Lobby
Rocky honeymoon for marriage of political convenience
A month after the landmark Jan. 8 election that put the UNP in office, the uneasy arrangement of working with an Opposition which has more members in Parliament than the Government side, is proving to be a challenge. The decision by the UNP-led Government to support the ouster of Mohan Peiris from the post of Chief Justice (CJ) followed by the attack on a group of UPFA members of the Wattala Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) allegedly by supporters of Minister of Pubic Order John Amaratunga, showed that making the fragile arrangement last even for a 100 days could prove to be tricky.
The Opposition had an early victory under the new arrangement this week, by forcing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to accede to their demand for a daylong debate on the CJ’s matter, on a date earlier than the Government had decided upon. On the day of the debate on Monday, Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva announced they would bring a ‘No Confidence’ motion against Minister Amaratunga over the Wattala PS attack issue.
The arrest of MP Tissa Attanayaka also triggered a backlash from the Opposition, which accused the Government of failing to follow laid down procedure of taking into custody Members of Parliament, which is done after obtaining permission from the Speaker. The Opposition Leader took up the issue saying that the intent to arrest a Parliamentarian should have been conveyed to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, but this was not done.
However, this position was challenged by some Government members including Deputy Minister of Power and Energy Palitha Range Bandara who said there was no such laid down rule, and that, several UNP MPs had been arrested in the past without informing the Speaker. It was amidst these diversions that the Government presented the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill for 2015 as an Urgent Bill, to give effect to the Budget proposals presented to the House by Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayaka the previous week.
Introducing the Bill, Minister Karunanayaka said Government proposals are aimed at curtailing unnecessary expenditure and to give redress to the public from the high cost of living.
“What we achieved within 21 days, they failed to do after being in power for 11 years,” he said .Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala De Silva said they would support the Budget as it had many measures to give redress to the public, but the widespread welfare measures would cost the State coffers heavily.
“One of your proposals is to grant Rs 20,000 to each expectant mother. There are 350,000 to 400,000 births in the country each year, and you will need Rs 8 billion to pay this amount to each mother. But you have allocated only Rs 1 billion to implement this,” he said. The Government came in for criticism for its decision to hike taxes imposed on hybrid vehicles, with DNA MP Sunil Handunnetti saying small-time importers will be hit by this tax. Several other Opposition members too expressed concerns about the hybrid vehicle tax.
Minister Karunanayaka justified the tax increase saying the Government had reduced taxes on petrol cars of 1,000 cc and the introduction of the 40% tax on hybrid vehicles would bridge the wide gap that exists in taxes imposed on hybrids and diesel or petrol vehicles. With less than two-and-a-half months left the Government has to complete several important legislative businesses as part of its 100-Day programme, prior to the dissolution of Parliament.
With Cabinet approval granted for the implementation of the National Drug Policy, the necessary legislation will be introduced to Parliament this month, as well as the Right to Information legislation. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution to curtail the powers of the Executive Ppresident is also to be presented to Parliament shortly.
All this important business of Parliament could get derailed if the Opposition decides to go ahead with the ‘No Confidence’ motion against Minister Amaratunga. Other unforeseen clashes between the two sides too could crop up as Parliamentary elections draw close.