100 Day Program was a collective effort: Harin

The United National Party Media Unit Publicity Initiative Mission statement being presented by Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment Minister and UNP Media Unit Head Harin Fernando to Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera. (from left) National Policies and Economic Affairs State Minister Dr. Harsha De Silva, Lands and Parliamentary Reforms and Chief Government Whip Minister Gayantha Karunatileka and Education Minister and UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam are also present. – Pic by Ruwan Walpola

By Chathuri Dissanayake 

In an apparent reply to President Maithripala Sirisena’s criticism of the 100 Day Program, newly-appointed Spokesperson for the United National Party (UNP) Harin Fernando yesterday (4 June) said that the program was drawn up in consultation with a number of stakeholders, including the current President. 

Launching the new media campaign for the UNP, ‘Truth’, Fernando said that the 100 Day Program, although backed by the Party, was not part of its manifesto. 

“The program was prepared by a number of political parties and civil organisations, including Maithripala Sirisena who worked together for the campaign. Our presidential election campaign slogan also included the 100 Day Program,” he said. 

Last week, President Maithripala Sirisena openly criticised the 100 Day Program, claiming he is unaware of who prepared the document. The United National Party, which backed the Common Candidate and the 100 Day Program, did not immediately respond to the comments. Fernando’s comments were the first to come in response to the public criticism. Fernando, however, insisted that most of the items listed in the 100 Day Agenda has been achieved. 

“It is true that we couldn’t do everything in the 100 Day Program, but a significant workload has been cleared. It is true that we couldn’t do everything we promised, it is also true that there were a lot of Rajapaksa lackeys in the state sector,” he explained, launching the new campaign. 

With the Presidential elections in the horizon, the UNP media campaign ‘Truth’ aims at communicating development work done by this Government with the public, despite the delay in setting it up, Fernando said, adding that the media drive aims at rebuilding trust in the party. 

Lamenting the lack of media coverage on multiple development programs launched by the Government, Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera too said that the change that was ushered in 2015 has been able to establish a ‘mature democracy’ in the country. 

“This is not a weak Government as some people project. Just because there are strikes every day, protests somewhere in the country every day, people call it weak. But we have a mature democracy like in the UK and USA,” he said. 

The Media Minister, critical of the conduct of most publishing houses and electronic media, claimed that fake news has become a serious problem in Sri Lanka as well as around the globe. Complaining that media outlets do not focus on development work, he said the new campaign will aim to communicate the development agenda to the people.  

“We have achieved a surplus in the primary balance last year, for the first time since Sir John Kotelawala’s Government. Last year, we had the biggest export earnings and this year, it would be even greater. Last year, we had the highest in FDI, and the unemployment rate is at its lowest,” he claimed. 

Outlining a number of new initiatives taken by the Government, which will be launching within the next few weeks, Samaraweera claimed the focus of media should be on those programs. Critical of the forces that distort truth, the Minister appealed to the public to not bring back the dark era where truth was a scary word. 

“Work towards establishing the truth,” he said.

Mangala tells Gota to go ‘home’

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday said Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa should return to his homeland, the United States of America, openly challenging him to deny ownership of the house in Kataragama. 

“I have made public the full list of corruption charges against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa last week. Now, if he has any self-respect, he should go back to his homeland, America. Our Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake revealed the number of houses he owns. The house in Kataragama was built by army soldiers, and the electricity bills come in Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s name. He hasn’t denied it. He is now claiming we are slinging mud,” Samaraweera charged, speaking at the launch of the UNP Media Unit. 

Dubbing the Viyath Maga vision 2030 document launched by Rajapaksa last month the ‘Wipath Maga’ (Disaster Path), the Minister claimed that the document is a bad knock-off of ‘Vision 2025’, launched last year by the Government. However, he said that the ‘Socialist Market Economy’ advocated in Viyath Maga was not an acceptable concept in economics in contrast to the Social Market Economy proposed by Vision 2025. 

Launching into a lengthy analysis, Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva claimed that the model proposed in the Viyath Maga was introduced by China in the 1990s where ownership of all State-owned assets went to the Chinese Communist Party. 

“What we have described in our document is a Social Market Economy. That is, having a market economy while ensuring that there is social protection and social justice to protect the vulnerable people and a monitoring system to enable smooth running of market economy,” he explained. 

“A Socialist Market economy is something that was launched in China.” 

(CD)