No Confidence Motion against Minister John Amaratunga

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The main Opposition UPFA with 114 signatures of members handed over a No Confidence Motion against Public Order, Disaster Management and Christian Affairs Minister John Amaratunga yesterday. They alleged that he had failed to fulfill his ministerial duties.

Minister Amaratunga's conduct in connection to a recent incident that occurred in the Wattala Pradeshiya Sabha and also not taking action to prevent post election violence against political opponents has proved that he has failed to fulfill his duties properly. Therefore, the UPFA during its parliamentary group meeting decided to bring a No Confidence Motion against the Minister, Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva told a media briefing held at the parliamentary complex yesterday.

He said the signatures of 20 parliamentarians were sufficient to bring a No Confidence Motion against a Minister. However, 114 UPFA MPs have signed the Motion which was handed over to the Secretary General of Parliament, Dhammika Dasanayake.

More UPFA members would support to the Motion, he said. The intention of the Opposition was to hand over the Motion before the end of the budget debate.

A date will be fixed to debate the no Confidence Motion at the Party

Leaders Meeting to be held shortly.

UPFA Colombo District Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa said this was the first time in the history of Parliament that a No Confidence Motion against a Minister was handed over with the signature of 114 members.

Therefore, the incumbent Government should realise the pressure exerted on them by this Motion. Weerawansa said soon after the Pope's visit, Government supporters unleashed violence against political opponents.

As a result, Opposition supporters were re harassed. At present, nearly 200 OICs attached to Police stations and a large number of District Secretaries have been transferred. Actually, this is an attempt by the Government to create an environment conducive for the upcoming election. This was not a move towards creating good governance, he said.

Over 5.8 million people have voted for the UPFA. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Opposition to appear on behalf of those 5.8 million people, he said.

Gampaha District UPFA Parliamentarian Felix Perera said before the Wattala Pradeshiya Sabha incident, police were informed of such a situation being created and called for necessary security measures to be put in place.

However, the incident occured while the Pradeshiys Sabha meeting was in progress. The main Opposition UPFA decided to extend its support to the Government's 100- d day program. The Government, he said should show good governance through practice.