Political
Irangika Range and Amali Mallawaarachchi
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The House yesterday debated on the UNICEF report on the malnutrition of children and mothers in Sri Lanka. The Adjournment Motion was moved by Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Rohini Kaviratne who held the Gotabaya Rajapaksa-government accountable for taking rash decisions such as the ban on fertilizer to aggravate the food crisis in the country.
A heated argument between Kaviratne and SLPP MP Sirisa Jayakody arose as the latter joined the debate. Opening the debate MP Kaviratne said there are 40,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition. Jayakody contradicting Kaviratne said that she is referring to data from an old report in 2016 issued by UNICEF.
Jayakody said that he will table the relevant documents proving so. Kaviratne, at this juncture, stood up to observe that she completely denied providing outdated data regarding the malnutrition level in the country. “Please refer to the UNICEF website, it is the June 30, 2022 report. Please don’t lie to this House,” Kaviratne said.
Then, MP Jayakody said: “Listen to the Health DG’s comment on this matter. He said that this was a false alarm. 2016 was under Yahapalana rule. We don’t want to debate on data, we do agree that there is a major problem. Don’t disturb my speech.”
Meanwhile, Parliament yesterday decided to postpone the passing of the Social Security Contribution Bill following protests made by Opposition MPs. National People’s Power leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the party leaders agreed to pass the Bill without amendments. However, Dissanayake noted that the Bill presented to the House yesterday included amendments. Thus he requested a debate on the Bill.
Sharing the same thoughts, SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva noted, “The Public Finance Committee does not approve any Bill without reviewing it. However we had to approve the Social Security Contribution Bill as we were informed that it was urgent. Also we see that some amendments are to be made to the Bill. We cannot approve it without looking at them.”
MP Nimal Lanza said it is not proper for the Opposition to oppose the Bill after approving it earlier at the Finance Committee and the Party Leaders’ meeting.
Leader of the House Susil Premajayantha said the Bill was proposed by former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa during the Budget. “Also it is the tradition that a Bill can be approved by the House once it gets the clearance of the Finance Committee,” he said.
Meanwhile SJB MP Mujibur Rahman criticized the government alleging that the latter has decided not to import wheelchairs. He questioned if the government expects people who need walking aid “to crawl”. He questioned why the government cannot understand such a sensitive matter. MP Rahman complained that the request he made for a debate in the matter was not given by the House.
The regulations enacted under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act No. 1 of 1969 in relation to allowing the import of glyphosate, which is used as a herbicide in the plantation sector, was approved by Parliament yesterday morning without debate.
The House will continue to debate on the malnutrition of children and mothers for the second day today (7).
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 – 01:00
