Ranil says crisis is in the majority Opposition, not minority Govt.

Thursday, 9 April 2015 00:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe addresses the AMCHAM Luncheon meeting yesterday - Pic by Daminda Harsha Perera Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday threw back the apparent political instability issue to his opponents saying the crisis was with the majority Opposition and not the minority Government. This witty remark was made by the Premier at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, which came hot on the heels of the defeat of Interim Government’s motion, to up the Treasury Bill issuance threshold on Tuesday in Parliament. “The stability of the Opposition matters. Prior to the tabling of the motion to revise upward the Treasury Bills issuance threshold, Leader of the Opposition indicated he won't call for a vote. When the Opposition Leader and Government nominees were meeting at the Economic Subcommittee session, a group challenging him (Opposition Leader) asked for a vote,” Wickremesinghe said recounting the background for Tuesday’s fiasco in Parliament. "The stability of the Opposition is also important in the short term," the Premier added . The Government’s motion to increase the T-Bill issuance threshold by Rs. 400 billion or 47% was defeated by a majority of 21 votes while the total number of MPs who exercised their vote or were present at the time was only 83 out of 225. Political analysts described the loss of the vote as a setback to the interim regime whilst MEP MP Dinesh Gunawardena called for the resignation of the Government. However, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake on Tuesday said it wasn’t a defeat for the Government but the people who would have benefitted if the motion had been passed. Nevertheless, during his remarks at the AMCHAM luncheon, the Premier admitted that the current regime was a “minority Government” that needed the support of other parties on matters of national importance. He emphasised this aspect even with regard to the crucial 19th Amendment to the Constitution which the Parliament will begin debating today before putting it to a vote tomorrow. When asked at the forum whether there was a Plan B in the event that the national unity government failed, the Premier said: “The national unity Government is for there for 100 days and after that we go for elections. The real issue now is the crisis in the Opposition which will also have an impact. I think except for one party the rest have agreed on polls. I am sure with forthcoming Sinhala-Tamil New Year we can carry on till the end of April,” said Wickremesinghe prompting laughter followed by applause from the audience. On a more serious note the Prime Minister said just as important as the upcoming election were the September sessions of the UN Human Rights Council. He expressed hope that by September issues would be resolved on the strength of a wide range of measures taken by the Interim Government and the overwhelming support of a large number of countries, including several from the West. He said there was more to be done on reconciliation and rehabilitation and overall national unity. “We said earlier that if you go to antagonise the world or violate human rights there will be serious trouble for the country. If there wasn’t a change of Government we would have more sanctions coming. We already had sanctions on fisheries exports to the EU. Now we are working on lifting it as well as the GSP plus. The Prime Minister also said that the Government got a mandate to resolve three issues - one was relief to people over the high cost of living, the second was the issue of widespread corruption and the third was greater democratisation through better governance and rule of law for which constitutional and electoral reforms are key. Wickremesinghe said the measure to offer relief to the people had been implemented and greater purchasing power and higher disposable income would be enjoyed by people soon. On dealing with corruption he said the rule of law must prevail and due investigation and legal action will follow. He added that an unprecedented number of unsolicited proposals were the biggest source of corruption under the previous regime. Delivering on the third mandate will require all parties’ support on constitutional and electoral reforms which are either pending approval or require consensus.