Serving the people honestly should be prime desire of politicians: Minister Amunugama

Addressing an election propaganda rally at Hatara Liyadda, Special Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama declared that the prime desire of a politician should be to serve the people honestly. 

Speaking further the Minister said: “Today many people enter politics with the intention of making money. However the prime objective of people entering politics should be to serve the people honestly. The strongest desire of politicians should be to identify people’s problems and to serve the people. However a person who did not have even a bicycle when he entered politics starts driving about in a Benz. He builds huge mansions. He buys land and property. People should decide to punish such people.

In earlier times politicians sold their land and property, spent their wealth and did politics. Such exemplary leaders were seen in the past. Unfortunately such people are seen rarely today.  Today the whole political sphere has got tied up in knots. It has become a morass. You see frequently politicians throwing mud at each other. They blame each other constantly. There are conspiracies galore. It is rarely that you hear anything meaningful. Politics has gone down to such an extent. It is therefore that respectable people are reluctant to enter politics.  Our party represents one of the massive political processes in Sri Lanka today. SLFP governments functioned from 1956 to 1960, 1960 to 1965, 1970 to 1977 and 1994 to 2015. Today we are running the country through a Unity government. SLFP governments were engaged in developing the country economically, socially and culturally. Further than that, it was an SLFP government that defeated Eelamist terrorism and freed the country from the terrorist menace. In recent times an SLFP government launched a new development process which included expressways, new airports, big building complexes, etc. People know this well. Therefore people are rallying round our party day by day. Neither the pohottuwa nor the elephant or any other force can stop that. 

Our party is based on the Bandaranaike Chinthanaya. That philosophy adopts itself to changing circumstances and takes economic and social development forward in a way appropriate to the country. In that, the people have confidence as well as respect. Everyone knows that our party is the friend of the common man, the friend of the poor. We always work fearlessly for the poor. We dedicate ourselves on behalf of the poor, to uplift their standard of living. Our party with the President in the lead, dedicates itself to take the country to a new dawn of economic and social development. The people know that well. 

The SLFP is constantly working according to a plan to elevate the standards of sectors like education and health services and to provide the people with the best services possible. No country can go forward without improving the standards of education and health services. It is therefore that the President has strongly dedicated himself to developing those sectors.”