News
Ambitious UPFA rebels wreck council budgets
Local council members exchanged blows, hurled abuse at each other and offered foreign trips to win votes as a number of UPFA-controlled councils struggled to pass budgets.
At least 16 local council budgets have been defeated so far and others hang in the balance. On Friday, the Kesbewa Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) budget was defeated by one vote for the second time, with the Vice Chairman joining the six UNP members to vote against it.
UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha will announce a new Chairman, in accordance with the existing law that stipulates the appointment of a new chairman if a local council budget is defeated twice.
Homagama PS Chairman A.D. Kumarasiri receiving treatment at the National Hospital, Colombo. Pic by Athula Devapriya
On Wednesday (December 11), Homagama PS Chairman A.D. Kumarasiri was assaulted when leaving the council chambers. He was rushed to the Homagama General Hospital and later transferred to the Colombo National Hospital for further treatment.
“Everything took place around 5 o’clock in the evening. The budget was presented to council and two councillors began an argument over it,” he said. This had escalated into a fracas.
“People were shouting and trying to assault each other. I struggled to bring the council to order but failed,” the Chairman told the Sunday Times when interviewed at the National Hospital.
He had adjourned the council meeting and been making his departure when two councillors had grabbed him. “One took hold of my hand and the other snatched the file I was carrying. Then, when I tried to leave the council with the help of fellow members, a man hit me with a chair,” Mr Kumarasiri said.
Some members of a large crowd gathered outside had thrown blows at him. It had been a planned operation, he charged; the deputy dhairman was trying to come to power.
Under a new law, if a PS budget gets defeated twice a new chairman is appointed. In several councils disputes between the chairman and deputy chairman have affected the budget vote.
Budgets were defeated in about 15 councils, and at least five also failed in the second round of voting with ruling party councillors ignoring orders and casting “No” votes.
One of the first budgets to be defeated twice was at the Rajanganaya PS. Six councillors voted against it in the second round and no one had voted for it in the first round. Its deputy chairman, who voted against it, said the councillors’ decision had been prompted by an abuse of power by PS Chairman D.M. Prabath Vithanna.
“We were elected to these positions by the people of our area because they think we can be of service to them. This year we couldn’t do anything significant for the people. The Chairman engaged in unnecessary spending and now we don’t have revenue in the PS,” said Deputy Chairman W. A. Jayaweera.
Prabath Vithanna accused rebel councillors of having a personal grudge against him. He said they had rejected the budget without understanding it.
At Mirigama PS, all but one of the 12 UPFA councillors voted the budget down. On 29 November it was put forward a second time but defeated by 20 votes with only the chairman voting in favour.
Mirigama PS Chairman Ananda Premachandra said councillors had not engaged in any debate about the budget when it was presented. “I believe that the members were putting a personal dispute ahead council work. These members are bringing discredit to the party,” he said.
His opponents said they had voted against the budget because he was not carrying out his duties diligently.
In Seethawaka Urban Council, headed by the UNP, the budget was also defeated, causing Chairman Susil Premalal Pinto to seek the government’s support.
UPFA Western Provincial Minister Udaya Gammanpila said he had responded to Mr Pinto’s appeal because Buddhist monks in the area and UPFA members had urged him to do so.
“I personally know the Chairman. He has worked for the betterment of the council and the people of the area. Later, the matter was taken to the President. We were able to come to an agreement: Mr Pinto agreed to help the government with its development programme in return for our help,” Mr Gammanpila said.
He said budgets in other areas had failed due to a range of factors – poor interpersonal skills on the part of the chairman, the corruptive means through which they execute power and the desire of the deputy chairman to go up the political ladder.
The former minister for local government and provincial councils, Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, said that in 75 per cent of cases the deputy chairman attempted to become council chair through defeat of the budget.
“In some cases the deputy chairman is in dispute with the chairman and that is reflected in the budget voting but there are also cases where the chairman is abusing his powers,” he said.
Private Transport Services Minister C. B. Ratnayake, who is a member of a parliamentary committee looking into PS-related matters, said council power struggles were behind the defeat of budgets.
The Minister said clear directions had been given to UPFA council members not to vote down budgets in councils run by the ruling party. Mr Ratnayake said an inquiry would be held into the issue.