Mangala challenges Gotabhaya to prove renunciation of US citizenship

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera today (Nov 6) challenged presidential candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to produce the relevant documents to prove that he has renounced his US citizenship.

“There is no absolutely no indication that his (US) nationality has been renounced,” the Finance Minister told a news conference in Colombo.

Accordingly, Samaraweera “challenged” Mr Rajapaksa, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate, to produce his Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the US, before the presidential poll on November 16.

He made these remarks while clarifying matters concerning the government’s proposed grant agreement with US-based Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which has drawn criticism recently.

“If anyone can show me a clause in the agreement, that atleast an inch of (Sri Lankan) land will be given to US, I will immediately resign from politics,” Samaraweera remarked.

The government has been faced with criticism after it declared it would sign the agreement before the presidential election, with some factions raising concerns on Sri Lanka's territorial sovereignty.

However, the minister explained that the government wanted to sign the agreement before the election, to ensure that the USD 480 million grant is confirmed, during the MCC board meeting in December.

“Although we have received cabinet approval, the agreement will come into effect only after obtaining Parliament approval,” the minister stressed adding that it would be tabled in Parliament after the November 16 vote.

He pointed out that USD 140 million of the total grant would be used for road development, while, USD 160 million would be used to implement an Advanced Traffic Management System.

In addition, the grant would also be used for land-related projects such as digitising land records, and increasing tenure security and tradability of lands, Samaraweera said.

“Land projects will take place across eight districts at a cost of Rs 12.1 billion,” he added.