Columns

By Sandun Jayawardana  

Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Chairman Janaka Ratnayake, seen as a thorn in the side of the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government, was removed by a comfortable majority of 46 votes on Wednesday after a fractious day-long debate.

The 123-to-77 vote saw pro-Government Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MPs voting in favour of the resolution. The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the National People’s Power (NPP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) group led by former President Maithripala Sirisena, the Freedom People’s Congress led by Dullas Alahapperuma, and Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya led by Wimal Weerawansa voted against the resolution. MPs from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were not in the chamber during the vote.

SJB Badulla District MP Vadivel Suresh, who has recently been at loggerheads with the party leadership, voted for the resolution. Several other MPs sitting with the opposition, including SJB MP Kumara Welgama, SLFP MP Duminda Dissanayake and SLPP MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa also supported it.  

Muslim National Alliance (MUA) Puttalam District MP Ali Sabri Raheem, who had been backing the Government since the now-repealed 20th Amendment, voted against it. Mr. Raheem is in the news for having been detained by Customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) with undeclared gold and smartphones in his luggage.

Launching a scathing attack on the PUCSL Chair at the debate’s start, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara accused Mr. Ratnayake of causing a loss of Rs. 32 billion to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) by arbitrarily preventing a tariff revision it requested from January 1 to February 15 this year. He pledged to initiate legal action to recover those funds from Mr. Ratnayake once he was removed as PUCSL chairman.

The minister alleged that both the PUCSL chairman and the opposition wanted the scheduled power cuts, which ended in February, to continue. “They wanted the queues to come back because they knew that was the best way they could come to power,” he remarked.

“We are bringing this resolution today not with the aim of removing an independent commission,” claimed Minister Wijesekara. “It is to remove a political appointee who is attempting to advance a political agenda, specifically the Opposition’s political agenda.”

In response, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said, “The Government is calling Janaka Ratnayake a biased chairman as though it was us who appointed him.”

He noted that the PUCSL chairman was appointed during President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency and questioned how a man whom the Government considered good then was bad now.

The Government was trying to make it look as if the PUCSL chief had acted arbitrarily and on his own, Mr. Premadasa said, pointing out that the decision to challenge in court the Government’s “unjustified” electricity tariff revision had been backed by four of the Commission’s members.

Battle lines drawn: Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara and ousted (PUCSL) Chairman Janaka Ratnayake

“In reality, it was the Cabinet that acted illegally by approving such a massive electricity tariff while bypassing the PUCSL,” he said. “The chairman had the backbone to write to the Cabinet saying he opposed this unjust hike.”

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna District MPM.A. Sumanthiran noted that under the new tariff increase, which the PUCSL chairman opposed, consumers who used the lowest amount of electricity (between 0-30 units) faced a hike of 275 percent.

In contrast, those who used more than 91 units have had no increase in their electricity bill, he said. “True, the country is in economic crisis, but you don’t take from those who don’t have and give to those who have abundantly,” he said.

It was the Opposition that directed the actions of Janaka Ratnayake, claimed State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe. They used him as a pawn to try and sabotage the Government’s efforts to secure an Extended Fund Facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“He (Ratnayake) wanted the power cuts to last for 24 hours,” he alleged. “If someone says what we are trying to do here is to remove Janaka Ratnayake, I disagree with that interpretation. What we are trying to do is to prevent the sabotage of our future economic programme.”

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader Rauff Hakeem pointed out that this was the first time the House has resorted to the procedure of removing the head of an independent commission. The chairpersons of independent commissions such as the Election Commission, the Human Rights Commission and the PUCSL have fallen out of favour with the Government they had been harassed and intimidated to leave their positions voluntarily, or if not, an alternative action would be taken against them, claimed Mr. Hakeem. He charged that the move had been initiated to fulfill the wishes of the Executive.

He said Parliament Standing Orders should be amended and a proper opportunity given to the PUCSL chief to defend himself. It is very unfortunate that this process is happening without allowing for that, he said.

Joining the debate, National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader and Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya Chairman Wimal Weerawansa said the charges that the Government had cited to remove the PUCSL Chairman were not the real reasons behind the move to oust him.

The Government wanted to remove him because he stood in the way of the CEB’s unjust electricity tariff hike aimed at paying off its debts,” he charged. “The PUCSL is not supposed to be a mere rubber stamp to approve any number the CEB submits. If that is what the Government wants, then it may as well abolish the regulator altogether.”

SLPP Kandy District MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage said the chairman of an independent commission has no right to go against an Executive President, the subject Minister and Parliament.

“We have no personal quarrel with Janaka Ratnayake but this power and energy sector contributed to the collapse of a Government and the resignation of a President,” he said, alleging that the chairman was involved in a conspiracy with the Opposition to bring down the Government.

He asked that Parliament remove Mr. Ratnayake to pave the way for the appointment of a truly independent commission chair who will stand for the rights of the consumers.