Parliament

Choksy goodies Vs Speaker goodies
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
It was truly an unconventional lead upto any Budget. First the government painted a fairytale picture of the people- friendly budget they were going to present. Before the long awaited day became a reality, the President prorogued Parliament delaying the day set for its presentation by a week. The Finance Minister went ahead and let out a tantalising little of the closely guarded Budget secrets which made everyone yearn for more. But finally when he threw wide open the promised bag of goodies, it was more disappointment than satisfaction.

Budget Day itself was an unusual affair with sittings starting on the 19th at 10 a.m. so that the Speaker could read out the President's announcement summoning Parliament after a prorogation of 15 days. Although only a half an hour morning session was anticipated after suspension of which the House was to re-convene to meet at 2.30 p.m. for the presentation of the Budget, things went a little haywire after Speaker Joseph Michael Perera made a controversial ruling on the President's decision to prorogue Parliament without consulting the government.

As a live telecast of the proceedings were beamed across the country by a private television station that had got permission for this purpose, the Speaker read out a five page ruling in which he stated that Parliament was not a subordinate of the Executive but an equal but separate arm of government and that the exercise of the power to summon, prorogue and dissolve must always be exercised in consultation with Parliament.

There was applause from government benches as he proceeded with the speech but shouts of discontent from the opposition benches with the JVP's Colombo district MP Wimal Weerawansa wondering out loud whether the person occupying the Speaker's chair was the UNP MP Joseph Michael Perera or the Speaker of the House.

Amidst the melee that followed, the Speaker suspended sittings till afternoon and opposition members who met later decided to leave out the "garu" when addressing the Speaker in protest at his ruling. When the second session began, PA and JVP members did not rise when the Speaker took the Chair nor bow to the Chair. By Friday however, things had cooled down and all members rose when the Speaker entered the Chamber.

Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse used the first day of the debate of the second reading of the Appropriation Bill to express the Opposition's views on the Speaker's ruling. " If Parliament seeks to arrogate to itself powers which it does not possess as suggested in the said ruling it will violate the Constitution which all of us have sworn to uphold," he said.

The spill over effect from the Speaker's ruling has been the loss of faith in the Speaker among PA and JVP parliamentarians who are now contemplating moving a no-confidence motion against him.

The government has set aside November 28, for a debate on the ruling, but the Opposition has sought two days for this. The Speaker requested both sides of the House to grant him permission to make his views known during such a debate as the House would be debating a ruling made by him. Kandy district PA legislator Sarath Amunugama opened the debate on the Appropriation Bill and described the Budget as both "heartless and aimless"

"You tried to trick the people by telling fairy tales but this budget is a disgrace to the people of this country," he said. But it was JVP Wimal Weerawansa whose speech had many UNF legislators irritated. Most of his 45 minute- long speech was marred by several government members namely Ratnapura district MP Mahinda Rathnathilake, Puttalam district's Palitha Ranga Bandara and Polonnaruwa district's Sydney Jayaratne interrupting him and accusing the JVP of being partners in the President's efforts to close down Parliament."It is George Bush who has prepared this Budget not Mr.Choksy. The Prime Minister himself has said that because of the President's actions the government has been unable to keep to the timetable set out by the international community," he said.

However ironically he chose to quote a famous American President Abraham Lincoln's equally famous quote "You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time," to wind up his speech." I am quoting Lincoln because if I quote some local person you won't take it seriously," he quipped.

PA National MP Mahinda Amaraweera and several other opposition members said the reason the government went ahead and raised the people's expectations of getting a major pay raise along with many other benefits was in expectation that Parliament would be dissolved before the Budget could be presented.

"You were expecting dissolution and were hoping you could get on the election platforms and say 'we were planning to give so much but the President prevented us from doing so'. Now everyone knows were lying, " he charged. It was the four-figure salary increase for public servants widely trumpeted by the government that got most of the attention during the presentation of the Budget. Finance Minister K.N.Choksy announced the Rs 1250 raise from January 2004 promising further benefits would follow in 2005 and 2006.

Mr.Choksy also painted a healthy picture of the economy stating that the country had achieved a growth rate of 5.6 per cent in the first six months of this year and had earned the confidence of other countries.However he said political developments since early November had dealt the economy a severe blow but the government would not be deterred and would go ahead with its development programme.

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