An upbeat government side, buoyed by the military successes in the north, fended off opposition criticism for imposing new taxes on the people as Parliament approved last week, several new tax laws and regulations and also enacted legalisation to hold elections to local bodies in the northern province.
Even though the legislation to call for fresh nominations to local authorities in the north was approved by all parties, an increase in the Nation Building Tax from one per cent to three per cent effective from May 1 was opposed by the UNP, the JVP and the TNA.Despite its ability to keep opposition critics at bay, the government did admit that the country was beginning to feel the pinch of the global economic downturn, despite its earlier claims that the “Mahidna Chintanaya” polices would shield the country from any adverse impact.
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| Ranil Wickremesinghe |
Athauda Seneviratne |
Sri Kantha |
State Revenue and Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said the government was finding it difficult to fund development projects and finance other expenses and the recent influx of civilians from the north into government-controlled areas would considerably increase government expenditure.
The UNP, however, said the real reason for the poor performance of the economy was waste and corruption in the state sector and the inability of the government to manage it prudently. “The economy is like an ailing patient who is in the throes of death,” Kurunegala district MP Gamini Jayawickrema Perera said.
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe intervened saying that President Mahidna Rajapaksa was closing down factories at the same pace at which late President Ranasinghe Premadasa opened them.
However, it was the discussion about the LTTE and related matters that frayed tempers in the House. Labour Minister Athauda Senevirante said being a leftist politician, he always stood for the rights of the minorities but the LTTE repeatedly sabotaged efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the problem and was now facing inevitable defeat at the hands of the military. He also went onto criticize the Ceasefire Agreement signed by the UNP at which point Mr. Wickremesinghe said if the government side had allegations against the UNP on the CFA, President Mahinda Rajapaksa should take up his challenge for an open debate.
However, this angered Minister Seneviratne who in turn challenged Mr.Wickremesinghe to come for a debate with him. “I have faced stiffer challenges,” Minister Seneviratne shoutedat Mr. Wickeremesinghe with clenched fists.
Another MP who was at the receiving end of a barrage of verbal abuse from several government members was TNA Jaffna district MP N.Sri Kantha after he told the House that several hundreds of civilians were killed by the military due to artillery fire last week. His comments angered some of the more boisterous government MPs such as Mervyn Silva, Jagath Pushpakumara and Mahindananda Aluthgamage. Minister Hemakumar Nanayakara accused Sri Kantha of being an LTTE informant and said that the TNA was as much responsible for the suffering of the Tamil people as the LTTE.
The government side and the JVP clashed in the House on a different issue. The JVP was angry that no progress had been made to apprehend the main suspects in the killing of their member Nandana Balage. The House had to be suspended for nearly 45 minutes to ease the tense situation that arose after JVP MPs stormed the Well of the Chamber to protest at the inaction alleging complicity of some government supporters in the killing.
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