Eran says MPs primary responsibility to people not the executive

Friday, 13 November 2020 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Says MPs should stand by constitution, protect rights of people
Says there should be no repetition of drawing funds without parliamentary approval

SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne

SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne told Parliament yesterday that parliamentarians have their primary

responsibility not to the executive of the country but to the people.

“We have been elected by them, and it is our duty to stand by the constitution and to protect the freedoms and the rights of the people,” Wickramaratne said speaking during the second reading of the Appropriation Bill 2020 in Parliament yesterday.

He said that it is a very unusual situation that an appropriation bill is being presented at the end of the year when the country had a new president after the election on 16 November.

“The President had the opportunity to actually present a budget in this Parliament, and he did not make use of that opportunity. Often the excuse that he has been made that there was a minority government. But there have been minority governments across the world in which budgets have been presented and Parliamentary processes have been followed. This President could not do so.”

Wickramaratne went on to say that there are constitutional provisions for the President under special circumstances to reconvene a dissolved parliament for an emergency but he did not even use that.

“In a Republic you cannot even raise a rupee from a citizen without the approval of parliament. This is the first time in the 72-year history of a free independence Sri Lanka that a situation like this has arisen. And therefore, I would like to make a note of it that it will not be repeated under any circumstances.”

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