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Presidential polls in the air as next year’s Appropriation Bill makes early appearance
As the dust settles on the Uva Provincial Council polls, the decision by the Government to present the Appropriation Bill for next year, almost a month ahead of the usual Budget time frame, was the clearest indication to come so far that an early presidential election is on the cards. “We will look at a good ‘nekatha’ (auspicious time) and present our victorious Budget,” was all that Government Whip Dinesh Guanwardena said when he was prodded by the Opposition to indicate if an early Budget presentation too was on the cards.
He however, promised there would be no compromise in the time period allocated for the annual Budget debate, but did not specify when it would get under way. Last year the Budget was presented on November 21 and wound up a month later on December 20, but this year, the Budget is likely to get under way by end October.
The Appropriation Bill was presented to the House on Friday by Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne. The total Government expenditure for 2015 has been estimated at Rs 1,812 billion, up from Rs 1,542 billion for 2014.
While there was speculation on an upcoming election, the post-election violence in the Uva Province was raised in the House by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who made particular reference to the attack on journalist Chandana Karuppuarachchi in Badulla, while he was covering an incident in Hali Ela. “It’s an accepted right worldwide that a journalist has the right to engage in their work freely. In this case, the perpetrators of the attack on UNP member Harin Fernando’s vehicle, turned on the journalist, fearing he may have recorded evidence that could implicate them in the attack,” the Opposition Leader said.
Prime Minister Jayaratne said in response that Sri Lanka’s journalists are free to carry on their duties without any hindrance.
“Journalists are being beheaded in other parts of the world. This does not happen in Sri Lanka,” he said. He also said that three suspects arrested in connection with the attack on Kuruppuarachchi, were produced before Court and later released on bail, but promised a full investigation into the incident.
Amidst the talk of an early presidential election, there was a curious development in the House on Thursday, when a Private Member’s Bill titled, “Bill to amend the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,” to be presented by UPFA Gampaha District MP Vasantha Senanayake, was postponed by the MP himself.
The presentation of the Bill was listed on the Order Paper for Thursday, but when he was asked to move the Bill, the MP said he was postponing the presentation and instead, asked the Government to consider appointing an all-party committee to go into Constitutional reforms and to study what has been put forward by him and other MPs, as the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) does not seem to be doing this.
The Bill proposes to amend the Constitution to restrict the Cabinet to 30 ministers, and Deputy Ministers to 31. It also proposes to restrict the number of ministerial portfolios that can be held by the President to one.
However, several UNP MPs were visibly upset by the UPFA MP’s decision to back off from presenting the Bill at the last minute, with UNP MP Ravi Karunanayaka offering to present it to the House, if the UPFA MP did not want to do so.
“We appreciate the attempt by the UPFA MP and approve the contents of the Bill. He has done a good job which should be commended. If he is forced to withdraw it, we would like to present it to the House,” Karunanayake said.
However, this was not allowed by Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody saying the Bill had been withdrawn by MP Senanayake.