Premajayantha says as a people’s representative, he is duty bound to point out Govt.’s faults
Having served as a cabinet minister in various Governments since 2000, sacked state minister Susil Premajayantha told the Sunday Times he had no interest in serving as a state minister in the current Government. “I accepted the post because I was interested in education reform. I believe we should reform our education in line with the 21st Century.”
Over the past three months, however, the country’s situation started to go from bad to worse as the LP gas issue, kerosene shortage, foreign exchange crisis, fertiliser crisis, shortages of essential items and resulting high prices led to more and more misery being heaped on the people. Yet there were no meaningful group meetings of the Government’s parliamentary group during these times to discuss these issues.
“As representatives of the people, it is up to us to point these issues out,” Mr Premajayantha stressed, but lamented that this was seen by some within the party as attacking the Government.
Regarding the comments he made in Parliament regarding how the legislature was being bypassed when drafting new laws, the MP pointed out that even the drafting of the proposed new Constitution was being done by legal experts from outside Parliament. “Drafting laws is the duty of the legislature. Technical support, however, can be obtained from outside. This has been the practice since the 1972 Republican Constitution. Even under Yahapalanaya, a Parliamentary Select Committee was appointed and six sub committees, with the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe chairing all committee meetings. I pointed this out. I have not criticised Government policy.”
Meanwhile, senior party members such as Mr Premajayantha were continuously sidelined in parliamentary debates. Those who knew the subject were allocated far shorter times during the debates while those who did not know what they were talking about but were good at slinging mud and carrying out character assassinations were given far more time to speak.
One most recent example was the recent Budget debate when the head of expenditure of the Justice Ministry was taken up. “Usually, it is the MPs who are also lawyers who get the most time and opportunity to speak in this debate since they are well versed in the subject. But during the last budget debate, only a few lawyers spoke at the Committee Stage. A lot of time was given to certain non-lawyers, whose only qualification to speak about the subject was that they are the accused in various court cases.”
Mr Premajayantha also scoffed at claims that his recent TV interview at the Delkanda market was a staged attempt to hit out at the Government. He said that for the past 45 years, since his childhood days, he had been a frequent visitor to the market to buy provisions. “I played a big part in obtaining the land to which the market shifted around 2012. It was on my visit there last Sunday that a media person who was visiting and interviewing people about the prices of goods saw me and asked me a question about the high prices of chillies, which were being sold at Rs. 1200 a kilo. I told him that this was the result of the non- application of fertiliser and pesticides, pointing out that the people were suffering.”
The senior politician and former General Secretary of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is perplexed as to what those who criticised him for his comments wanted him to say in such a situation. “I only pointed out what happened. Am I to remain quiet or say that everything is fine? What would people who were nearby think if I had said such a thing?”
He said some people “with limited knowledge” who “don’t understand the pulse of the people,” had clamoured afterwards to criticise him over the comments and seek his removal. “We are living in an era of slaves. To run a Government, you need people with integrity, knowledge and professionalism. If you look at the CVs of many ministers and MPs, you will know how few are properly qualified to hold their jobs.”
One of the main reasons for the current crisis is that the Government has not properly utilised the country’s public service, he opined. While the public service has very good officers, the practice has been to put political appointees to lead them. “How many ministry secretaries have resigned in recent months? All of them have been appointed from outside. They must take the blame for what has happened.”
Since his removal, the MP has gone back to his legal practice. He had been in active practice from 1985 to 1995 prior to entering politics. He had practised law from time to time even after entering politics. “I was in courts even on the day prior to them asking me to accept the state minister post, so this is nothing new to me.”
Mr Premajayantha had bought two lottery tickets that day at the Delkanda Market and afterwards compared his sacking to winning the lottery. All the publicity he had received since then has been good for him as a politician, he claimed.
Some within the SLPP have called for further action against the former state minister. He believes any further action will only be better for him.
“As someone who understands the pulse of the people, I was merely conveying what they thought,” Mr Premajayantha stated. “It is unfortunate that there are those (within the Government) who do not understand that pulse.”