the Gulf War, are now saying that the oil price cannot be brought down, now that the Gulf War issue is over, that this is because of the oil they bought at a higher price.
They did not bring oil from the Gulf region. They brought oil from Singapore. Not only that. When they bought oil, they bought oil at a higher price from two companies and gave those companies huge profits.
We will explain what the relationship between this government and those companies is going forward. We say this responsibly. They are charging a company called “Craficura” Rs. 90 more. Similarly, they paid 120 rupees more per liter to the Indian company called “Aditya Birla”. Where did this money go, whose pocket did it go to or not? The intelligent people of this country should also find out whose pocket it is.
This government, which made huge profits by selling even our old oil stocks at a higher price when the world oil price increased, is now making false claims to deceive the people by not giving them that benefit when the world oil price has decreased. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says. But look, the Prime Minister is also saying the same thing. This is a government that has no shame and is ripping off the country…”
Her statement, which strongly criticized the Champika government and blamed it for not being able to control the price of petroleum, heated up the political scene in our country and managed to build a conversation around it. But we could see that the government was trying to ignore it as an issue that could not be taken lightly and ignored.
Last week was a parliamentary week. At the beginning of the week, on Tuesday, the 23rd, the VAT Amendment Bill was scheduled to be discussed in Parliament.
The government and the opposition had taken a decision on it at the party leaders' meeting.
Meanwhile, the main opposition in Parliament, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, was preparing to focus attention on another issue in Parliament this week. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya, which took a decision on this matter at a meeting chaired by Sajith Premadasa, discussed keeping it a top secret and not revealing it to the media.
Accordingly, the opposition activists who went to Parliament the next morning, the 23rd, prepared for the day's work according to their plan.
Meanwhile, the ruling party, as per the usual agenda, was moving forward with the VAT Amendment Bill, when Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Ajith P. Perera stood up and moved his party's motion.
He asked twenty of his party's MPs to stand up and requested a debate in Parliament under Standing Order 19/1. Ajith P. Perera moved a motion requesting a debate in Parliament on several issues that were intertwined, such as increasing the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal to 67 years, not filling eight vacancies in those two courts and thereby preventing judges in lower courts from obtaining promotions, which were hindering the public's role in administering justice.
Normally, if the opposition does not get such a debate at the party leaders' meeting, the opposition can get a two-hour debate under this provision under the Standing Orders.
The strategy used by the opposition to obtain a debate
They had previously used this strategy a few weeks ago to obtain a debate. The government considered it a great humiliation for them even though they had a majority of 159 MPs.
As soon as this proposal by Ajith P. Perera came to fruition, the Speaker took steps to consult the Leader of the House, Bimal Ratnayake.
However, there was a big opposition to this from the opposition. Despite this opposition, when the Speaker inquired about it from the Leader of the House, the Leader of the House said that the government was opposed to considering this proposal since several matters, including the debate on the VAT amendment, were on the parliamentary agenda this week.
“Mr. Speaker… you are making a mistake. When the opposition brings such a proposal under Standing Orders 19/1, you have no right to ask the Leader of the House. You can take a decision… Dayasiri Jayasekara argued.
A huge uproar broke out in Parliament. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, who had come up with the proposal to give himself as much time as was given to the Leader of the House, seriously explained the Standing Orders, pointed out that this debate was a very important matter for the country, and began to talk about the rights of the opposition. He suggested that the government should refrain from these anti-democratic practices.
However, since the government was in a strong position, the Speaker could not do anything. His behavior on this occasion clearly proved that the Speaker has no other recourse than the support of the Leader of the House.
Mr. Speaker, you should act under Standing Orders 146. The Leader of the House should give the Speaker advice.
As this conflict escalated, the opposition began to brawl in Parliament. The Speaker, with great difficulty, tried to continue the debate while members of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and several other parties descended into the middle of the House and chanted slogans.
Finally, the opposition tried to lift the mace that had been placed in the House and it was seen that the Parliament Secretariat and staff were making a strong effort to protect the mace.
However, the Speaker had to suspend Parliament for ten minutes to control this extremely tense atmosphere.
When Lalla says this, T.B. does this. When B. does this
After a meeting held on Nelum Mawatha in the past few days to appoint and advise the constituency organizers and provide them with advice, several leaders of the Pohottuwa who joined Namal were talking as follows.
A chairman of a farmer's organization called me. He said that Mr. Mahinda was good. In those days, everyone had money, even for paddy. Namal said that he gave a good price.
Oh, now Minister Lal Kantha has directly said that paddy cannot be bought for that amount… Not only that, Lal is also saying that the real farmers are not selling that paddy. Now Namalla, Lalla, can’t even go where the farmers are, DV said.
There is also that loophole, ‘When you say this, you do this’, Namal said.
When your father ruled the country, the price of rice was also low. It was beneficial for the consumers. It was beneficial for the farmers too…” Johnston said.
Yes, Minister Johnny… you were the Minister of Trade in those days. How much paddy was bought from the government…. They stopped importing rice from abroad and managed the market properly when the paddy harvest was coming…” said DV.
I will speak about this fertilizer issue in Parliament tomorrow, said Namal.
“Yes, that’s good… not only the fertilizer issue, Leader… but also the injustice this government is doing to farmers in general…” said Johnny.
The next day, Namal gave a strong speech in Parliament. As he was coming out after finishing his speech, Namal met a group of SJB MPs.
“Mr. Namal said that the Kasippu story is a real story.
“Yes, these people were farmers in those days and now when they ask for demands, they call them Kasippukaras,” said Namal.
“Well, I told our people not to say anything targeting SJB,” Namal told the SJB MPs present there.
The SJB MPs present there said, “Yes, that’s good, Mr. Namal.”
I told our people that we have a problem with the government, not with the opposition. Rather than getting involved with the opposition, we should fulfill the promises made to the people by the government, Namal said and left.
Namal went abroad last week and Namal had received a video on WhatsApp. It showed Namal's two sons preparing a card for Namal for Father's Day.
Namal's two sons had prepared a very beautiful card. Both sons had wished Namal a 'Happy Father's Day'. Afterwards, Namal did not forget to make a video call to Limini's phone and talk to his two sons.
Parliament deserted due to the President
It would be correct to say that the atmosphere in Parliament was extremely deserted and anxious on Thursday morning. The reason for this was that almost all the opposition speakers participating in the parliamentary debates had gone to Badulla for other duties that day.
That day was a case in the Badulla court. A case filed by the police against Parliamentarian Chaminda Wijesiri in connection with an incident that occurred in 2016 was taken up for hearing on Thursday and a verdict was also expected to be given.
“This case is going to Chaminda’s disadvantage a little. Chaminda is frustrated. Chaminda helps everyone in the cases. He goes and appears. However, in Badulla, Chaminda is the only one who is talking about the case… Sujee and Dayasiri made this speech during a recent group meeting of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
“Then the best thing to do is for us to go to Badulla for Chaminda’s case as if we were going on a trip. That’s the beauty of going without telling Chaminda either.
Six MPs who said so left for Ella on Wednesday evening in the same van.
Sujeewa Senasinghe, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Sujith Sanjaya, Nalin Bandara, J. C. Alawathuwala and Hector Appuhami had already joined the journey.
It was a quick and enjoyable journey that no one felt tired because Dayasiri had started singing songs continuously from the moment they started until they reached Ella town.
They spent the night at a tourist resort owned by Chamara Sampath Dassanayake in Ella town.
Chaminda Wijesiri was surprised when this group arrived at the Badulla court the next morning. However, the fact that another group of opposition MPs from Colombo had arrived for this case was a source of great joy and encouragement for Chaminda. Chaminda Wijesiri was overcome with joy at the sight of his friends including Chamara Sampath, Kabir Hashim, Mujibur Rahuman, Nalaka Colonna.
There is no doubt that Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne also felt great relief that Parliament had become a place free from troublemakers. However, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake arrived in Parliament in the afternoon. The President did not forget to deliver a special speech in the House. It was a rather long and critical speech that stood out.
No crime is allowed to be buried under the sands of time. Criminals are being brought to justice. The current government is fulfilling the public expectation of punishing the corrupt and the fraudulent. In accordance with the essence of the mandate we received, we will make this state a civilized state. The Prevention of Terrorism Act will be repealed this year. Today, the country is on a long and stable path.
Emphasizing that it was the expectation of the general public in this country to punish those who committed fraud and corruption by stealing public property, and that the current government is a government that is fulfilling that expectation, the President emphasized that no crime will be allowed to be buried by the sands of time and that the responsibility of bringing criminals to justice will be fulfilled.
This challenging speech by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake reminded another special point. He reminded that the society is demanding comprehensive investigations and justice for the criminal murders and assaults committed by the governments that have been in power in the past. He said that proper investigations will be conducted in the future for that.
After the President's long speech, the speech made by Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara in response to it was remarkable.
“Yes, President… It is good to investigate the killings, persecutions, repressions, crimes, and assaults that took place at that time and punish the criminals accordingly. Don’t let them be buried in the sand of the past. But at the same time, while providing equality before the law to everyone, if possible, do this… There are a large number of people who have been killed by terrorism in our country in the past. Among them are a number of journalists like Thewis Guruge, Premakeerthi de Alwis, and Sagarika Gomes. There are well-known politicians who have made the country famous. There are monks who are worthy of the country. Similarly, the terrorists attacked the Kataragama Perahera. At that time, my uncle was the Nilame. Thirteen people died in that bomb attack. If you conduct a fair investigation into that too and do justice, then the value of your statement, President, will be even more meaningful. What is happening…”
After Ranjith Madduma Bandara’s speech, many people came up to him and thanked him for his response.
I was waiting to hear your speech too…
It doesn’t matter if you are not there…. I wanted to remind people of their duplicity… We need to expose the people of this country and tell them the truth about looking at their problems one way and looking at others’ problems another way. We need to tear down the masks they are wearing. Only then will the people understand the truth of this country.
Bulitha Pradeep Kumara