In yet another surprising move, all Expenditure Heads of the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry and some Expenditure Heads of Internal and Home Affairs and Provincial Councils, and Local Government Ministry were defeated due to a stunning coup engineered by the Joint Opposition faction in the UPFA. They were going against the understanding reached at the Party Leader’s meeting, namely, ‘not to call a vote during the Committee Stage of the Budget’.
Consequently,UNP Parliamentarian Prof.Ashu Marasinghe on Friday submitted his letter of resignation from the post of Assistant Chief Government Whip of Parliament to the Prime Minister following the defeat of expenditure heads of two ministries during the Committee Stage of the Budget debate 2019, on Thursday. Speaking to journalists on Friday Prof.Marasinghe said the Government has appointed two Deputy Chief Government Whips and three Assistant Chief Government Whips to cooperate with Minister Gayantha Karunatilleka who functions as the Chief Government Whip. He said all Government MPs had been instructed to remain in the Chamber during the Budget debate especially when the vote is taken and added that he was shocked that the votes on two ministries were defeated. The MP also expressed his regrets to Ministers Wajira Abeywardana and Champika Ranawaka who were inconvenienced as a result. Prof.Marasinghe told the journalists that he decided to resign after taking tresponsibility in this regard. However, neither the Chief Government Whip Gayantha Karunatilleka nor his two deputies have so far made any comment on the matter.
Perhaps the Government lawmakers would have thought the Expenditure Heads of both Ministries could be passed unanimously as was done throughout the Committee Stage debate of Budget 2019, during a period of almost two weeks. However, in an unexpected move, UPFA Ratnapura District MP Ranjith de Zoysa called a vote while the Speaker was reading through the numbers of each expenditure head, and asked if a division is needed. When the quorum bell was rung a group of UPFA MPs who were outside the Chamber entered the House. The Government ranks were surprised by the move as there were only a handful of Government MPs in the Chamber
The first vote was called for Expenditure Head number 260 of Vajira Abeywardena’s Ministry which was defeated with a majority of 18 votes, with 38 MPs voting against and 20 MPs voting in favour. The second vote was called for Expenditure Heads from 261 to 321 of the same Ministry and was also defeated with 38 MPs voting against and 23 MPs in favour. The third division was called for all Expenditure Heads of Champika Ranawaka’s Ministry - defeated with ( 38 MPs voting against and 24 MPs voting in favour). During the time of vote, no JVP MP was present in the Chamber and only two TNA Parliamentarians (Mavai Senathirajah and Selvam Addaikalanathan), were present and they voted in favour.
Meanwhile, after the Expenditure Heads of two ministries were defeated in an unexpected move in Parliament, Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella issuing a statement said that there was an understanding that there would not be a vote taken during the committee stage of the budget debate, but the Opposition broke that understanding. On the following day responding to a query raised by UPFA MP Bandula Gunawardena (who asked the Government to explain to the House what steps would be taken after the defeat of the Expenditure Heads of the two ministries), Minister Kiriella said that the Expenditure Heads of Ministries that were defeated on Thursday would be resubmitted to Parliament for approval before April 30. He said the Ministries had sufficient funding to continue until April 30 as Parliament had already passed a Vote on Account to authorise Government funding for the first four months of the year. Therefore, ‘there is nothing to get excited about.’
The Prime Minister also told the House the Government would follow the parliamentary tradition and bring in an amendment to the defeated Expenditure Heads of the two Ministries. However, he observed that the Government loses only Rs. 320 due to the defeat of several Expenditure Heads on Thursday.
The Premier told the House “this is a Rs 2,312 billion Budget. Out of that Rs. 320 is an insignificant amount and we can proceed without it too but we decided to present an amendment again to follow the tradition”. The Premier said the poor attendance of MPs was a fault on the Government’s part, but added that they will get those Expenditure Heads duly passed in Parliament.
Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa said that Expenditure Heads had been defeated even during the time of his Government and added the Opposition had no objection to the Government resubmitting the Expenditure Heads as long as it followed due procedure.
He said similar incidents occurred during his tenure too and votes on ministries of Ratnasiri Wickramanayake and Arumugan Thondaman were defeated, but the Speaker discussed the matter with them and took necessary action.
MP Mavai Senathirajah said It will also face the same consequences as the former Government. The MP told the House that in 2015, 47 countries unanimously supported the actions against missing persons but the decisions haven’t been carried out properly. This issue was also taken up at the UNHRC sessions in Geneva.
Senathirajah further said the families of missing persons are seeking answers and many have registered their complaints but not received any information.
Responding to queries raised by the Opposition members, Foreign Affairs Minister Tilak Marapana told Parliament there would be no hybrid courts or foreign judges to sit in judgment over post-war allegations, and ruled out the prospect of foreign judges under Sri Lankan law.
Citing an example, Minister Marapana said we cannot let a person who is not a doctor perform surgery by amending the Medical Ordinance. When we speak of foreign judges, we don’t know whether they are suitably qualified for the task.