2500 academics and professionals identified to advise govt. : NMSJ

15 August 2022 09:50 pm Views - 2349

Claiming that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa failed because he did not heed expert opinion, National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) said they have identified about 2500 academics and professionals who have experience in relevant fields to advise the government. Its Chairman Karu Jayasuriya said their movement has sought the opinions of intellectuals around the world about every process of national importance and held about 98 Zoom discussions as well as issued valuable publications focused on various fields such as education, economy, health, constitution, election system etc. "Gotabaya Rajapaksa was entrusted with great power, but he failed because he did not heed expert opinion," he said. He made these comments during a meeting with Trade Union leaders today. "Every Sri Lankan citizen has a significant role to play in the process of protecting our motherland at a time when the country is facing one of its darkest and unfortunate periods in its history. It is our belief that those of you who represent Sri Lanka’s trade union movement have a far greater responsibility than others.You represent the country’s millions of workers. Every process affecting the country's administration, production and daily life is led by you members. Therefore, we have invited you to this discussion today understanding your value and strength. The first role of rulers is to restore people's lives. To this end they must provide 24 hours electricity while also ensuring that milk powder, gas and food items are made available at reasonable prices. This will lead to the development of industries, export and tourism while the transport services will also be restored. The functioning of the education sector has been disrupted for the past two years. Therefore efforts must be made to restore its functioning as education is our most valuable resource and investment. The agriculture sector that has been nearly destroyed due to the wrong decisions made by the leaders must also be revived," he added. Mr. Jayasuriya said Parliament will be strengthened through the enactment of the 19th amendment to the constitution. "Instead of one all-powerful individual deciding the fate of 22 million people, people's representatives will be entrusted with governance. Many backbench MPs representing both the government and opposition have shown keen interest in the oversight committee system. These MPs will be able to participate in public service responsibly through the re-establishment of the oversight committees which are successfully conducted in developed democratic countries of the world. We appreciate that the government has already accepted the proposal presented by the National Movement of Social Justice. These proposals were formulated by using the opinions of the country's expert scholars and our experiences as an organisation at the request of the Honourable President and members of the opposition. We have forwarded the recommendations presented to us by 25 Sri Lankan expert economists and 25 giants of the private sector led by Professor Rohan Samarajeeva to the government and the opposition. In Parliament last Friday opposition MP Harsha De Silva, the opposition member, told parliament that the MP Dullas Alahapperuma who contested for Presidency and his group had prepared their economic policies according to the minimum common program presented by us," he further said.