The United National Party (UNP) does not seem to be able to get its act together not only when dealing with its internal party matters but also in its conduct in Parliament. This was amply displayed when the no-confidence motion against External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris was taken up last Thursday.
The motion signed by four UNP members was handed in early last month requesting an early date for its debate, but when the motion was taken up on Thursday, the UNP could not muster even its own members to be present in the House let alone speak with conviction on the motion.
In fact when Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunaga opened the debate in the afternoon, it was not clear whether he was speaking for or against the motion. It was absurd to hear one of the main movers of the motion which accused the External Affairs Minister of “failing to preserve the reputation and uphold the good name of the country internationally and of having brought disgrace by his actions”, starting off the debate by attempting to absolve that very person of such blame by saying “the motion was not directed personally at Minister Peiris. If the charges were not directed personally at the Minister, the UNP would have done better to bring a no-confidence motion against the government and made it a more effective debate than blundering in this manner.
What Mr. Amaratunga did was to use the floor of the House to explain how he came to be invited by the External Affairs Ministry to join President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s delegation to the United Nations in New York. He said he was offered two air tickets by the Ministry which he accepted.
It was only after he informed Mr. Wickremesinghe, he was advised to return the tickets which he said he promptly did and purchased new tickets to visit his daughters in the USA which he apparently does annually. The question that begs to be asked is why he accepted the tickets in the first place when his intention was to make a private visit to the USA.
Then Mr. Amaratunga lamented the fact that the government was not accommodating enough opposition members in the delegations sent abroad and recalled that during the UNP regime the present President was given assistance to visit the UN.
Another signatory to the motion Colombo district MP Ravi Karunanayake made a valiant attempt to justify the no-confidence motion but even after reading old speeches made by Minster Peiris taken from Hansard and newspapers reports on how the Minister made contradictory statements, he was up against a formidable government side who adopted a no holds barred attitude to rip apart the Opposition motion.
Starting with Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, every government member who spoke turned the tables on the UNP accusing it of wanting to ruin the reputation of the country by bringing the motion against the minister in charge of foreign affairs knowing it would get international exposure.
“The UNP did this when the war against the LTTE was on and now they are doing the same thing. They are the real treacherous forces in this country,” Minister Sirisena charged.Holding up the ‘treachery card’ against the UNP-- especially its leader Mr. Wickremesinghe--is a favourite past time of government members and has been on going for years now, but this time it was the actions of the UNP itself that brought about the renewed charges.
The government line-up included Ministers S.B.Dissanayake, John Seneviratna, Champika Ranawaka, Wimal Weerawansa and Minister G.L.Peiris among several others. The UNP line-up comprised the four signatories and MP Joseph Michael Perera, exposing the party’s inability to rally its own members to even support the motion.
It seemed that the name of DNA MP Sarath Fonseka was heard more in the House on Thursday than that of G.L.Peiris and the lone Democratic National Alliance (DNA) MP Ajith Kumara who spoke on the motion used it to attack the government for its actions against the former army commander. “It’s not only in G.L.Peiris that the people no longer have confidence but in the President and the entire government,” he said.The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) did not take part in the debate while the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) supported the government ensuring that the motion was soundly defeated by a majority of 107 votes. This is the second time that the SLMC has voted with the government.
No confidence motion apart, the news of the expulsion of DNA MP Fonseka from Parliament was also discussed with Opposition Leader Mr. Wickremesinghe urging Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa to withdraw the letter sent by the Acting Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayaka, to the Elections Commissioner, asking for the name of a new member to fill the vacant seat.
“The Speaker promised to rule on this matter but he has not done so far, so this move is an illegal one,” he said.
It is unlikely that Mr.Wickremesinghe’s words will be heeded. So, instead of Mr.Fonseka, a new member is likely to be sworn in soon. |
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