State funds won't be misused through vote-on-account; PM tells Parliament

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today (Sept 4) told Parliament that state funds would not be misused by submitting a vote-on-account for the first quarter of next year.

He made these remarks while responding to Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Parliamentarian Bimal Ratnayake who queried of a possibility of misusing state funds since a vote-on-account does not set out specific allocations.

Mr. Ratnayake pointed out that since the Parliamentary elections were due next year, the government could possibly use these funds to boost their chances of winning at the upcoming polls.

However, Mr. Wickremesinghe said that all expenses from the vote-on-account would be regulated by the relevant laws and that such expenses would not be allocated for any project.

“We cannot increase expenditure. The policy of our government is to create a surplus in the budget. We hope to balance the income and expenditure this year as well,” he said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the Finance Ministry had decided against submitting next year's annual budget towards the end of this year since the presidential elections are to be held between November and December.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wickremesinghe also proposed to set-up a committee to conduct progress review meetings fortnightly or monthly in order to resolve the wild elephant issue which has affected many people.

Parliamentarian Sidney Jayarathne pointed out that five persons have died in Polonnaruwa this month due to wild elephant attacks and that preventive measures such as the installation of electric fences have failed due to the negligence and inefficiency of wildlife officials.

The Prime Minister then said that the government has sought the assistance of the Civil Security Department to monitor these fences and that a committee headed by the Wildlife Minister including other parliamentarians and the Director-General of the Wildlife Conservation Department be appointed to report on the progress of these matters.

Responding to a question raised by Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila on why the location for last month's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) had been shifted to Switzerland from Sri Lanka, Mr. Wickremesinghe said that the decision had been taken owing to security concerns which arose after the April 21 terrorist bombings.

Mr. Gammanpila pointed out that a decision had been taken at CITES 2016 to host this year's conference in Sri Lanka.