’I am not given time to speak in Parliament’: Roshan complains

4 December 2023 11:10 am Views - 1034

BY AJITH SIRIWARDANA AND YOHAN PERERA

Parliament, Dec. 4 (Daily Mirror)- Former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe said he had not been allocated time to speak in Parliament on the Committee Stage debate of the Sports Ministry and requested the Speaker to mediate to allocate time for him to speak.

The MP told Parliament that he had attempted to contact the secretary of the Chief Government Whip from last Tuesday to get a time allocated but had failed to do so.

He requested the Speaker to provide him time to speak on the Committee Stage debate of the Sports Ministry claiming that it was against Parliamentary democracy to prevent him from speaking.
   
"I wonder why I am not given time to speak in Parliament. It may be becuase I speak of corruption in Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC)," he said.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardane said he will look into the matter and provide him time to speak within the day.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said if the government was not allocating MP Ranasinghe time to speak, he was ready to allocate time from the Opposition side.

Meanwhile, Sports Minister Harin Fernando said he would provide ten minutes to MP Ranasingnhe from his allocated ten minutes.