Presidential aspirant A.S.P. Liyanage says Country has had no national policy since Independence

By Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya  

Since Independence, the politicians who governed the country had led the country to distress and debt time and  time again because they had not come up with a national policy to develop the country, Sri Lanka Labour Party Presidential Candidate A. S. P. Liyanage said.   

“We need to have a permanent national policy. But the practice was that if a policy was introduced by a governing party for a period of five or six years, those policies had been abandoned or replaced with another by the next ruling party,” he commented.   

He said that since independence, the politicians did not have plans to develop the country by using country’s natural resources.   

“Most of the politicians had obtained commissions and other benefits by importing everything from overseas by neglecting our resources. We need to develop our main economic sectors which are tourism, tea exports, apparel exports, textiles, rice production and other agricultural products,”  he opined.   

He said sending women for house keeping in overseas should be stopped. “ We can develop our rural industries and allow women to work in those,” he quipped.   
Liyanage believed that  politicians alone could not develop the country and should also obtain the service of professionals.   

“Professionals in various sectors in the country had not been given an opportunity because leaders only appointed the corrupt politicians and those who were rejected by the people.   
He said most religious leaders are also guilty of causing the country to decline as they were not engaged in religious activities but in politics.   

Liyanage alleged that only he and few other candidates were really contesting the presidential election as most of the others were supporting either of the two  main contenders.