Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said in Parliament yesterday that Parliament should act collectively to establish the world's trust on Sri Lanka.
He was participating in the budget debate in Parliament yesterday.
The Prime Minister said that the Government has taken steps towards political and economic reforms. “First of all, we should support the role of building the country and the economy, and after that, we can think of holding elections constitutionally.
Prime Minister also said that a national policy on transportation and energy should be established and the national programme to increase the production at the village level to create food security in the country will also be started.
He also said that the Government is working hard to fulfill the hopes of the people.
“Today we are facing a very challenging period. But we should not think that it is impossible to rise again. We have the ability to come out from this crisis. Therefore, we should avoid negative concepts and work hard to rebuild the country without wasting our precious time,” he said.
“The most serious feature of the crisis is the collapse of financial and economic growth. The President also said that in the budget speech. Therefore, there should be some serious discussions between the Government and the Opposition due to this matter. Both Opposition and Government members have already agreed that there is a worse crisis prevailing in the country than ever before,” the PM said.
“Now we have announced economic reforms. Also, acknowledging the crisis in many major sectors in our country, many steps have been taken as a short-term solutions for these problems through this interim budget. There should be a lengthy discussion on them in Parliament. Members of the Opposition mentioned several times that no steps have been taken for any political reforms. That is baseless and they say so for gaining publicity. But conscience says that is not the truth,” he said.
“After a long discussion, the 22nd Amendment has been submitted to Parliament. It is a demand of the Opposition and the people of the country. Our Justice Minister presented it. It has now been challenged in the Supreme Court. We have not received the Supreme Court decision yet and it can be debated and passed in Parliament following the SC verdict.
“We have embarked on more reform measures by creating many Consultative Committees in Parliament. We have started discussions with the Opposition party there and discussed with the party leaders about the establishment of the National Assembly. Some parties have already presented their facts and suggestions about its composition. The Government is working according to their agreements.
Add new comment