Chief Government Whip, Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said that if the former Yahapalana Government had built a strong economy, we should have successfully faced the issues the country is facing today. The country has been safeguarded even to this extent as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa rules the country free from fraud and waste. Otherwise, we would have faced a more massive disaster than this.
The Minister in an interview with the Sunday Observer said there is no division in the Government, adding that those two who attempted to create divisions were sacked from their ministerial portfolios. The Minister said if those who became MPs thanks to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attempt to betray the mandate, the people will teach them a good lesson in the near future.
Excerpts of the interview
Q: Former President Maithripala Sirisena addressing the SLFP Colombo district convention said that the incumbent Government attempts to put all the current issues on the former Yahapalana Government. Would you like to comment?
A: I’m not surprised by the allegations by the former President. The former Yahapalana Government should be held responsible for all these crises that have emerged in the country. When the country was taken over by the former Government, our economic growth was only second to China. When they handed it back, we had to compete with Afghanistan to become the last. We took over that kind of a country.
If former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had not been defeated in 2015, even after the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, our economy would have been in a stable position. That didn’t happen during the Maithri-Ranil Government. They first robbed the Central Bank. Before its report was issued, they dissolved Parliament and went for an election. It was the former Yahapalana Government which ruined the country. Today, we have to face hardships due the manner they ruled the country. This didn’t happen as a result of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ruling the country.
Q: Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has hinted that the SLFP will contest any upcoming election on its own. Will this pose any threat to the SLPP’s vote base?
A: These are just political speeches made to the public. We should not take these comments seriously. They make such statements to further retain their members within the party. There is no validity to these statements.
Q: Some have raised concern on the newly appointed Economic Council and say that it doesn’t have any representation of minorities, women, youths and economic experts. Your comments?
A: The Cabinet of Ministers on Monday approved President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s proposal to appoint a 16-member Advisory Committee comprising business leaders and academics to assist the 11-member Economic Council. Various baseless allegations were levelled against the Finance Minister and the Central Bank Governor. As different views were expressed in Parliament and the Cabinet, several Cabinet Ministers have been appointed to represent the Economic Council.
A separate Advisory Committee was also appointed to provide instructions and guidelines to the Economic Council. We cannot include the names of all Parliamentarians and Cabinet Ministers to the Economic Council. However, we have appointed a few Cabinet Ministers to represent it.
Q: How do you view the allegation levelled by the main Opposition, SJB, that the country’s youth are depressed, helpless and are stuck in a position where they are unable to cope up with the current economic crisis?
A: We have faced the economic problem due to the Dollar crisis. We have allowed the Dollar to float. This would be normalised. It will take some time to resolve. The youth who voted for the SJB may be depressed due to the mismanagement of the economy by the former Yahapalana Government and Sajith Premadasa’s inability to give the leadership to the party.
Most of them have been depressed as JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake goes to villages. He has taken over the Opposition role into his hands. Therefore, it is obvious why Sajith Premadasa and his group may be depressed. However, there is no depression among our partymen. They are anxiously waiting to face any future election.
Q: Former Minister Wimal Weerawansa had told the media that Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa aggravated the economic crisis to weaken the country to the level of becoming easy prey to the Western nations. Your views?
A: We should expect this criticism from Weerawansa. After he was sacked from his ministerial portfolio, we cannot expect him to make any good comments about the President, Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the Government. We know what he had planned to do and actually what he did. When we are in a Government, first we should know how to behave in it. The collective responsibility of the Cabinet should be protected.
After we were appointed to hold a Cabinet ministerial portfolio, we should know how to conduct ourselves in the Government. Parliamentarians such as Weerawansa don’t know how to behave in the Cabinet. If he always talks about Western powers, it is evident that he is also handled by one or two local persons.
Weerawansa is attacking the Finance Minister as he is a talented politician and the National Organiser of the SLPP. That is why they deliberately target and attack the Finance Minister as they couldn’t do what they wanted. There was a big conspiracy hatched, but they couldn’t succeed. We were able to identify it early and they were sacked from the Cabinet.
Similar incidents have happened in the past as well. When Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi were sacked, they too resorted to the same option and criticised the then Government. This is not a new phenomenon and we have to expect this. However, when there is an election, Weerawansa would be able to see his capacity. We would never go behind the people who betray the party. The people learnt a good lesson by going behind former President Maithripala Sirisena. They won’t let it happen again.
Q: If a group of SLPP Parliamentarians quit the Government along with SLPP dissidents Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila, will it pose any threat to the stability of the Government?
A: We have no issue to continue the Government. We would maintain the majority of the Government. If they attempt to create a rift in the Government, we are also ready to create a rift in their group as well. We are ready to face any challenge. Then they would be able to see how the divisions are created in the Opposition as well.
Q: Some political analysts have said that sacking of two Ministers exposes division in the ruling coalition. Is there any truth in this?
A: There is no division in the Government. Those two who attempted to create the division were sacked from their ministerial portfolios. That is all.
Q: The main Opposition SJB conducted a protest rally in Colombo on Tuesday and claimed that it will be the beginning of a common struggle to overthrow the Government. Would you like to elaborate your views?
A: That was not a protest to overthrow the Government. Today, there is a protest to safeguard Sajith Premadasa’s leadership. There is a competition in the Opposition for the presidential candidacy. There are four or five Presidential Candidates in the Opposition. That is mainly due to incompetency of the Opposition Leader. Sajith Premadasa pleaded to bring the people to Colombo to safeguard his leadership.
Q: UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that changing the Government is not the solution, what is needed today is a national consensus, not a national Government. Your views?
A: If all are united, that is good for the country. Then it shows some sincerity on the part of the Opposition as well. It was the former Government which took sovereign bonds for massive interest rates after 2017. Now, we are repaying them. Instead of shouting in the streets, first, they should tell their alternative program to the country. It won’t be easy for the Opposition to change the Government. If they have proposals to overcome the current crisis, they should submit them rather than shouting in the streets.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has faced a biggest issue to secure his leadership. However, our leader has not faced any such issues. We have a straightforward leader who makes correct decisions and governs the country free from fraud and corruption. The Opposition doesn’t have a capable leader. Sajith Premadasa cannot fulfill the role of the Opposition Leader and keep the Opposition MPs under his control. Even some of his MPs are fighting for presidential candidacy.
Q: SLPP Parliamentarians Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila who were sacked from their portfolios are vehemently criticising Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and say they would not give up their struggle until they chase him away to America. How do you view these controversial remarks by the two SLPP dissidents?
A: That is what they did during the past one and a half years as well. They have nothing new to criticise. This is the continuation of what they did when they were in the Government. However, it won’t be easy for them to chase away Minister Basil Rajapaksa. We have a strong force to defend Rajapaksas.
Q: SLPP Parliamentarian Nimal Piyatissa who resigned from the Kotmale Divisional Coordinating Committee says the leaders who created Mahinda Sulaga in 2015 and immensely contributed to form a people’s friendly Government in 2019 are sacked from the Government by going against the public mandate. Your comments?
A: They should launch their campaign named Suli Sulaga or something. Why did they select the theme Mahinda Sulaga? That is because they marketed Mahinda Rajapaksa. Otherwise, they were not in a position to form a Government. This is the ultimate truth. First, Nimal Piyatissa should understand as to why the people rallied round Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. Otherwise, they should have launched their campaign from Nugegoda, naming it Wimal Sulaga or Gammanpila Sulaga.
If they launched their campaign under those names, will the people come and rally round the SLPP banner? Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila and others should know we all survived and were elected to Parliament thanks to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. If those who became MPs thanks to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attempt to betray the mandate, the people will teach them a good lesson in the future.
Q: Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has said that the SLFP is not prepared to be part and parcel to the Government’s downfall’ if the Government is not prepared to accept the positive features of their proposals submitted to overcome the prevailing crisis. Would you like to comment?
A: That is what they said when the Central Bank bond scam occurred. We can’t expect anything more than that from them. They just say something to secure their vote base. These are just political comments. They never raise such issues in the Cabinet. They work with us without any issue.
Q: People have faced severe hardships due to the lack of fuel and gas. What steps have been taken to overcome the situation?
A: This is a very sensitive issue. There is a shortage of fuel and gas. Politicians and the people have to face this issue. The former Energy Minister had turned down the requests to provide fuel on credit for one year. If those decisions were taken at that time, there wouldn’t be a fuel shortage today. We have a Dollar issue, but several countries had agreed to provide fuel on credit.
However, the former Energy Minister had not entertained any of those requests. We would normalise the situation in the near future. We express our regret to the people regarding this. This is an act of those who attempted to ruin the Government and hatched conspiracies to form a new Government. This is an artificially created crisis. We would take remedial measures to normalise the situation.
Q: Former Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila had told the media that he was denied his right to speak as a Member of Parliament in the House during the debate on the energy crisis. Could you explain?
A: Now Udaya Gammanpila is a backbencher. There is an order to allocate time for backbenchers. A request should be made for that in advance by adhering to the parliamentary procedure. As the Chief Government Whip, I would like to say that Gammanpila should also keep in mind that we don’t allocate time for him to attack the Government. Now, he cannot act like a Cabinet Minister and ask time to speak.
Q: What is the progress of the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed under the chairmanship of you to expedite renewable energy projects?
A: The first thing done by the Sub-Committee was to give connection to the solar panel fixed on the roof of Udaya Gammanpila’s house. He said the solar panels were fixed about 8 to 10 months ago, but the connection was not given. The first thing I did was to give the connection within a week. He thanked for providing him the connection.
The Sub-Committee has approved a project by India’s Adani Group to invest US$ 500 million in developing renewable energy projects in Sri Lanka. We have also received similar investments from Japan, while several others have also expressed their willingness to invest in the renewable energy sector. We hope some large scale investments would come to Sri Lanka in the near future.
Our Sub-Committee takes decisions to achieve the targets of the President. Steps will be taken to amend certain bills. As mentioned in the President’s national Policy Framework “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour”, the main target is to generate electricity using wind power and sunlight. The former Government didn’t implement any program to add even a single MW to the national grid during its five years.