• SJB MP drops bombshell in house saying current PM as President in 2007 took unprecedented step in writing to then US Leader urging MCC
• Raps MR for now vilifying MCC and previous Govt. for finalising it
• Urges Govt. to move away from falsification and conspiracy theories regarding international agreements

By Chandani Kirinde

Main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday dropped a bombshell in Parliament, alleging Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in 2007 as President, wrote to his US counterpart George W. Bush urging the now vilified Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

PM Mahinda Rajapaksa

MP Dr. Harsha de Silva

compact for Sri Lanka.

“When the then President, current Prime Minister, found out the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement was in technical difficulty, he wrote directly to US President George Bush. He urged President Bush to please give us the MCC,” De Silva said during an adjournment debate in Parliament on ‘International Agreements’.

He said the move was “unprecedented” but had been taken by Rajapaksa though the proposed agreement subsequently came to be much vilified during the recent election campaign. 

“The then Government really wanted to obtain the Compact. It did an enormous amount of preparatory work and had multiple meetings and presentations. An entire team worked on it for months and years. But for cheap politics, suddenly the MCC became the most detrimental international agreement ever contemplated when it was pursued by the previous Government,” De Silva said.

He said that the current State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal was among those who campaigned for the MCC in 2005.

The SJB MP said that discussing international agreements today was not cast in terms of comparative advantage or mutual benefits but cast in terms of conspiracy theories.

For instance, it was portrayed that the Singapore Trade Agreement would take away jobs from Sri Lankans and that Singaporeans would arrive by shiploads to take these jobs.

“Is this the profile we want to project to the outside world? That of a nation that is insecure and not honest and adult enough to figure out how the international system works and hurl insults at each other and abuse international partnerships and agreements with fear mongering for cheap theatrics to win votes?” he queried.

De Silva who moved the adjournment motion said that people were being misled by various false narratives about international treaties and bilateral agreements and said that all agreements always had a clause regarding withdrawal or termination.

“Recent conspiracy theories and false narratives against the MCC that were being advanced by someone, now been appointed as an Ambassador to a key bilateral partner nation of Sri Lanka’s, that countries cannot withdraw from agreements once they are signed. This is not true. We recently saw the USA withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Forces Treaty with Russia,” he said.

De Silva urged the Government to move away from falsification and conspiracy theories regarding international agreements.

“Whether it is with the IMF in these difficult times or the proposed Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA) with India, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China or the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) or the MCC with the USA, debate the facts and benefits that will ultimately help the country to achieve that elusive development of the country,” he said.

Cabraal insists national interest first and foremost when entering agreements