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By Sandun Jayawardana  

“Clean Sri Lanka,” the much discussed flagship project of the National People’s Power (NPP) government was the subject of an intense two-day Parliamentary debate over the nature, scope and objectives of the programme.

The ambitious project aims to fully transform the country based on three key pillars – social, environmental and ethical. Opposition MPs however, claimed during the debate that even elements of the government and public officials tasked with implementing the “Clean Sri Lanka” programme did not fully understand what it was about.  

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Kurunegala district MP Nalin Bandara said they did not understand the exact vision or mission of the programme and what the government hopes to accomplish by it. “We also don’t believe authorities within the state apparatus; from governors to state officials and chairpersons of local authorities have a proper idea about it either,” he said.

Mr. Bandara further questioned where funding was going to come for the programme and opined that different people seem to have their own interpretation of what “Clean Sri Lanka” is. The police are seeing this as removing accessories from trishaws and buses. Public officials are seeing it as cleaning up roads even with their ties on. Some ministers may see it as stepping into lakes and removing invasive weeds such as Salvinia, said the MP.

He claimed that the only way to make the “Clean Sri Lanka” project a reality is to implement the contents of the NPP’s manifesto – “A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life.” He accused the government of not moving to implement the NPP manifesto during the four months it has been in power. “It’s been a case of turning right after putting the left-hand signal.”

The government is conducting awareness among government servants and public institutions about the project from January 1 to February 1 through the “Clean Sri Lanka Task Force,” Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told Parliament. The government however, is encountering an attitude problem among some officials and institutions considering that other programmes launched by previous governments turned out to be media circuses. As such, they believe that this programme too will end in a few weeks, but this is not the case, he insisted.

While a significant portion of “Clean Sri Lanka” includes maintaining a clean environment, that is not all of it, said the minister. “Clean Sri Lanka also means cleaning our attitudes. The programme may take different forms in various districts. This is because we need to identify what’s needed for each locality. It is also not a programme we can implement through policies and laws alone. The public must also understand the need to change and must also want to do that.”

He argued that the government has already led by example with regards to the “Clean Sri Lanka” programme. “We haven’t appointed relatives to the Cabinet or to the Foreign Service. Everyone has been selected on merit. We have reduced government wastage. We are giving the fullest support to properly implement the state apparatus,” he pointed out.

The NPP government is a people-centric government and therefore, it is not surprising that those who had represented anti-people’s governments have not understood the “Clean Sri Lanka” programme, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya quipped. She added that the social transformation envisaged by the project is currently taking place. “The political culture of the country is changing. Public officials are intervening to work independently. We can see the rule of law being applied. The country itself is changing. That’s why we are hearing things from the opposition side such as ‘we were also going to do this or this thing started during our time.’”

She accused the opposition of “sour grapes” because the NPP has already been able to do things they (opposition) couldn’t do

“Our question is whether all 159 MPs of your government and the officials tasked with implementing the project have a thorough idea of what “Clean Sri Lanka” actually is,” said Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Namal Rajapaksa. He asked whether a Terms of Reference (ToR) has been sent to the heads of government institutions tasked with implementing the project, and whether any specific guidelines had been issued to others.

All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) Leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam meanwhile, reminded the government that when talking about ethics, it is important to be consistent in what one says, and contrasted the NPP’s pronouncements regarding the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) before and after elections. He charged that after the elections are over, the government has backtracked very quickly on the PTA.

Mr Ponnambalam added that while the government had insisted that it would strictly monitor the application of the PTA to prevent any faults from occurring, they had nevertheless happened. He charged that people had been arrested under the PTA during last November’s memorialisation events conducted in the North. While the police had later withdrawn charges filed under the PTA, “the point is that the law is so draconian and so wide in its possible applicability that the police will misuse it. They will always misuse it. That has been the history of this terrible law. And even if your government wishes to do otherwise, the law is applied by the police and they continue to misuse it,” he claimed.

Justice Minister Nanayakkara however, said that a Cabinet paper has already been prepared for the formulation of a committee to study the abolition of the PTA. “Hopefully, at the next Parliament session, I’ll be able to confirm with you that Cabinet approval has been given for the abolition of the PTA and to bring in an Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) that conforms to international standards.”

“Clean Sri Lanka” is not a political programme, Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake explained. “Even opposition MPs are welcome to join in programmes held in their respective districts. Clean Sri Lanka is not perfect but it will be the people who will make it perfect,” he added.

The NPP was building an ethical political culture, said Mr. Rathnayake. “None of our ministers are housed in luxury residences at taxpayers’ expense. They are not using super luxury vehicles at taxpayer expense. We pledged to abolish pensions for MPs and legislation to this effect will be presented soon. You don’t need a pension to represent the people. It’s enough that you have the satisfaction of working for the people,” he remarked.

Parliament will reconvene on February 5.