Will create governance free of fraud, corruption and misuse: AKD

Colombo, September 17 (Daily Mirror)-  National People’s Power (NPP) presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake urged people to vote for him to form a government free of fraud, corruption and misuse.

He told the daily Mirror that NPP will create political stability soon after coming to power and that the programme to develop the economy will be implemented step by step afterwards.

Dissanayake said the NPP is taking power on September 21 to move forward the country for a transformation of a new era.

Meanwhile speaking at a rally in Ruwanwella, he said the current economic crisis was created by President Ranil Wickremesinghe and former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa only became the victim of the crisis created by Wickremesinghe.

He said Sri Lanka has obtained USD 15.5 billion from the International Sovereign Bonds (ISB) and that only USD 3 billion was obtained during the Mahinda Rajapaksa era and that the rest of USD 12.5 billion was obtained during the Ranil Wickremesinghe's Good Governance government of four years in 2015.

"Sri Lanka has already settled the USD 3 billion obtained during Rajapaksa's term. Sri Lanka is still to pay USD 12.5 billion ISBs obtained during Ranil Wickremesinghe's term in 2015. Sri Lanka's Dollar reserve depleted after failing to settle that loan. No international institutions provided us loans afterwards and our reserves depleted. So, then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to spend the Dollar reserves in the Central Bank and those reserves also ran out. Then, we were unable to procure fuel and gas creating fuel and gas shortage which resulted in the power outage. That is how the economic crisis emerged. Gotabaya only became the victim of the crisis created by Ranil Wickremesinghe," he said.

Dissanayake said after Ranil Wickremesinghe took office following Gotabaya's removal, only what Ranil did was to stop paying loans and procured fuel and gas with the Dollars saved due to non-payment of loans.