UNP bastions fell due to eradication of terrorism:

UNP confident of regaining power

By Jaliya Wijeyekoon

Democracy is considered to be the best form of governance in the world and most developed countries, developing countries and even under developed countries are governed based on democracy.

One of the main features of democracy is the party system which Sri Lanka started practising from late 1930s. The Lanka Sama Samaja party was the first registered political party in the country while the United National Party was formed in 1946 by its founder leader D.S. Senanayake. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party was founded by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike in 1951. The United National Party and Sri Lanka Freedom Party became the two most powerful political forces in the country and both parties have ruled the country for over 30 years each, in different terms under different leaders since Independence.

Both these parties have formulated similar positions in their party's constitutions such as Leader, General Secretary, Treasurer and National Organiser.The National Organiser post of any party is a powerful post which weilds enormous powers and a huge responsibility with regard to the forward march and ultimate victory of the party.

The Sunday Observer had an exclusive interview with the National Organiser of the United National Party, and Eastern Provincial Councillor Daya Gamage to ascertain the present position of the party and its activities, and the present political situation in the country.

Excerpts are as follows:

Q: Your party was riddled with conflict after conflict sometime back. Have you sorted out the problems with regard to high positions of the party?

A: We didn't have a big problem as such with regard to the leadership. Unscrupulous media backed by elements of the Government exaggerated the issue to tarnish the image of our party. Unfortunately, a few of our party people were also involved in it. At present, we do not have any conflict or problem and everybody works as a single unit with the firm intention of toppling the Government at a future election.

Most of the members who left us and joined the Government did so for various personal reasons and not because of anything else, as they may claim.

Q: As the National Organiser of the UNP, what action have you taken to consolidate the membership of the party?

A: Well, I always coordinate with all stakeholders of the party. I have identified our lapses in the past and taken remedial measures to overcome the recurrence of those shortcomings.

In addition, we started thorough re-organisational activities island wide at the beginning of this year and we are very satisfied with the response from all parts of the country. We started forming grass roots level party organisations, Lak Vanitha Units and Youth Leagues in all electorates covering all Grama Niladhari Divisions. We periodically meet the officials of these organisations and give them guidelines with regard to our party activities.

According to the Mahawansa (The Great Chronicle), the Buddha granted the custodianship of our country to God Vishnu. With this belief in mind, our party has started to conduct Vishnu Pooja in all villages in the country. We ceremonially inaugurated the program at the Devundara Vishnu Devala on June 9 and they will be held all over the island to seek the blessing of God Vishnu. We conduct various awareness programs for electoral organisers regularly at the party headquarters and they in turn carry the messages to the grass roots level membership of the party through our local organisations.

We have revamped our organisational activities and I am fully confident that we will form a UNP government in the near future.

Q: What is the progress of the membership recruitment drive that you launched sometime ago?

A: Our initial target was to recruit 2.5 million members. We have already achieved 60 percent of this target and hope to reach our target by end-September.

Q: The next General Election is scheduled for 2016. How can your party front runners say that you will form a government in 2014?

A: The country is in huge debt and if this regime continues till 2016, it will definitely collapse. They have drawn huge loans from foreign banks on high interest rates, some of which have to be repaid within short periods. Economic professionals, intellectuals and the business community who do not openly take sides in politics, have alerted the Government over this imminent danger the country is heading for and have requested us to save this country from further disaster. Consider the unprecedented number of crucial issues that the present rulers have messed up mainly due to corruption, mismanagement and arrogance. All vital sectors such as health, education and agriculture are riddled with unending problems, the cost of living has sky rocketed.

The average citizen is unbearably burdened by the high cost of living. So with all these problems, the government cannot continue and as a responsible Opposition we shall not allow them to continue.

Q: It had been observed during the last few elections that some of the UNP bastions islandwide have reduced to low levels. What action have you taken to strengthen your vote base in those areas?

A: Any prominent political party experiences ups and downs from time to time. It is true that some of our bastions suffered sometime ago, especially at the 2010 Presidential election and the immediate General elections mainly due to the Government's eradication of terrorism. However, when you analyse the results of the subsequent Local Government (LG) polls and Provincial Council polls, you can see the steady growth of the UNP vote bases and the marginal decline of the UPFA vote base.

For example, at the 2011 LG polls in the Kandy district, the UNP vote base increased from 21 percent as against the 2010 General election and the UPFA vote base decreased by just point three percent. In the Kurunegala district, the UNP recorded a growth of 26 percent while the UPFA growth was only seven percent. In the Ampara district, which I represent the UPFA was defeated at the last election by over 204,000 votes. Similarly, all over the country UNP bastions have recorded a steady growth since the 2010 general election and we are very confident that with the present socio-economic conditions in the country that we would definitely bounce back to power at the next general election.

We have taken all possible steps to consolidate the disintegrated fractions of our party as well as woo the support of other parties who have already agreed to support us to topple this maladministration.

Q: Although the UNP high command claims that the party has consolidated itself, having eliminated internal bickerings, the Dayasiri Saga is still bubbling. What have you got to say about it?

A: Dayasiri is a popular and affable personality and I feel that the Government is trying to win him over. I don't think that he will get caught in this trap and ruin his political future.

Q: In issues affecting the country as a whole, is it not the duty of the main Opposition to cooperate with the Government instead of criticising its policies?

A: We have cooperated with the Government on all people-friendly measures. However, it's not possible as a responsible Opposition for us to endorse all its activities.

We had warned them not to go for loans with high interest rates. We told them not to venture into Hedging which involves a very high risk. They went ahead in spite of our advice.

Each and every citizen of the country has to pay for these sins. They do not possess the vision, ability or efficiency to carry out programs for its people. They had ventured into various development programs which are not beneficial to the people. They have not identified the priorities in venturing into mega development projects.

They have invested in certain projects even without scrutinising and analysing the environment impact assessment reports. Thereby, they had to spend well over 30-40 percent of the total costof the project to rectify the shortcomings. Every citizen is indebted to the world by over three hundred thousand rupees.

Q: The UNP high command is criticised as being unrepresentative in decision-making for the people as most of them have been appointed from the National List and therefore they have no moral responsibility in decision-making. What do you think?

A: I flatly refuse this allegation. Our General Secretary is from the National List; he has a big-responsibility in organisational activities islandwide. He has to monitor the performance of every chief organiser of every electorate. It was with a clear vision that he was appointed from the national List.

Then, Joseph Micheal Perera who was a key Senior member of the party and was entrusted with various responsibilities as the Assistant Leader of the party and who has done a great service to the party.

It is an accepted fact that Harsha de Silva is a internationally acclaimed economist who renders a great service to the country. Eran Wickremeratne is a top class banker and an economist who possesses an ocean of knowledge on economics and administration.

Anoma Gamage is professional veterinary Surgeon who has won the Women's Entrepreneure award for three consecutive years. The National List MPs are selected from among people who can make some contribution to the nation in respect of its advancement. The UNP has not appointed National List MPs who are mere stooges.

Q: Is it the repugnant nature of the 1978 Constitution or certain provisions that led the UNP to draft a new Constitution?

A: J.R. Jayewardene was the greatest visionary in the recent history of our country, he wanted drastic changes in the socio-economic standards of the nation.

People were deprived of all their needs under the closed economic policies of the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government from 1970-1977. so J.R.J, with the support of his able lieutenants, introduced the 1978 constitution on which he completely changed the socio-economic standard of citizens. But he never misused the powers vested on him as the Executive President to promote his personal image or for personal gains.

However, the situation changed after him and that was the main reason which prompted the UNP to draft a new Constitution. We are quite confident that everybody will support us with our new proposals.

Q: One could argue that the present constitutional safeguards are strong enough to prevent any misuse of Police and Land powers by the PCs. Despite all these, how was it that the LTTE became so strong and set up a de jure administration in the North and East?

A: Do not forget the fact that the LTTE was backed by India prior to the signing of the Peace Accord in 1987. Also, they had international support in every way they wanted. Financial support was given to them. Their carder were given free training. Military hardware was provided to them by certain countries and they managed to build international sympathy with the support of the Tamil diaspora. That was how they become so powerful in the North and the East.

Q: What is your party's stand on the 13th Amendment.

A: We have expressed our views on this issue and we are fully committed to the 13th Amendment. Now that the Government has defeated terrorism, we should try to build confidence among the Tamil community and allow them to enjoy freedom without any restrictions. It is our duty to cultivate peace, harmony and brotherhood with the Tamil community so that there will not be a recurrence of any unfortunate situation in the country.

At the same time, the Central Government should maintain Writ Authority over the periphery so that no unhealthy situation would prop up in any part of the country.