"War victory is no license to Govt. to increase people’s burdens"

(June 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Government forced the people to make all kinds of sacrifices and heaped all the burdens on them during the period of the ethnic war . Now, after the war , the Govt. should think of the people who suffered most and give them relief , rather than inviting political parties and its cronies to join it and swell further its already largest Cabinet in the World of 110 Ministers. The Govt. may resort to ruthless actions to perpetuate its power greed , but whose money is wasted on maintaining such oversized Cabinet of Ministers ? Hasn’t the Govt. any feeling for the masses who suffered so long enduring every hardship the Govt. imposed on them throughout these three years when the Ministers were idling and enjoying all the comforts and luxuries while doing only thing - bragging round the clock about the on going war ?, asked UNP Gen.Secretary Tissa Attanayake addressing a media briefing at the UNP media unit today (10 Jun).

It has become the favorite practice of the Govt. to make the consumers and the people to pay for the sins of the Govt. Depts. The Govt. does not investigate and take steps to eliminate the corruption, malpractices , wastages and scams in those sectors, instead it seeks to avert the losses arising there-from by increasing tariffs , taxes and prices of goods Now , it is trying to use subtle methods to raise the electricity tariffs again to cover up the colossal losses incurred by the Ceylon electricity Board . Its own Minister Amunugama once said , SL ‘s electricity tariffs are the highest in the World. Despite it , the Govt. in order conceal its inefficiency and to protect itself , its cronies and stooges in the Govt. sector is adopting people deceiving and burdening techniques to meet the losses, he lamented.

Referring to the haste of the Govt. to hold elections in Uva, Jaffna and Vavuniya , Attanayake said , it is the view of Opposition parties that the conditions in Jaffna and Vavuniya are not conducive for elections . According to reports , a fair and free election cannot be expected in the present climate and circumstances in these regions. Although the UNP ,as a policy has decided to contest the elections , it has informed the Elections Commissioner of the hurdles and handicaps the UNP will encounter . Election campaigning too is difficult or impossible , he added.

At any rate the UNP is ready to face any elections . Already it has started organizing itself for a National election. 10,000 Secretaries are to be appointed for election co ordination activities island wide . Starting from the lowest rungs , more programs geared for election activities are in the pipeline and will all be finalized in the next few weeks , he noted.

-Sri Lanka Guardian