HIGHLIGHT GOOD DEEDS OF THE GOVT. - MS

Amajor shortcoming of the present government is that it does not have the ability to articulate to the people its good deeds, President Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday.

“This particular shortcoming gives an advantage to the opponents and they often talk of what this government had failed to do,” the President said at a ceremony held to mark the 23rd death anniversary of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa last morning.

President Sirisena made this statement on the shortcoming of the present government by connecting it to an incident he experienced at a District Development Committee meeting which the late President Premadasa participated many years ago.

“Themiya Hurulle a young MP once asked the late Mr. Premadasa whether to organise a large public gathering to mark the opening of a tank in the North Central province which was rehabilitated. Mr. Premadasa then posed a question to Mr. Hurulle and asked whether there are trees around the tank and whether these trees had leaves on them. When Mr. Hurulle answered him saying there were trees with leaves, Mr. Premadasa told him to write on each leaf a statement which said the tank was rehabilitated by his government,” he said recalling the incident.

“The present government should also communicate to the people about all the good work done by the government like the way the late President Premadasa

The very people who tried to destabilise the country actually isolated Sri Lanka when they came to power years later,” he said. “He stressed the need for national unity stating it was one of the qualities which the late President stood for.”

did,” he added. Paying a glowing tribute to his predecessor the President said Mr Premasasa had a rapport with his opponents. This he said is a quality which many of the politicians do not have. “Some question me whenever I have discussions with my opponents without considering it as a good quality,” the President also said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who recalled how the opposition during the late President’s time went to Geneva and tried to stop foreign aid said these opposition forces failed to destabilize the government as the officials of Geneva who visited the country then actually ended up praising the late President Premadasa’s leadership. “The very people who tried to destabilize the country actually isolated Sri Lanka when they came to power years later,” he said. “He stressed the need for national unity stating it was one of the qualities which the late President stood for.”

Minister of Housing Sajith Premadasa who is the son of the late President said there was no difference between his father and the present president as both are facing challenges as there are people to destabilize the present regime just like the time of the late President Premadasa.

It was announced at the ceremony held yesterday to mark the death anniversary of late President Premadasa that one of the “Udagamas” (reawakened villages) will be named after late Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera under the village reawakening programme which had been re-commenced by the present government. The village therefore will be named ‘Sobitha Nahimi Gama’.