Mahinda and Ranil must unite to save country

A: There was a political reason to create the Special Projects Ministry. Although I crossed over to the UNP as a result of a dispute with Chandrika Kumaratunga I still had a close friendship with Mahinda Rajapakse. On numerous occasions prior to the presidential election Mahinda requested me to canvas for him, but I could not help him as Mangala Samaraweera was strictly against me. Still as soon as President Rajapakse won the election he once again extended his hand to me and considering all these requests and the UNP leadership’s failure to listen to the views of its majority membership 18 UNP MPs decamped and joined the UPFA government to strengthen President Rajapakse’s hand.

Since I was left without a portfolio as the left over portfolios were divided among the 17 defectors, President Rajapakse assigned me Special Projects and created a special Ministry for me, which was earlier, a unit under the purview of the Finance Minister. That is how the Special Project Ministry was formed and since the government decided to cut down unnecessary expenditure, recently that Ministry was closed down.

A: I did not imply that the present economic hardships could bring down the Rajapakse regime; but what I said was that since the country is going through a bad economic period we have to be cautious. Who says that the Rajapakse administration could be toppled? As long as we have a weak opposition this government cannot be defeated.

The president knows that there is agitation over the rising CoL. The government does not want to pass the burden on to the people. But if the rising cost of living cannot be controlled what can the government do? Even if the UNP comes to power they would not be able to bring down the prices. So the remedy for this burning issue is not to change governments but for the two parties to work together.

A: Not exactly. Since we have proved that this government can wage war and also at the same time engage in development work, the chances of ousting the government are remote.

A: Many steps have been taken up to now. One such was the President’s appeal to all his cabinet of ministers to forward their proposals to bring down the CoL. A fortnight ago a special cabinet paper was submitted requesting all the cabinet ministers to propose their views to bring down the CoL. That alone clearly shows how committed President Mahinda Rajapakse is to find a solution to the rising CoL.

A: Who says that we have an inefficient government? The CoL and the fuel prices have gone up due to the global price hikes. There is no way to curtail government expenditure although there was a proposal to cut down expenses of government officials. Does that mean they have to restrict their work? From Principals to Government Agents and Divisional Secretaries to parliamentarians they have work to be done. If the government curtails the allowances and perks given to these officials could the country expect a satisfactory service from them? Could we develop the country?

For example if Ministers’ and parliamentarians’ perks are slashed then how can they serve their people? Most of the MPs are financially unstable. Unless they are given fuel allowances and other facilities how could they go to their constituencies to carry out the development plans of the government? Even the Ministers use the minimum number of vehicles. When I am travelling, in addition to my vehicle only the back up security jeep goes with me. All the government ministers have pledged to cut down expenditure as much as they could.

We can understand the JVP’s demand to cut down ministerial perks since they have not governed a country but it’s a surprise as to why the UNP which has governed this country for many years requests that government expenses be pruned. There are around 1.1 million government servants in the country. Do they want us to stop their pensions? The present situation could be considered as a national issue and we all should get together to overcome the difficulties. As long as we are divided into political groups we cannot achieve any- thing other than our fall.

A: The government spends more on fuel than on government servants. If the government does not have enough funds in the Treasury how can the government increase the public sector salaries? In my ministry alone there are 19,000 employees. They too have salary anomaly issues and also they request the other government benefits including housing loans and distress loan facilities. The loss incurred by the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry for 2007 was Rs.3 bn. In that backdrop how could I request more funds to rectify salary anomalies. It is the same with the other government institutions as well The government can increase salaries if it wins the war soon. If not we cannot overcome the present economic crisis and the government will not be in a position to give a pay raise.

A: Unlike the previous government, under the leadership of President Rajapakse, the forces were able to liberate the Eastern Province and get the fullest support of a LTTE faction (Karuna faction) to uphold democracy. We were able to change the attitude of Douglas Devananda, Karuna and now Pillayan and bring them to the democratic process. But we still could not change Pirapaharan’s attitude.

With all these we have initiated many large projects — the Uma Oya project, oil expedition in Trincomalee, Gama Neguma and Maga Neguma. Although the opposition says that the CoL is due to government’s incapability it is totally unacceptable. For instance take the war expenditure into consideration. How much do we spend on the war? Last week alone there were16 attacks on LTTE strongholds by MiG fighter jets. How much do you think we had to spend on this? We captured Toppigala and the A4 base. If we could liberate the north, then three-fourths of our problems would come to an end.

We cannot concentrate on the CoL only. At the same time we have to protect the country’s heritage, defeat LTTE terrorism and protect the liberated Eastern Province. True there are economic hardships but we cannot reduce the war expenditure or reduce the salaries of public servants.

The one and only solution for this is to call upon the Opposition leader to have talks with Mahinda Rajapakse to solve this national issue. That has become priority No.1, and then we could get Pirapaharan for talks.

A: More than winning the war we have to win the Tamils and then the LTTE leader. Since we cannot give a separate state to the terrorists we should devolve powers and give some sort of power and responsibility to the terrorists, if they would like to come to the democratic process.

A: This is a guerilla war and hence we cannot give a time frame for the war. If this were a face-to-face fight we would have crushed the LTTE long ago. Well if the Defence Secretary who has more experience in the battlefield has given an ultimatum then there should be some plans for it.

But being a former fighter in the JVP, I think we cannot give a time frame as such.

How could one say that the government is behind these abductions? Terrorism cannot be defeated by terrorism. We are a democratic country. Powers should not be given to the police and army to kill people or to abduct. The judiciary is there to take the final decisions.

A: Whatever said and done we still could obtain 101 votes. We were not isolated. If somebody says that the international community sidelined us then how could we get the World Health Organisation (WHO) Chairmanship? The reason for us to fail at the UNHRC was that Pakistan had got a good support from the Muslim countries. Other than that this was not a set back.

A: The teachers’ requests are unfair. To rectify the salary anomalies the government needs Rs. 9000 million — similar to the entire Samurdi allocation. We know that the salary anomalies have to be rectified. There is no other option than declaring a holiday for government schools as the Education Ministry has to take the sole responsibility for the children. During Richard Pathirana’s tenure their salaries were increased. If we grant this to the teachers the other sectors too would agitate We cannot afford either to increase or to rectify salary structures as we are waging a war.

A: In fact I wanted to shift my office at the earliest. But lack of space compelled us to stay a further three months till new allocations are made. Whether we left or not we have to pay three months rental to the WTC since we failed to give them prior notice. So till the end of three months I would stay here.

We pay Rs.3.3 million per month including the car park.

A: Exactly yes. We have already got many offers. I was even asked to take the Devinuwara electorate.

A: Certainly Wimal’s defection would be a gain to the JVP as the time has now come for them to move on without having extremist ideas. It was Wimal who had extremist ideas.