I get the maximum support from Chief Minister:

UNP will retrieve its pristine glory - SPC Opposition Leader Dr. Thusitha Wijemanne

By Jaliya Wijeyekoon

Speculation is rife that there would be a National election by the end of next year, and hence the political fabric of the country has suddenly risen from its slumber and main political parties make vivid statements with regard to their future political activities.

Dr. Thusitha Wijemanne

The United National Party which had remained in the opposition for many years, and suffered a number of defeats, has got a new lease of life with the formation of its leadership council and is working quite vigorously with the intention of securing power at a future election. They have sorted out most of their internal problems and have come to the conclusion that they have to bring the party back to power and then settle minor differences.

The UNP's main political theme or the slogan against the government in its aggressive campaign is, 'Bala Peraliyata Kola Eliyak' which means, a green light to topple the government. The Sunday Observer had an exclusive interview with the Opposition Leader of the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council Dr. Thusitha Wijemanne who has taken the responsibility of steering the province to victory at a future election. Excerpts of the interview:

Q: Years ago the Sabaragamuwa Province had been led by the UNP stalwarts such as G.V. Punchinilame and Gamini Athukorala from Ratnapura district and P.C. Imbulana and K. Vincent Perera from Kegalle district in the post 1977 period and your party was in power continuously till 1994.

You are now tasked with the responsibility of winning the province for the party at a future election. How do you hope to face this challenge?

A: Please let me put the facts straight. It's true that I am the Opposition Leader of the Sabaragamuwa PC and I have a responsibility in steering the party to victory at a future election.

I am proud to say that we have five senior parliamentarians representing Sabaragamuwa Province, three from Ratnapura district namely Thalatha Athukorala, Ranjan Ramanayake and Dunesh Gankanda and two from Kegalle district, Kabeer Hashim and Champika Premadasa. Thalatha Athukorala and Kabeer Hashim will be leading the two districts in our next election campaign and I shall work with my fullest potential to make our party win along with all other candidates who are mostly sitting provincial councillors. We started our party's re organisational activities sometime ago and we have already completed setting up of our new branch offices, Lak Vanitha units and Youth Leagues and recruited a large number of new members to the party. We are constantly working with our district leaders, on the guidelines given to us by the party hierarchy. I regularly meet our grass roots level organisers, give them instructions and encourage them to educate the public of the necessity to form a UNP regime at the next National election.

Q: Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe accompanied by General Secretary Tissa Attanayake and some front-runners were in your electorate last week on the party propaganda activities. What was it all about?

A: Yes, our leader along with a lot of front runners were in my electorate the whole day last week and we inaugurated the Jana Jaya program under our new concept of "Bala Peraliyata Kola Eliyak". It is a great honour to me as well as to the people of Ruwanwella and I am thankful to my party leader Ranil Wickremasinghe for inaugurating this program from Ruwanwella which is scheduled to be carried out all over the island.

According to this Jana Jaya program we formed committees covering all polling stations and the responsibility of the committee members would be to see that all voters in the division are sent to the polling booth on the election day to cast their votes. In addition, it was a very successful day-long program by our leader where he met a number of people from various organisations and exchanged views with them.

He had discussions with party's grass roots level loyalists, business community, ordinary vendors in the Thalduwa fair, estate workers and all stakeholders who are badly affected by the ever increasing cost of living and wrong economic policies of the government.

Q: As the Opposition leader of the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council what is your contribution to the welfare of the people and development of the province?

A: We as Opposition members always try to work in close co-operation with the ruling party and obtain whatever possible from the council funds for minor projects. It doesn't mean that we blindly support the Chief Minister.

We always object to policy matters and whatever the controversial issues. But we at the same time try not to antagonise them and have constant conflicts which lead to an unpleasantness and unhealthy political atmosphere.

Q: As the Opposition leader of the council do you get adequate support from Chief Minister Maheepala Herath in the performance of your duties?

A: We argue, oppose and debate on policy matters in the council while maintaining our dignity and remaining as decent politicians. I get the maximum support from our Chief Minister in discharging my duties as the Opposition Leader. It doesn't mean that we are happy and satisfied with what is delivered to the people of the province by the council.

Lot more to be done in respect of education, health care facilities, agricultural development and self employment in the province. There are certain remote villages in the interior areas of the province where the basic facilities are not available and people undergo numerous hardships.

Q: You are the Chief Organiser of the UNP for Ruwanwella electorate. With your busy schedule of work as the Opposition leader of SPC, how do you find time to attend to political activities in the electorate?

A: Well, I was appointed chief organiser of Ruwanwella electorate well before I became the Opposition Leader of Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council. I find no difficulty in attending to the duties, responsibilities and political activities involved in these both positions. I think I am a good time-management officer. In addition, I also practise my profession and help the down-trodden people. I do it not to make money but as a service and I receive great satisfaction.

Q: Coming back to your party activities, what is the position of your party with regard to the leadership?

A: Our party is fully involved in the political activities and the leadership is held by Ranil Wickremasinghe. I can't understand why you ask such questions when everything is quite evident and obvious.

Q: What I want to know is whether you have fully sorted out the internal problems among the front-runners in the party?

A: We had some problems in the past among the frontrunners of the party which were later fully sorted out with the formation of the Leadership Council and now everybody has agreed in one voice to work unitedly to secure victory at the next national election leaving aside petty differences.

We know that certain unscrupulous media organisations are engaged in a malicious campaign against our party backed by some disgruntled elements who are perturbed over shaken with the revival of our party at present.

Our party had carried out reorganisational activities in all electorates, identified our lapses in the past and taken concrete remedial measures to overcome its repetitions and now we are fully geared to face any election in the future with utmost confidence of victory.

Q: How can you be so confident of a definite victory for your party when the government is forging ahead with large scale development projects in the country?

A: It's true the government is involved in large scale development projects. Ordinary people are not directly benefited by mega development projects. Majority of the people are riddled with poverty due to the ever increasing cost of living. Our district, Kegalle is basically an agricultural area where people depend mainly on rubber cultivation. Rubber prices have gone down very badly and the rubber smallholders are undergoing immense hardships in their day to day life.

Q: But according to the official figures, there is an economic growth of over seven percent and the per capita income is over US $ 2800.

A: People have no faith in these figures as they don't feel any growth in their personal earnings and monthly income. There could be a small percentage of the population who earn over $ 2800 but according to the latest figures issued by the Central Bank daily average earnings of 60 percent of a person is less than Rs. 250.

People in remote areas of our province are living in poverty. Not only the daily wage earners but even the public servants and middle class people find it difficult to balance their monthly budget due to the ever increasing cost of living.

Q: The Kegalle district is represented by a number of senior ministers of UPFA. Do you think that you can contest with them at a future election and win the district for the party.

A: Irrespective of the personalities, the political situation changes in the country based mainly on the cost of living, welfare measures health care facilities and attitudinal behaviour of politicians. Our district was represented by capable senior ministers such as Dr. N.M. Perera and P.B.G. Kalugalla from Yatiyantota and Kegalle. for a long time. But even they were defeated at the 1977 election mainly due to the wrong economic policies of the then government under which the people were driven to poverty.

In addition to poverty suffered by the people there are many problems faced by them today. There are problems in the entire education sector from primary to university level. People find it difficult to get admission to a school of their choice for their children. People spend a lot of money even on primary education at present.

Almost all universities are in a chaotic situation with various problems. Teachers and university lecturers and even professors resort to trade union action to redress their grievances not heard in the past.

The Health sector is another vital area which affects the lives of people irrespective of differences.

The Health Department is riddled with unending problems.

There are problems in the agriculture sector mainly with regard to the use of chemicals and high cost of fertiliser. People in our areas are badly affected by these problems and they don't find a good market for their produce.

The Fishing community is yet another segment which has been badly affected due to the high cost of fishing gear and stripping off their fuel subsidy in addition to the problems they face in collecting the harvest in the deep seas.

The drug menace is spreading, rapidly all over the country and the government has not taken any punitive action so far to arrest the trend.

In this backdrop it is not difficult for the United National Party to defeat the UPFA at a future election and form a UNP government under the able leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe.