Columns

By Chandani Kirinde- Lobby Correspondent

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya announced this week that daylong Parliamentary proceedings would be telecast live on national television but, along with it came a warning to lawmakers to conduct themselves in a dignified manner befitting of elected representatives.

However, a week into the experimental stage of what is expected to be the forerunner to the launch of a TV channel exclusively for telecasting live proceedings of Parliament, within the next three months, several MPs had to be reminded to mind their language when speaking from the Floor of the House.

“MPs must stop slinging mud at one another, making baseless allegations and character assassination in the course of Parliamentary debates. This kind of behaviour will erode the faith people have in Parliament,” he said.

The warning, however, did little to stop some over enthusiastic MPs from resorting to the usual personal attacks on their colleagues on the opposite benches, as House sittings entered its third straight week, with the Committee Stage debates on the Budget getting under way.

The Committee Stage debate began with the votes of 25 institutions including the Office of the President, the Prime Minister and Parliament among them.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called for an increase in the salaries paid to MPs as well as increase in their allowance, which he said was important to strengthen the workings of the Legislature.

He stressed that, with the Oversight Committees coming into effect from last year, all MPs had the opportunity to participate in the legislative process and hence, more facilities including vehicles, office space and residential facilities were needed for them.

These Committee Stage debates were not without controversy. Comments by Minister of Justice and Buddha Sasana, Wijayadasa Rajapaksha, that 32 Sri Lankans had left the country to fight along with the ISIS, were met with displeasure, both inside and outside Parliament by Muslim MPs as well as groups.

Mr Rajapaksha also struck hard saying he was ready to enforce the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, despite concerns expressed by the international community regarding the use of this law, as there would be no room left for terrorist activities taking place in the country again.

City Planning and Water Supply Minister and SLMC Leader, Rauff Hakeem was among those who said that the comments by the Justice Minister could create unnecessary fear regarding the Muslim population in the country.

He largely blamed the media for highlighting certain sections of Minister Rajapaksa’s speech. “The media must act more responsibly when reporting such matters which could lead to a breakdown in inter communal relations,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena who attended Parliament sittings regularly during the week, met with the Chief Ministers (CM) of all the provinces in the House, where the allocations of funds of the PCs in the 2017 Budget was discussed.

The CMs complained their allocations have been pruned and appealed to the President to intervene and get the funds enhanced before the Budget is passed.

President Sirisena had, in turn, said he would discuss the matter with Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and make the necessary adjustments.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs too met with President Sirisena in Parliament, where they discussed the new Constitution drafting process.