State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana said the Opposition has launched a disinformation campaign to discredit the Government which has secured a two- thirds majority in Parliament and also has the blessings of the overwhelming majority of the Maha Sangha and the patriotic people.
The State Minister in an interview with the Sunday Observer said during the period from 2014 to 2015, a similar campaign was launched with the help of NGOs and certain Western embassies.
At present the same campaign has been launched against the Government and their aim is to distract the Sinhalese middle class from the Government. For that, they have selected certain themes such as the environmental issues and have also level unsubstantiated allegations like the ‘sugar scam’. They are creating issues without any acceptable evidences and certain pictures they used for their campaign are coming from some other foreign countries. Prof. Jayasumana appealed to the intelligent people in the country not to be misled by this well-organized campaign launched by the Opposition with the help of certain foreign elements.
Excerpts
Q: The Opposition and certain other sectors attempt to portray that the sugar tax issue is bigger than Treasury Bond scam. Your comments?
A: There is no such fraud as highlighted by the Opposition and it is fully fabricated. That is a concession given to the people by the Government and there is no fraud. If we take this as a fraud, any tax concession given to the people will be a fraud in that definition. Unless this tax reduction is done, a price of kilogram of sugar would have been above Rs.185. Still a kilogram of sugar can be purchased around Rs.115. It means this tax reduction has worked for the benefit of the people. So, this is entirely fabricated and there is no logic behind this false argument.
Q: Recently Samagai Jana Balaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Ashok Abeysinghe was questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for making baseless allegations against the President and Sri Lanka Podujana Permuna (SLPP) National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa. How do you view the attempts by the Opposition to mislead the public by making such baseless allegations against the President and the Government?
A: This is a very good example as to how cheap the politicians in the Opposition behave. Some of these low-profile politicians in the Opposition are not using their brain and they are just only using their mouth. The best example is how SJB MP Ashok Abeysinghe behaved. Not only Ashok Abeysinghe, many other Opposition politicians are behaving in a similar manner. If we take some of the environmental issues raised in the social media, those are well orgainsed, funded and sponsored projects.
We have one experience. During the period from 2014 to 2015, a similar campaign was launched with the help of NGOs and certain Western embassies. Now the same campaign has been launched to attack the Government which has secured two thirds majority in Parliament and also has the blessings of the overwhelming majority of the Maha Sangha and the patriotic people.
Their aim is to distract the Sinhalese middle class from the Government. For that, they have selected certain themes. The environmental issues are one of that. Then they level unsubstantiated allegations like the ‘sugar scam’. They are creating issues without any acceptable evidences and certain pictures they used for their campaign are coming from some other foreign countries.
They are targeting deforestation in certain places but when we go to the actual scenario, it is not deforestation. In certain places, two or three trees have been cut down on some private lands. However, it is highlighted by the Opposition as a huge deforestation taking place with the blessings of the Government. That is totally wrong and false. I appeal to the intelligent people in the country not to be misled by this well-organized campaign launched by the Opposition with the help of certain foreign elements.
Q: Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith said that the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on the Easter Sunday attacks is incomplete and insisted that they will not stop until the masterminds of the attacks are brought to justice. Would you like to comment on that?
A: Actually, we have a huge respect for the Colombo Archbishop. With that respect, we have to say that this is a Presidential Commission report submitted by a panel of experts. However, this is not a criminal investigation. Based on the facts revealed in the PCoI report, a criminal investigation should be carried out. This is the first step. We are eager to do a criminal investigation and pin point the exact figures.
There are certain limitations for a Presidential Commission with regard to certain matters on national security and such information cannot be divulged to the people. However, those matters are under investigation now. I noticed Minister of Public Security Rear Admiral (Retd) Sarath Weerasekera said the person called Naufer, the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks who had a very close relationship with a Middle East country has been taken into custody. I think those investigations are being carried out so that many fresh information will be revealed in the near future.
Q: There is an allegation that PCoI which probed the Easter Sunday attacks has completely ignored the masterminds behind the attacks. Your comments?
A: Actually, what the PCoI has done was that they access and analyze the evidences available to them. There are certain other factors which are not accessed or analysed by this particular Commission. For an example, you may remember that there was an assassination of two policemen at Vavunativu, Batticaloa and initially that was put into the LTTE account. Some say this is the reemergence of the LTTE and the then Government also categorically said that it was done by ex-LTTE cadres.
Q:Later on, once those T-56 weapons were traced, it was revealed that it was done by the Zaharan’s group. If a proper investigation was carried at that time, the Easter Sunday attacks would have been prevented. That was the first scenario. The second scenario is a training camp in Wanathawilluwa but no proper investigation was carried out. The previous Yahapalana Government missed that opportunity. The third scenario was the attack on the Buddha statue at Mawanella.
A proper investigation was not carried out at that time and that opportunity was also ignored. The Easter Sunday attacks would have been prevented if those three incidents were properly investigated. Instead of that the former CID Director Shani Abeysekera and his officers wasted time to witch-hunt the Opposition politicians. So, the responsibility of preventing the Easter Sunday attacks is fully vested with the former Yahapalana Government. It is not only former President Maithripala Sirisena, but the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the whole Cabinet of that Government should be fully held responsible .
Q:Has any decision been taken by the Government to ban the Burqa and Niqab or is it merely a proposal which is under discussion?
A: Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera has put forward such a proposal and now it is under discussion. Once we come into some kind of agreement within the Government, the next step will be taken. Actually, we don’t know what would be the final decision but it is now under discussion.
Q:The Opposition has raised concern on the arrest of former Western Province Governor Azath Salley. They say the Government has launched a political witch-hunt against their political opponents. Your views?
A: If a Buddhist makes such a statement in Saudi Arabia, he would have been beheaded within a couple of hours. Azath Salley or anybody else should not test the patience of the Sinhala Buddhist people in this country. We have suffered for 500 years. Various elements including Portuguese, Dutch, English and certain other foreigners in the past invaded our country. Even today invaders and non-nationalistic forces in various forms indirectly attempt to test the patience of the Sinhala Buddhist people and this is very unfair. This is an injustice for the ‘Boomi Puthras’ of this country. So, this should not happen again.
Q: SJB Parliamentarian Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has said that it was too late to arrest Azath Salley and the Government should have taken action against him early regarding various controversial remarks and hate speeches he made by challenging the country’s law. Would you like to comment on this?
A: I still believe Sarath Fonseka is an inborn patriot. Irrespective of his political vision, still there is a ‘patriotic man’ in his body and soul. That is why he expressed his genuine ideas on such an incident.
Q: Some have raised concern on the appointment of a Presidential Commission to probe into the political victimisation and they say it has undermined the independence of the judiciary. Could you explain?
A: The present Government would never undermine the judiciary. We have never posed a direct or indirect influence on court procedures as done by certain Ministers during the tenure of former Yahapalana Government. We heard some of those voice recordings that were circulated in the social media as well. Some of those politicians are now in jail. Therefore, undermine the judiciary would never happen under the tenure of our Government. We always respect the judiciary and we are trying to uphold the supremacy of the judicial system in the country. It was the former regime which went to Geneva and betrayed the judicial system and tried to bring foreign judges to the country.
Q:What are the key objectives of the “Discussion with the Village” program launched by the President?
A: Actually, this is the most hurtful project for the Opposition launched by our Government. The President personally visits countrywide villages and find out the burning issues faced by the people. The President listens to the grievances of the people and provides immediate solutions to their problems. With that example, all the politicians are now keen to go to villages and find out the problems faced by the people and provide solutions to them. This is a very successful project.
There should be a great appraisal for the President for his move to visit countrywide villages and sort out the issues of the people. Through this program, many development projects were initiated and some ongoing projects were expedited. Our shortcomings are also pointed out by the people and we are correcting them with immediate effect.
Q:Do you think the friendly countries of Sri Lanka would extend their support to defeat the resolution on Sri Lanka moved by the Core Group at the upcoming UNHRC sessions?
A: Definitely. We hope China, Russia, Pakistan, Cuba and many other friendly nations who have continuously supported Sri Lanka at the Geneva for the past 10 to 12 years would further extend their support to us. I hope some of the countries which didn’t support us or abstained will also vote in favour of us this time.
Q: Denmark, Iceland and Norway have decided to suspend the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. Will this have any adverse effect on Sri Lanka as well?
A: Not only these three countries, now 17 countries have decided to withhold the usage of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for two weeks and in some countries for four weeks. This is basically due to the suspicion of a particular batch. In certain places, the doctors’ suspect there was a linkage between the blood clotting mechanism and the vaccine due to certain clinical scenario. So, they need some time to investigate this matter. Until such investigation is completed, they have decided to stop the usage of the vaccine. However, it is continuing in certain European countries. On the other hand, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says there is no scientific data to link the enhancement of blood clotting mechanism with the usage of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. As far as we know, this is not a permanent decision or evidence-based decision. This is just a precautionary measure until the investigation is completed. There is no such scenario reported in Sri Lanka but we are very closely monitoring the situation. On the other hand, we are obtaining the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Serum Institute of India.
That particular batch under suspicion had been produced in UK and not in the Serum Institute. So far, none of the batches produced by the Serum Institute have reported such incidents.
Q: Has the Government decided to provide Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to the most vulnerable persons over 60 years of age group in the most high-risk areas?
A: Actually, I should clarify this. Our decision is to give the vaccine to those above 30 years of age and residing in most vulnerable places or in hotspots. With the help of the national intelligence service and also from the data available in the Epidemiology Unit, we have a list on what are the most vulnerable places or hotspots. So, we will select the Grama Niladhari divisions which have reported the highest number of risks, patients and deaths. So, we have a formula and in that we identify what are the most vulnerable places. Likewise, we categorise those areas. In that particular Grama Niladhari division, all those who are above 30 years of age are vaccinated irrespective of the fact whether they are permanent residents or temporary residents.
Our strategy is to give geographical coverage for hotspots. We received 264,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the WHO under their COVAX program. They indicated priority should be given for the elders.
They haven’t said that this should be given to those who are above 60 or 70 years of age. For our convenience we allocated the 264,000 vaccines for the elderly population who are above 60 years of age.
Q: What is the progress of the Government’s Covid-19 vaccination program?
A: Now more than 800,000 vaccines have been given to the people without any serious adverse effect. In earlier days of the program, there were some unpleasant events reported in the queues and with regard to the arrangement procedures.
However, we were able to correct all those shortcomings within a very short period of time. Now the Covid-19 vaccination program is going on very smoothly. I must thank the local political authority and the local administrative structure who have given us an enormous support in organising this vaccination program.