12 June 2023 12:36 pm Views - 1354
All Members of Parliament should come together in order to prevent the President from attempting to control parliamentary affairs, an SJB MP said today.
Responding to journalists at a press conference, SJB MP Sujith Sanjaya Perera said all parliamentarians should unite to safeguard Parliament.
He was referring to the intervention by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in appointing MP Harsha de Silva as the Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF).
“It is the selection committee that should have appointed Dr. de Silva as head of COPF, but it was the President who decided on the matter. This should not have been the case. All MPs should make a decision and unite to prevent the President from interfering with parliamentary affairs,” he said.
MP Perera said the country’s economy has not changed, though the government is vociferously reiterating it.
“The government Ministers are continually saying that the country's economy has stabilized and the rupee has gained against the US$. However some industries continue to suffer,” he said.
Accordingly, he said the tea small-holders are suffering at the moment as they are not getting a price for their produce. “A kilogramme of tea is only fetching Rs. 140 at present. However, their expenditures are high as the price of fertilizer have increased. How can the government say that the economy has improved amid such a situation?” he questioned.(Yohan Perera)