UNP problems - bad to worse

Despite severe erosion in the UNP vote base and losing 27 successive elections, including three presidential elections, under his tottering leadership, Ranil continues to hold on to the party leadership. But the exit of Dayasiri has given a new lease of life to the UNP rebel MPs and those who have been at the receiving end for not tolerating the inner circle youth of the party leadership.

The UNP dissidents have now decided to request from the people to desist from voting for the UNP at the Provincial Council elections on September 21.

Leading the campaign will be Southern Provincial Council member, Maithri Gunaratne, a severe critic of Ranil’s leadership.

On behalf of the dissident group, Gunaratne has requested the public to consider this election as a referendum to prove the unsuitability of Ranil Wickremesinghe to continue as leader of the UNP.

He stressed that Ranil is hoping to be the common Presidential candidate at the next presidential election and that only those who condone his candidacy should vote for the UNP at the Provincial Council elections. He cautioned people not to take hasty decisions that they would regret in the future.

President opens milestone project

President Rajapaksa looked extremely happy last week to see another mega development project implemented under his leadership, being commissioned, ushering in a new era in Sri Lanka’s shipping industry.

The President endowed to the nation a new container terminal which makes the Colombo Port the only port in South Asia that can handle large triple E class container ships. A new part was added to the Sri Lankan map, following the launch of this new international container terminal.

The Colombo South Harbour which is the first stage of the Colombo Harbour Expansion Project, was opened by President Rajapaksa last week. The opening took place amidst religious observances. The $400 million massive South Harbour terminal in Colombo is mid-way on the lucrative east-west sea route and has facilities on par with Singapore and Dubai. The contribution made by the Asian Development Bank to the Project is $300 million.

The balance $100 million has been contributed by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. The opening of the Colombo South Harbour will pave the way for any big vessel in the world to enter the Colombo Harbour. It is one of the watersheds in Sri Lanka advanceing to become Asia’s Miracle as enunciated in the Mahinda Chinthana.

The President opened the Control Tower which is equipped with modern technology. Thereafter the President viewed the sea belt from the main Control Tower. The President also had a view of the changes that will take place to Sri Lanka’s map. The height of the new tower is 46 metres.

The difference in height of the new Control Tower which replaces the existing 15-metre high tower is more than 30 metres.

After opening this new Centre, the President ventured into the sea in the vessel ‘Suranimala’ to open the most significant location of the Colombo South Harbour, the breakwater. The Colombo Harbour receives the capability of handling the largest vessels in the world with the opening of the 6.8-kilometre breakwater.

President Rajapaksa was received by Chairman of the Ports Authority, Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrema when he reached the special dais where local and foreign guests were present. The SLPA Chairman said that today is a day in which a massive project, which no leader in the country’s history had ever thought of launching or could not do so, is being endowed to the nation.

He said that Sri Lankans are aware of leaders and kings who made the country self-sufficient. But no one has ever heard of a leader who had succeeded in reclaiming the sea and who had put up breakwaters and built ports. Today is the day in which a Sri Lankan Head of State had built such a large breakwater and endowed it to the country.

Exemplary act by Basheer

Minister of Productivity Promotion and the Chairman of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Basheer Segu Dawood made his stance clear on the party’s decision to go solo at the forthcoming Provincial Council elections.

Basheer said that he wouldn’t campaign for the SLMC at the forthcoming Provincial Council elections while being a Cabinet Minister in the government.

“I urged the SLMC to contest the forthcoming provincial council elections with the government but the party decided to contest alone. I respect the decision of the party and I will not revolt against it, but as a minister of the government I will not campaign against the UPFA as it is against my conscience. If the SLMC compels me to campaign for them, I will resign my Cabinet portfolio”, he said.

During the last Eastern Provincial Council election Basheer resigned his Deputy Minister portfolio with the concurrence of the SLMC and threw a veiled challenge to Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem to follow suit. Soon after the EPC election, Basheer was given a Cabinet slot without the concurrence of SLMC and it irked the party much.

Maithri to safeguard consumers

It was heartening to see Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena taking appropriate action to safeguard the interests of consumers against the controversial contamination in food items, especially powdered milk.

He has instructed officials to acquire the latest food analytical equipment which conforms to internationally recognised procedures and standards for the Medical Research Institute laboratories in Borella, to check on imported food.The decision to enhance the analytical capacity at the MRI with additional state-of-the-art equipment comes in the wake of a raging controversy regarding the quality of some imported food items, especially several foreign brands of milk powder.

At a meeting with senior health officials, the Minister stressed the importance of acquiring the best contemporary technology in food testing to protect the public from tainted food. He highlighted recent findings, such as melamine, DCD and excessive concentration of protein in imported milk food and the detection of ‘Clostridium Botulinem’ bacteria in food containing additional nutrients.

According to Health Ministry sources, Minister Sirisena has said due to unavailability of equipment, Sri Lanka has to depend on high cost foreign laboratories which have the capability of detecting a wide spectrum of chemical and microbiological contamination in food. Thus, the Minister has pointed out that purchasing relevant equipment to test imported food in a comprehensive manner will benefit Sri Lanka, financially and healthwise.

Dayasiri’s exit

The exit of Dayasiri Jayasekera from the UNP and his resignation from the Kurunegala District parliamentary seat has seriously affected Ranil Wickremesinghe and his inner circle, which is often blamed for crossovers of UNP parliamentarians.

Ranil is a person who has a thick skin and would not regret anything, though over 60 UNP parliamentarians have joined the Government during his shaky leadership. But Dayasiri’s exit is something that has become unbearable to Ranil.

With the successful election campaign that Dayasiri has been conducting for the North Western Provincial Council, Ranil is well aware that his party would not only lose the Provincial Council elections, but also be unable even to retain half of the Provincial Council members they had last time.

Ranil has not uttered a word over any of the sixty odd parliamentarians who had deserted the UNP and joined the Government. But the statement Ranil made last week in Parliament and allegations he levelled against Dayasiri clearly showed how desperate the UNP leader was after losing the most popular parliamentarian in his party.

The UNP leader may not have extended his fullest backing to Dayasiri but Ranil knew that Dayasiri was probably the only parliamentarian who could have resurrected the UNP with his immense popularity.

While rejecting the allegations levelled against him and the party by the former Kurunegala District UNP MP, Ranil made a detailed statement in Parliament. Ranil appeared so helpless without Dayasiri and even quoted from the Dammapada.

Though Ranil alleged that Dayasiri had had a dialogue with the government for more than one year, he was clever enough not to go into details of the circumstances which forced Dayasiri to leave the UNP. Though Dayasiri set a new political culture by resigning from the parliamentary seat he won on the UNP ticket at the last general election in 2010, Ranil deliberately covered that fact. Ranil gave lame excuses for not appointing Dayasiri as the head of the UNP’s trade union wing - the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya (JSS). Ranil had said that Dayasiri was not given the post as he was having secret negotiations with the government at that time. But moderate UNP seniors are well aware that Dayasiri was undermined by Ranil’s inner circle confidants.

“JSS leaders were opposed to it. Therefore, I was not in a position to give such a responsibility to Dayasiri. It is a question of his credibility. Later Jayasekera made public statements that he would never quit the UNP,” Ranil was quoted as saying. He even gave previous examples.

“When former Minister Anura Bandaranaike was in SLFP and was holding talks with the then President D.B. Wijetunga to join the UNP, the then SLFP leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike expelled him from the party,” Ranil said.

Ranil tried his level best to prove that he gave ample chances to Dayasiri and get away from the loads of allegations he faced. “We considered whether action should be taken against Jayasekera or a chance should be given to him. We gave him a chance because he assured us that he would not leave the party.

He was facing disciplinary inquiries over his remarks criticising the party’s convention. He said some of his remarks were exaggerated by the media. Jayasekera admitted that he made some critical remarks. He gave an assurance in writing that there would not be a repetition of such acts hereafter,” Ranil said in his statement.

The UNP leader made a cheap attempt to get full credit of Dayasiri’s success and popularity as a politician. “For the first time, I asked him to contest the 2001 general election in the Kurunegala district. He was the last in the list at that time. He was again fielded for the 2004 election. He was elected but as the last member in the list of those elected. I gave him opportunities.

I even appointed him the deputy chief opposition whip. If not for my decisions, he would have not got any chance to do parliamentary politics,” Ranil said.

It is crystal clear why Ranil had gone to this extent to tell the country how he had helped Dayasiri.

Meanwhile, UNP Bingiriya Electorate Organiser for the UNP, Nalin Bandara Jayamaha was sworn in, as an MP for the Kurunegala District, before Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody last week. Nalin Bandara got a chance to enter Parliament following the resignation of Dayasiri.

Nalin Bandara was the next - finishing sixth, in the UNP preferential votes list for the Kurunegala District, polling 29,663 votes at the Parliamentary Elections in 2010.

When the House commenced sittings last week, Sergeant-at-arms Anil Parakrama Samarasekera accompanied the new MP to the oath taking ceremony.

After his swearing in, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody congratulated the new MP. Thereafter, Nalin Bandara was conducted to his seat by the Sergeant-at-arms. On his way to the seat, MP Bandara was greeted by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition members. MP Bandara also exchanged pleasantries with members of the government side too.

A seat next to UNP MP Ajith Mannapperuma had been assigned to the new MP. After he took his seat the backbenchers of both sides came to his seat and welcomed him.

Dayasiri’s successor as a new Kurunegala District MP, Nalin Bandara, is 39-years-old, married and has two children.

He was born in Udubaddewa and schooled at Udubaddewa Dhammananda Vidyalaya and Kuliyapitiya Central College. He is a mathematics teacher and a businessman.

Ranil is now worried as to whether he would lose another UNP MP, amidst strong rumours that Nalin Bandara would join the Government. The only consolation that Ranil has is the recent statement made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the Government had temporarily closed the door for crossover MPs.

When queried about his acquaintance with Dayasiri and whether he would follow his predecessor, the newly-appointed MP said had he wanted to follow him, he would have contested the forthcoming provincial council elections and tried his luck among 162 candidates.

But as Kurunegala District MP he has competition for candidacy only among 42 others which was easier. “I have no intention of crossing over to the government,” Bandara told the media. But Ranil has gone on the defensive further. On his instructions, the Executive Committee of the UNP decided to restore the privileges of the suspended UNP Parliamentarians, Palitha Range Bandara and Ashok Abeysinghe, who have not seen eye-to-eye with the UNP leader for many moons.

Their Party privileges had been axed following disagreement with Wickremesinghe over a period of time. Media Spokesman of the UNP and Parliamentarian, Gayantha Karunathilaka said that a consensus has been reached with regard to securing their support for future political activities of the party, following a discussion Ranil had with the two UNP rebel parliamentarians recently.

The Executive Committee, which met on Thursday, decided to restore the Party membership of the two parliamentarians and to stop all disciplinary inquiries against them. Karunathilaka also said, the Executive Committee has been considering restoring to them the organiser posts they previously held, which were suspended following the disciplinary action taken against them.

The UNP Executive Committee has also taken some important decisions with regard to the forthcoming Northern, Central and North Western Provincial Council elections.

Fearing that Dayasiri’s active contribution to the UPFA campaign would further erode the UNP vote base, the UNP has directed its attention to holding pocket meetings in rural areas to get across the party’s message to the electorate in the Provincial Council elections.

The Executive Committee has also decided to hold the main party propaganda meetings next month.

Disgraceful attempt by Karu

UNP MP Karu Jayasuriya last week made a disgraceful attempt to gain petty political mileage out of the unfortunate incidents at Weliweriya and become a spokesman for UN Human rights chief Navi Pillay, better known for showing an extraordinary sympathy towards LTTE cohorts.

Karu has said that the UNHR Chief Navi Pillay who is due to visit Sri Lanka later this month, would have a reason to inspect Weliweriya over human rights issues without visiting the North. This is a disgraceful attempt by Karu to get cheap political mileage by connecting the incidents at Weliweriya to the proposed visit of Navi Pillai. No right-thinking person would try to do such thing as it would discredit the country in the international arena.

President Rajapaksa hosted Iftar for diplomats of Islamic countries at President’s House last Wednesday. The guests included Ambassadors and High Commissioners of Islamic countries along with their family members. The President joined the families for Iftar, the breaking of fast during Ramadan. Later the Ambassadors and High Commissioners posed for a group photograph with the President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, External Affairs Deputy Minister Neomal Perera, External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatilaka Amunugama, Monitoring MP for the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin de Vass Gunawardena and parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa were present.

Two days later, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) convening at the Grand Mosque decided to mark the Festival of Fast-breaking on Friday since the new crescent moon (hilal) could not be sighted in South Asia.

Muslims throughout the country, therefore, celebrated the feast which is one of the most significant events in the Muslim religious calendar.

There was no confusion despite the fact that in some countries the new moon was visible earlier and the Eid holiday was celebrated on Friday.