Youth
bills passed with some fuss
By Chandani Kirinde, our lobby correspondent
Amidst rumours of coups and counter coups, Parliament
sittings remained somewhat subdued during the week with no incidents
bearing near resemblance to the scenes that took place within the
August assembly when it last met in mid-July.
Although the
occasional heated exchange of words did take place, most of the
debates concluded without major disagreements.
The sittings
were a milestone in the careers of seven of the lawmakers including
the Prime Minister, Ministers W.J.M. Lokubandara, Tyronne Fernando,
P.Daya-ratne, Amara Piyaseeli Ratnayake, H.G.P.Nelson and MP Anura
Bandaranaike who completed 25 years of being successively elected
to Parliament since their entry in August, 1977.
For all seven
members who spoke, it was a time for reminiscing their experiences
of the past quarter century with the Prime Minister stating that
it was no mean feat to serve for 25 unbroken years in a legislature.
The Parliamentary
Scholarship's Bill initiated by the seven MPs was debated and passed
on Tuesday. The Bill will give the opportunity for promising young
persons to go abroad for their higher studies.
The Youth Corps
Bill too was taken up for debate and passed unanimously. It provides
for the training of youth in vocational education and other disciplines.
Although opposition members did not oppose the Bill , they shared
little of the government members optimism about the introduction
of such a Bill as a solution to the problems of the youth stating
it was a politically motivated move to create a "UNP brigade"
to terrorise opposition forces.
"This
could become a political platoon. The minister in charge of the
subject would have too many powers vested in him, " warned
JVP Kurunegala district MP Bimal Ratnayake.
The youngest
MP in parliament Duminda Dissanayake spoke with some optimism that
the much ignored issues of the youth would be addressed to at least
a small extent by this Bill.
It was upto
Economic Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda to speak about the dark
reality that most avoided talking about. "......Our political
system has become so corrupt , our parliamentary representatives
so jaundiced and the atmosphere so poisoned that every good intention
is seen as evil," he said.
Much of the
disquiet between the members of the two sides came to light during
the oral question/answer time.
Parliamentary
Affairs Minister A.H.M.Azwer said the questions included in the
order book by several government MPs had identified UNP supporters
as being responsible for attacks on certain individuals and said
that by doing so, these MPs were passing insinuations on members
of a certain party which violated standing orders of Parliament.
He also said
that series of questions asked by former PA Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle
about the names, salaries, official and residential addresses and
telephone numbers of the private secretaries, co-ordinating secretaries
and public relations officers of several ministers were unnecessary.
"The only
reason I asked the questions was that when the UNPers when in opposition,
they accused us of having our wives, daughters and sons in these
posts. I just wanted to prove to the country that they were doing
the same things that we did. I was trying to do you a favour but
I have been proved wrong," Mr. Fernandopulle said amidst shouts
of protest from the government benches.
Mr.Fernandopulle
also pointed out that a part of his question where he asked what
the relationship the appointees had to the minister in question
had been omitted only to be told by Speaker Joseph Michael Perera
that it had been his decision.
"I did
omit that section so that I could safeguard the respectably of the
MPs. But in the future I will not do so. If both sides want to sling
mud at one another, they can do so," the Speaker said.
Repeated arguments
between the two sides led the Speaker to request the parliamentarians
to be aware that there were school children watching them from the
public galleries.
"This
is becoming like a fish market . Both sides must co-operate if I
am to conduct the proceedings of this House," he said.
The problems
at question time did not end there. JVP Bimal Ratnayake stated that
he was not satisfied with the answer given by Mr. Moragoda to his
query regarding the complaints received by the Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission (SLMM). The Premier intervened saying he would discuss with
the SLMM and make available the information at his office in Parliament
as it was difficult to bring the bulky document files to the House.
This did not
satisfy the JVP MPs who insisted that the information be made available
to them at least in the Parliament library. "Even if they have
to be loaded onto a lorry and brought here, they must be made available
to us," JVPs Wimal Weerawansa insisted.
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