No need of the cackle, just vote as you please
‘Blocked Gota’s arrest in Avant Garde case’ admission by former Justice Minister
UNP member, SLPP sympathiser, MP and PC Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe attended the press conference on Wednesday at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute to announce that he intends to vote for SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Good for him. But why on earth does the man have to attend a press conference and declare to media personnel of his choice of candidate and make a great song and dance about it as if it was some dramatic news the nation was waiting for so long to break when it is actually no business of ours whether he votes for X, Y or Z or spoils the vote or doesn’t vote at all.
He should be well aware that this is a democratic nation and that he is free to vote for whomsoever he chooses without having to declare it to the general public in advance and that it is not a requirement that one must disclose one’s personal preference to the media.
And in the meantime let us also remind him that during the next thirty days or so should he change his mind and pick on some other candidate as the choice of the day he is under no compulsion, legally or morally, to share his decision with the public.
What was of more interest to the public was his alleged admission made at the same media conference and reported in the Daily News that he, whilst being the Minister of Justice under the Yahapalana regime, had “blocked Gota’s arrest in the Avant Garde case” and described how he had intervened to stop the Attorney General’s Department directive to arrest Former Defense Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in connection with Avant Garde floating armoury case when he was the Justice Minister.