Minister of Lands S.M. Chandrasena said that the present issues within the Government doesn’t have any impact towards its forward march. This is just a conflict of ideas among some coalition parties of the Government.
The Minister in an interview with the Sunday Observer said when looking at recent history, if any issue was faced by the Government, all constituent parties firmly stood together irrespective of their ideological differences. He said since 1948, there were so many coalition Governments which ruled the country. During history, various issues had occurred in such Governments from time to time due to certain activities of their constituent parties. Minister Chandrasena said this is a time where the Opposition should join hands with the Government regardless of their political differences to overcome the prevailing situation in the country.
Q: What led the Government to declare a 10 days lockdown of the country?
A: According to the experience, there won’t be a big impact if we go for a lockdown at this juncture. However, the people believe if we go for an islandwide lockdown, it would be able to control the Covid-19 pandemic. So many requests came from the Maha Sangha, political parties, Opposition and the people to lockdown the country. When such requests are made, the President and the Government have to listen to them. Therefore, the President decided to declare a 10 days islandwide lockdown of the country. As the State leader, the President has a responsibility to take steps to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. On the other hand, we should realise that the President took over an economy which was entirely ruined by the former Yahapalana Government.
Just two months after the President assumed office, the Covid-19 pandemic emerged. The President has genuine intention and a lot of plans to rebuild the country. The prevailing situation in the country has become an obstacle for the President to implement these plans as expected. The President has a responsibility to safeguard the lives of the people and maintain the economy at a certain level. The President acts based on that ideology. However, some people think of only one side without concentrating on the economy. There are nearly 2.5 to 3 million people who depend on day-today livelihoods. There is a large number of people who don’t like to lockdown the country. Similarly, another group of people are requesting to lockdown the country. Therefore, the President decided to lockdown the country for 10 days by listening to the views of both sides.
Q: Lot of controversy has been made on the letter issued by 10 constituent parties of the Government soon after the Cabinet meeting requesting to declare a lockdown. Some Ministers say there may be a conspiracy behind this act. Your views?
A: This President and the two-thirds majority Government was created by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) along with some other political parties. The people with an overwhelming majority elected the President and the Government by looking into the unity in our alliance and political manifesto. We all contested from the ‘Pohottuwa’ symbol with unity. It is our duty to further maintain the unity and collective responsibility of the Government. After the Cabinet meeting, 10 constituent party leaders of the Government signed and issued that letter. I also attended the Cabinet meeting.
At that time, no request was made to lockdown the country. Following day, a letter signed by 10 constituent parties of the Government requested a lockdown of the country. Actually, that was not a request to be made through such a letter. We all would have discussed that matter with the President at the Cabinet meeting. Therefore, these coalition parties have done something which cannot be accepted. They all should discuss and sort out such issues within the Government without going for such options. However, these parties have resorted to that course of action by violating their collective responsibility. That is why this controversy has been created. However, this is not an obstacle to continue the Government. We believe our coalition parties will not resort to such moves once again.
Q: Is there any crisis within the Government as highlighted by the Opposition?
A: This is a SLPP led Government. When looking at the history since 1948, there were so many coalition Governments which ruled the country. During history, various issues had occurred in such Governments from time to time due to certain activities of their constituent parties. The present issues within the Government doesn’t have any impact towards its forward march. This is just a conflict of ideas among some coalition parties of the Government. When looking at recent history, if any issue was faced by the Government, all constituent parties firmly stood together irrespective of their ideological differences.
Q: Some say if the Government locked down the country at the correct time, the number of Covid-19 patients and deaths would have been reduced. Could you explain?
A: Now we get the experiences from the entire world which has faced the Covid-19 pandemic. At the first wave, the countries such as the US, Italy, Germany, France and Australia were locked down for a couple of months. We also declared a lockdown of our country for a couple of months. However, a second wave of Covid-19 was emerged by forcing the countries to go for a lockdown once again.
However, there was no slight decrease of Covid-19 cases during the second wave. The third and fourth waves were rapidly spread throughout the world with new Delta variant. Therefore, it is obvious that if the country is locked down, it doesn’t make a big impact and the number of Covid-19 cases doesn’t come down rapidly as we expect. Finally, it will lead to a collapse of the economy and fully disrupt the livelihood of those who depend on daily wages. Instead of locking down the country, if the people adhere to the health guidelines, we can reduce the number of Covid-19 patients. Sometimes, if the country is in lockdown, the people at the village level gather as groups.
If the people disregard the health guidelines, there is no point in going for a complete lockdown.
Q: Vaccination is not the only solution and the people also have a big responsibility to help to control the spread of the pandemic. Your views?
A: We are at a very high level when we look at the countries who continue the vaccination drive. Despite the economic hardships, we have not reduced or stopped our vaccination program. The Government continues the vaccination program by spending a huge amount of money. However, there is a question whether the people have a proper understanding of this program launched by the Government to control the spread of the pandemic. The money spent on vaccines is also people’s money.
Therefore, the people should take proper advantage from it. Some people have ignored taking the vaccine. Therefore, the Army has to go to their doorstep to give the vaccine. The Government has to conduct a publicity campaign to request the people to get the vaccine. As the Government fulfills its responsibility, the people should also act in a responsible manner. It is not sufficient the contribution given by the people to control the pandemic. This has become one of the major reasons to spread the disease.
Q: How do you respond to the claim by some Government lawmakers that the Government will have to face an economic crisis if the country will have to be locked down further?
A: When we took over the Government, the foreign reserves had declined to zero. We also accepted a Treasury which was bankrupt. If the country’s agriculture, fisheries, industries and production activities are stopped, we will have to face severe economic hardships. The Government has to spend money to provide food, medicine, education and other welfare facilities to the people. The Treasury should have adequate funds to meet this expenditures. When the country is in lockdown, all these essential services will also become inactive. However, the Government didn’t curtail the salaries of the public servants.
The Government also paid the full salary of the teachers who staged protests in the streets.
The Government has ensured the Democratic rights of the people and does its utmost best for the public sector. We have to import fuel, medicines and other essential food commodities which are not produced in our country. We should have sufficient foreign reserves to import these products. In order to increase our foreign exchange earnings, we have to export tea, rubber, coconut, apparels and other products. When the country is in a complete lockdown, it will have a serious impact on our exports. Therefore, we have to look into all these aspects and try to minimise the impact caused to the economy due to the lockdown.
Q: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his recent address to the nation said that the people will have to make sacrifices if the prevailing situation in the country further aggravates. Would you like to comment?
A: The people will also have to make some sacrifices. The ordinary people have already made some sacrifices. There are a lot of profit-making institutions which manufacture various products with the help of our people. At this critical juncture, those who owned these institutions can also provide some assistance without putting the entire burden on the Government. However, most of them remain silent without extending any such help. This is a very serious situation faced by the country which should be addressed with the joint participation of everybody. It is regrettable to note that when they can do a lot of things on behalf of the country, there is a group which thinks the Government should do everything.
If the prevailing situation further worsens and the Treasury doesn’t have sufficient funds and foreign reserves, all haves and have-nots will have to make some sacrifices in future. Otherwise, the President alone cannot fulfill this task.
Q: UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has requested the President to convene an all-party conference to discuss the prevailing situation in the country. What is the Government’s response to this?
A: This request should be made by the main political parties in the Opposition and not Ranil Wickremesinghe. He is a defeated leader who finally entered the Parliament from the UNP National List.
Therefore, he is not a leader who represents the majority. There are leaders in the Opposition who represent a majority. Therefore, they should also respond to this. Then we all can convene an all-party conference and discuss how to face this situation. Then the President will take necessary steps to convene an all-party conference.
There is no use of Wickremesinghe alone attending such conferences. We can convene an all-party conference if other powerful parties in the Opposition also agree to such a proposal.
Q: Various segments of the society and even some Opposition politicians also say that the opportunity has created that all parties should jointly face this situation irrespective of their petty political differences. Your views?
A: That is what we also expect. This situation cannot be addressed by slinging mud and criticising each other through the media. This is a time where the Opposition should join hands with the Government irrespective of their political differences to overcome the prevailing situation in the country. We call upon everybody to join hands with us to successfully face this challenge.
Q:Do you think the recent wave of protests conducted by the Opposition and other Trade Unions paved the way to spread the Covid-19 pandemic in the country?
A: When the Covid-19 cases were reduced to some extent after the Sinhala new year, the teachers and principals came to streets and staged a large number of protests at towns countrywide by disregarding the Covid-19 health guidelines.
The teachers and principals are considered as an exemplary group. There is a perception in society that they should always do the right thing as another group is getting ready to follow them. When the teachers and principals staged protests by violating the health guidelines, it created an impression among the ordinary citizens that teachers came to the streets as there was no issue. Then the people who had controlled themselves to some extent also lost their control and attempted to follow the teachers and principals by violating the health guidelines. This became one of the major reasons to increase the Covid-19 cases in the country.
Q: How do you view the allegation levelled by the Opposition that Rs.2000 allowance given to the deserving people during the lockdown period is not sufficient?
A: According to the severe economic hardships faced by the Government, this is not a time even to give a Rs.2,000 allowance. When the country is in complete lockdown, Rs.2,000 allowance given to the deserving people is not sufficient. It was Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa who decided to give this Rs. 2,000 allowance by considering it as a Government’s responsibility.
If large-scale businessmen can contribute some money, we can increase this amount by two or three-fold. If the Government is in a position to give more money, we would not hesitate to do so.
– Sunday Observer Sri Lanka
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