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Amidst a countrywide fuel shortage and daily power cuts lasting over five hours, Parliament echoed with sounds of protests and angry exchanges. Yet, rather than discuss solutions to the crisis, both Government and Opposition MPs kept pointing fingers at each other over the unprecedented economic crisis.

On Thursday, SJB MPs wielding placards and battery powered torches staged a protest inside the Chamber demanding that the Government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign over the daily power cuts. The uproar caused by the protest forced Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to adjourn proceedings for 10 minutes.  

When proceedings resumed, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa noted that there were now long lines of vehicles at filling stations in the country due to the fuel shortage. Some filling stations have even begun rationing fuel. “Many factory owners called me and explained that their factories were not operating as they are unable to find fuel for vehicles that transport workers to and from the factories. They don’t even have fuel for their generators.”

The prevailing power cuts were also affecting students sitting for the ongoing GCE Advanced Level examination, small and medium industries and those in the tourism industry who are just getting back on their feet. “Save for competing media statements made by the Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission and Ministers of Power and Energy regarding the crisis, the Government has been unable to find a solution and has plunged much of the country in to daily power cuts lasting almost five hours.”

Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila acknowledged that the country was facing a severe fuel crisis due to lack of foreign exchange. He claimed this was due to the country’s import expenditure vastly exceeding its export revenue since 1978 and from obtaining large foreign loans. “All Governments that have been in power since 1978, including those that the Opposition Leader was part of must bear responsibility for the foreign exchange crisis we find ourselves in.”

Under the previous Yahapalana Government, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) owed USD 3.1 billion to the two state banks for Letters of Credit opened for fuel importation as at December 31, 2019. Despite the seriousness of the foreign exchange crisis over the past 18 months, Mr Gammanpila said he was still able to reduce the CPC’s debt to the two state banks by USD 355 million. The minister challenged the Opposition Leader to explain how he plans to solve the foreign exchange crisis instead of just hurling accusations. “This is not just a Government problem; it’s a national problem. Cast your slogans aside and help us solve this problem for if we fall, the country will fall with us.”

The previous day (23), the SJB had moved an adjournment debate on “the current socio-economic situation of the country.” The Government is purchasing fuel like it reloads a mobile phone, SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne said, moving the motion for the Opposition. “The Government puts a few dollars in and gets some fuel. When the Government buys fuel under the reload system, consumers have to refuel under the sachet packet system in some areas as fuel is rationed at filling stations,” he quipped.

According to the Minister of Energy himself, when an oil tanker arrives, it is the two managers of the Petroleum and the Bank together who decide on the payments to be made. Today the situation is so critical that the President and the Minister are being pushed to intervene. It shows that there is no management of institutions in the country and no management of the country, the MP claimed. “This is a catastrophic situation.”

The current crisis was not President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s fault, nor has it come about due to the failure and inefficiency of his Government, Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardana argued. The Yahapalana Government saved USD 5 billion from 2015 to 2017 due to the fall in world oil prices. “But this money was squandered due to the instructions given by then Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to the Central Bank. That was only the start. You took out sovereign bonds that we will have to be paying till 2029. Your Government destroyed this country. A single party cannot find solutions to this crisis now.” he told the Opposition.

Justice Minister Ali Sabry meanwhile, dismissed the accusations levelled by the SJB against the Government over the Easter Sunday attack, pointing out that they occurred four-and-half years into the previous Government’s term. It is a fact that multiple intelligence warnings of an impending attack were ignored in the lead-up to the attacks, he pointed out. He also brushed aside accusations over the way the Attorney General had pressed charges over the attacks. “A civilised Government cannot simply arrest people off the street and charge them. It is up to the police to investigate an incident and report facts to the AG, who must then decide if charges should be filed. The Government does not interfere in this process,” he claimed.

A Government that is unable to properly identify the crisis cannot be expected to find a solution, National People’s Power (NPP) MP Dr Harini Amarasuriya opined. She noted that the vast majority of the country’s entrepreneurs are small and medium business owners and these businesses have been hit hardest by the crisis. The Government’s only response so far has been to blame the COVID pandemic for everything. “You can’t provide an uninterrupted supply of electricity just because the President says so if you don’t have the necessary fuel and the money with which to purchase it.”

The claim that the power crisis stems from a failure by the Yahapalana Government to build new power plants is false because the problem is not with the power grid’s capacity but with the failure to supply fuel to existing power plants, said SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka. According to the Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) own statistics, the country’s generation capacity is 4888 MegaWatts (MW), but even peak hour demand does not exceed 2700MW. As such, he said the issue is clearly lack of fuel. Several key power plants, including the GT7 power plant at Kelanitissa and the West Coast power plant are currently out of action because their fuel stocks have run out. This means that though the power grid has a capacity of 2168MW of thermal power, only 1023MW is currently available.

The debate ended abruptly however, when most remaining SJB MPs walked out in the middle of the speech by Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage; the day’s final speaker. It was thereafter pointed out that there was no quorum in the House. Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Dr Suren Raghavan, who was in the Chair, noted that it was the Opposition who moved the adjournment debate and their failure to stay until the end had disgraced both democracy and Parliament. With not enough MPs in the House even after the quorum bell sounded, the debate ended in embarrassing fashion.

Parliament will reconvene at 10 a.m. on March 8.