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The issue of whether President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had the power to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund whilst Parliament stood dissolved and the general election postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic had been a matter of heated debate for months. The issue came to a head this week again during the two-day debate on the VoA which sought to fund State expenditure from September 1 to December 31 this year.

Presenting the motion to Parliament on Thursday (27) in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa noted that while the Government had to deal with the crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it also had to settle the Yahapalana Government’s unpaid bills from 2019 amounting to Rs 242 billion, which is more than 2.3 percent of the country’s GDP.

“While the 2019 budget deficit is reported as 6.8 percent, the real figure is more than 9 percent when you take the unpaid bills into account,” he told Parliament.

Mr Rajapaksa observed that more than half the loans obtained in recent times were foreign loans. As a result, the Government had decided to review all projects amounting to about Rs 9 billion, he said.

He clarified that this did not mean the Government will stop these projects altogether. “Instead of loans, we will aim for more investment promotion. We believe we can reduce the Government’s expenditure burden and improve the economy.”

The Government’s tax policies implemented from December 1 last year had a disastrous impact on State revenue, Samagi Jana Bayawegaya (SJB)’s Colombo district MP Patali Champika Ranawaka charged. Opening the debate for the Opposition, he alleged that due to these policies, annual State revenue, which had been near Rs 2000 billion during the previous Government, had plummeted to about Rs 1000 billion since last December.

The MP also alleged that the Government had drawn and spent funds from the period after April 30 to September 1 in violation of the Constitution; an argument brought out by numerous Opposition MPs throughout the two-day debate.

While the Treasury Secretary had issued a circular dated March 10, 2020, that the President had authorised the utilisation of funds under Article 150(3) of the Constitution, only Parliament had the power to authorise funding under a VoA, Mr Ranawaka insisted.

“Our stance is that Article 150(3) only gives powers to the President to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund for public expenses till three months from the date on which the new Parliament is summoned to meet. It does not grant him powers to draw funds or approve a VoA from the date of dissolving Parliament,” he stated.

SJB Colombo district MP Dr Harsha de Silva requested the Government to bring a motion in Parliament to legitimise the expenditure from April end to September now that Parliament had reconvened. “None of us will oppose such a motion. We can then approve the motion and rectify this matter. There is no reason to go to court for this.”

The MP warned that failure to do so would set a bad precedent where a future President could cite it to draw and spend funds without Parliamentary approval.

The Government brushed aside the arguments, with Leader of the House and Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena pointing out that the Government had to differ presenting a VoA to Parliament in February just before Parliament was dissolved, after the Opposition went back on its initial promise to support it.

He accused the Opposition of trying to precipitate an economic crisis in the country through its actions in Parliament then. Arguing that one could not take different clauses of the Constitution in isolation, Minister Gunawardena insisted that the President had drawn the funds constitutionally.

The minister also told Parliament that the Government would present its 2021 Budget to the House in November.

The country may have been in lockdown, but that does not give anyone the right to lockdown the Constitution, Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.

He challenged the Government to name its Defence Minister.

“Through this VoA, the Government has asked to allocate Rs 174 billion for the Ministry of Defence. Who is the Defence Minister then? Chamal Rajapaksa is named as the State Minister of Defence but he is only in charge of the police and district and divisional secretariats. The armed forces do not come under his purview. Who do they fall under? You are asking us to approve a massive allocation of Rs 174 billion for the ministry, but who is the minister who will be responsible to Parliament for these funds?” he queried.

Mr Dissanayake said the Government was reluctant to admit that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was unofficially acting as Minister of Defence because it knew that this is a clear violation of the Constitution.

SJB Gampaha district Parliamentarian Harshana Rajakaruna, meanwhile, told Parliament that 38 percent of total allocations made under the VoA had been allocated to ministries coming under four members of the Rajapaksa family.

The VoA was passed without a vote on Friday (28) evening. The House also approved a separate resolution for the Government to borrow Rs. 750 billion through an issue of Treasury bills.

Parliament will reconvene at 1 pm on September 8.

Vote on Account at a glance