Odds and
Ends
Dismal performance
The Government side puts on a dismal performance during question
time in Parliament by failing to provide answers to many of the
queries on the Order Book. It has become a habit in recent months
to ask for more time to provide the answers. On Friday the matter
came to a head when JVP MP Anura Dissanayake took the Government
to task for failing to provide answers to three questions he had
asked. He said there were a record number of ministers but none
were present to answer the questions. He found an unlikely ally
in UNP Colombo district MP T. Maheswaran who has been raising the
issue on many occasions. Mr.Maheswaran said that it has been more
than a year since he asked questions with regards to Tamil medium
schools in the Colombo district and was yet to get an answer. Constitutional
Affairs Minister D.E.W.Gunasekera, who was overseeing the business
of the House in the absence of Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle,
said he would bring the matter to the notice of the President. Hopefully
that will bring an end to the evading of providing answers to questions.
So many ministries
Also on the same issue, Mr. Maheswaran had a question directed at
the Minister of Resettlement Rizard Badurdeen on damages caused
to Christian churches, convents and missions in the north and east
during the past 20 years and what steps are being taken to rehabilitate
these places. The minister first said he would table the answer
but when asked to read it said that some sections of the questions
were not relevant to his ministry. With so many different ministries,
it is not surprising that even the ministers are not aware of what
subjects they are dealing with.
Good example
The Attorney General last week informed the Acting Secretary General
of Parliament that the JVP was not qualified to name the one remaining
member to the Constitutional Council (CC) on the basis that the
party filed nominations papers to contest the last general elections
as nominees of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance
(UPFA) and candidates were elected as members of that party.
The AG’s ruling came after repeated calls
made to Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara by UNP members to rule whether
the JVP was an opposition political party or a part of the ruling
party.
The JVP maintains that since it left the UPFA
government last June, it functions as an independent opposition
group in the Legislature.
It does not agree with the AG’s ruling and
will challenge it in court. Even if the JVP may no longer be in
the race to appoint the CC member, the other two parties qualified
to do so - the TNA and the JHU- are far from seeing eye to eye on
the matter with both claiming they should be the one to name the
candidate.
Sri Lankans have never been good at consensus
politics and this is one good example of that.
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