Provincial Council election:

UPFA will romp home in Kandy district - Sarath Ekanayake

By Ranil Wijayapala

The days for the Provincial Council election for the three Provincial Councils the Northern, North Western and the Central Provincial Councils is drawing near. The heat of the election campaign is also now at its peak as political parties are increasing their campaign. The situation in the Central Province is no exception. Sarath Ekanayake who acted as the Chief Minister of the Central Provincial Council thrice since 1999 is contesting this time also for the Central Provincial Council. As an experienced politician who was in the Central Provincial Council and as the lead candidate of the UPFA in the Kandy district Sarath Ekanayake spelt out the vision of the UPFA for the Central Province in an interview with the Sunday Observer. Following are excerpts of the interview the Sunday Observer had with him in Kandy while he was engaged in his election campaign.

Question: You have acted as the Chief Minister of the Central Provincial Council thrice. Now again you and the UPFA have come before the people to contest the forthcoming PC election. So what kind of program are you putting forward at this election for the Central Province?

Answer: It is normal practice in Sri Lanka to put forward a list of election promises before the people at election campaigns. But we changed this system in 2005 when President Mahinda Rajapaksa first contested the presidential election. He introduced 'Mahinda Chinthana' program for the entire country and again in 2010 he presented an extended version of it stipulating how he is going to develop the country and his vision for the country. Therefore, whether it is in the national politics, provincial council politics or local government politics that is the program we are following. As the UPFA we are having a program that could support the national level program of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Q: How did the Central Provincial Council contribute taking forward Mahinda Chinthana program at the provincial level?

A: Having understood his program we combined our program also with his program in 2004. Accordingly we introduced several programs whilst establishing our identity as the Central Provincial Council and continued our work within that framework. We worked out several programs under this program.

Q: Education sector is one of the prime concerns at the Provincial level. What kind of progress could the Central Provincial Council achieve in the education sector?

A: To contribute towards the development of the education sector we launched the 'Nanoda' project to improved the quality of education in the Central Province while improving the physical resources in the education sector. We also improve the examination results of students also in the Province. This program is not confined to the Kandy district, cities, villages and the plantation sector but it is applicable to all in the province. By now we have reaped good results from this program by having 100 percent progress in the Wilgamuwa Educational Zone which had a recorded the lowest results at examinations.

Out of 1,501 schools in the Central Province, only 59 national schools are there in the Central Province and the balance schools come under the Central Provincial Council. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expecting to have at least one computer for every 75 students in the country by 2014. As the Central Provincial Council we have been able to provide one computer for every 64 students. Therefore we have already achieved the target the country wants to achieve in 2014. In our next step we are planning to provide a computers to every school in the province whether there are only ten students in that school to ensure equal educational opportunities for all. To provide computer training for the students also we started a program to provide basic computer training for all teachers irrespective of the subjects they are. We have already provided Basic Computer training for 23,000 teachers out of 30,000 teachers in the province. Our next target is to provide that training for every teacher serving in the Province.

Q: Improvement of the roads in the province is also an important thing. What kind of program you are having for the improvement of the roads?

A: To improve the road network in the Central Province we have a vision. Twenty five years have already passed since the establishment of the Provincial Council system. If we were able to improve 100 kilometres of roads to good quality roads per year, by now we would have about 2,500 kilometres of good quality roads in the Central Province and all the roads in the province would have been improved now. But it did not happen. What exactly happens was they allocated funds for each road but they never materialised. Therefore we have launched a program to have a road network with good quality. We have developed more than 800 kilometres of road under Provincial Council. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Minister Basil Rajapaksa extended their support to us towards this task. We are working on a plan to develop all the main roads in the province into carpeted roads. Parallel to this program we are improving the road networks under the Local Governments also to convert them either into concrete roads or concrete blocks laid roads. We will be able to finish this program within the next few years.

Q: Providing drinking water to the people is also a challenging task. What kind of progress has the Council achieved in this regard and how are you planning to improve it further?

A: To improve the drinking water facilities the central Government has implemented massive drinking water projects under Metro Kandy Development Projects and other project for Matale, Rikillagaskada and under Greater Dambulla Development project. But there are many villages that cannot be accessed under these projects. We have selected 546 such locations to be provided with drinking water and implementing that. That project could provide water for around 600,000 people. But there are lapses on that project which has been implemented with the volunteer contribution of the people.

Therefore, we are going to reenergise that program to further enhance the effectiveness of that project. As the Provincial Council we are going to undertake that project and ensure that these people will get water continuously.

Q: Electricity is also another essential infrastructure facility required for the people. How do you ensure that all households in the province are provided with electricity?

A: We should be grateful to the central government for implementing a program of providing electricity for every household in the country. In the Central Province there are several areas that cannot be access by the national grid. When we consider an area like Meemure there should be a powerline of 30 kilometres. That will cost the government very much. We have created some mini hydro power projects to supply electricity for such areas. In the areas where such mini hydro power projects cannot be implemented, we will introduce a solar power panel system to provide electricity for them. Through such projects the Provincial Council will be able to include the entire population in the central province under the national program of supplying electricity for every household.

Q: Improvement of the health sector is also a vital factor for the people in the Central Province. How has the health sector been improved in the province?

A: Out of all hospitals in the province Nuwara Eliya, Gampola, Peradeniya and Kandy are the only hospitals that comes under the central government. However there is a tendency among the people to go to the general hospital even for a trivial illnesses. We have to change that system. The central government is doing its best to provide health facilities for the people who are having acute diseases. Therefore as the Provincial Council we have to assist the central government by improving the facilities at our hospitals to cater to the basic health requirement to the people and also to provide basic treatment for even acute patients until they are transferred to a hospital with better facilities. We are establishing the Emergency Treatment Unit for the hospitals in the remote areas. Now we have established such units in 75 hospitals to minimise the risks of losing the lives of the patients admitted to those hospitals.

Q: Do you think that during the past few years the Provincial Council was able to achieve all the targets it expected to achieve or else are there any setbacks?

A: In many fields we have achieved our targets. There may still be areas we could not achieve them. We are in the process of identifying obstacles that has hindered our targets. For instance President Mahinda Rajapaksa is of the opinion that there shouldn't be villages called remote villages. We are identifying those areas and we are joining hands with the Local Government Authorities under our program and initiated programs to develop such villages through the relevant Local Government Authorities. When the Central Government is implementing a program Eka Gamata Eka Vedak (one project for one village) as the Provincial Council we are implementing several other projects within that village. For instance the one road is developed under the central government we are implementing programs to develop other roads in that village. We are automatically working towards developing the entire village. We can easily remove the remote village concept from our vocabulary.

Q: What are the areas that should be further developed within the Province?

A: When cconsidering the projects that needed more attention, we think that the improvement of physical resources is also another sector we need to pay more attention. When we take the schools we need to construct many new buildings to those schools. But at the same time we should not forget that there are school buildings that were constructed more than 50 years ago. We need to replace those old buildings with new ones whilst providing them with new buildings. To address that issue we have separate program called 'Mehewara Charika' and find out the requirements of the schools and fulfill those requirements in a systematic way.

Q: Under the central government development strategy the Central Province also become the development centre and well as centre of tourism industry. What are you plans to support the central government plans?

A: The Government is planning to develop a tourism development zone from Colombo to Galle and Colombo to Kandy making Colombo as its centre. As the Central Provincial Council we have also prepared a tourism development plan for the Central Province and forwarded it to the Central Government include it in its major development program. This plan has been endorsed by the Central Government and they have submitted us some plans that are to be done by the Central Provincial Council. We have been asked to identify the tourist attractions and include them in websites. We are doing it at present. If we take Central Province we have places with religious and cultural values. Apart from that we have natural places. There are so many tourists who love to live with natural beauty. We have such resources in the central province and we are in the process of developing such places to accommodate our plans with the central government plans.

Q: If we take Central Province, the development of the estate sector community can be considered a challenging task that has to be given top priority. How are you planning to address the issues in the estate sector?

A: As I said earlier the Provincial Council is also going along with the government plan at national level. Every program we launched in the Central Province will benefit all the communities equally. If we take the estate sector the maternal mortality rate was among the highest in the world. But that situation is not there in Nuwara Eliya because we created new MOH areas in the district and improve the roads so that they can have easy access to the hospitals for their deliveries. We developed all these sectors by launching target oriented programs in the district. We have increased the number of the students entering the universities from the estate sector students in the Nuwara Eliya district. We have done so much to provide equal opportunities to them also. But so far we have not been able to achieve those targets. Therefore we are planning to implement those target oriented programs in the future also to make visible change in the estate sector.

Q:We are having this provincial council election at a time the provincial council system is hotly debated by the politicians. What is your idea about this situation?

A: My candid opinion is that every politician in this country shouuld take an oath that we shall not support any activity to promote separatism directly or indirectly. We as politicians have no right to engage in such activities. If there is any room to promote separation of the country under the 13th Amendment I strongly believe those sections should be repealed from the 13th Amendment. For instance the Police Powers and Land powers, if they are supporting the idea of separation of the country, should be repealed. I am of the opinion that the Central government should have the authority to take decision in the interest of the country.

Q: As a person who held the Chief Ministerial portfolio thrice you are aware that UPFA is having a strong leadership for the Central Provincial Council election. But we see the UNP is changing it's face from time to time. How do you see this situation?

A: I am not pointing at any person personally. But we have observed that the UNP is trying many strategies to stand on their own, but not to win the election. They don't have strength to win the election. They have to show at least that they are doing something. At the same time as a Provincial Council we have been able to win the confidence of the people. The Auditor General in his report recognised the Central Provincial Council as a Council which has acted transparently on financial management. The Bribery Commission also filed a case against me on certain allegations, but later they withdrew the case after realising that I have not done anything wrong. Any person can say anything but there are official authorities to decide on that. We can say that we are going on the correct path and anyone cannot stand against us.

Q: With the weakening opposition the competition among the UPFA candidates has been increased. How do you see this situation and what are the measures that can be taken to control this?

A: Under this electoral system every candidate has to compete to obtain preferential votes. Otherwise they will not get any vote. They know that they are getting certain percentage of votes, but they are campaigning as they think they can obtain more votes if they campaign more. We cannot find fault with them with the present electoral system. I know that people are campaigning to become the Chief Minister also. In three districts there are Chief Ministerial candidates also.

Q: As a former Chief Minister aren't you campaigning to become the Chief Minister again?

A: Except me all the other candidates are campaigning to become Chief Minister. They think if they get highest preferential votes they can become the Chief Minister. As a person who is there within this system I know what has happened earlier. When I first contested the election from Kandy I became the third in the list.

But I was appointed the Chief Minister as I had experience as a Chief Minister and also because of other relevant qualification. I don't need to campaign to become a Chief Minister, but I have another important task before me; to increase the vote base of the UPFA. I am fighting for that. I am campaigning to get votes for the UPFA and request people to vote for the UPFA. That is the only message I am giving the people. Then all those who are campaigning to become the Chief Minister can increase their votes.

Q: Does that mean you need not become the Chief Minister?

A: If all the other candidates are having ideas of becoming the Chief Minister why shouldn't I have such expectation. I have more right to become the Chief Minister than anybody else.

Q: Are you satisfied with the team forwarded by the UPFA to contest the election from all three districts?

A: The people who were with us worked very well with us. I don't see anything wrong with the new faces also. There are many educated people and also people with political experience as well as the children of the experienced politicians. I think there is a balanced team. The Election Commissioner has said that the Kandy district is the most peaceful district in election campaigning.

Q: What kind of result is the UPFA expecting from the Kandy district this time?

A: We obtained 364,000 votes last time. In that year there were around 900,000 voters in the Kandy district. The number of voters have been increased to one million now. We expect that our votes will also be increased parallel to that. I also know that UNP votes will also be decreased dramatically.

Q: That means you are hundred percent sure about the victory of the UPFA?

A: I am 200 percent sure of our victory.