Johnston after calling Sajith “crazy” withdraws it, but adds what Ranil had said of him

By Saman Indrajith

Chief Government Whip and Highways Minister Johnston Fernando called Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa ‘mad man’ (pissek) in Parliament and then withdrew the comment.

The comment was made when Opposition Leader Premadasa questioned the government on the distribution of school uniform material.

Minister Fernando accused Opposition Leader Premadasa of wasting Parliament time by continuing to raise multiple questions on the matter even after the subject Minister had responded.

Opposition Leader Premadasa took offence at being called “crazy”.

Minister Fernando then withdrew the comment but added that Premadasa used to be called a “bloody fool” by UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Premadasa, however, did not respond to that comment and continued to accuse the government of misleading Parliament on the school uniform issue.

Education Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris said that the process of distributing free school uniform material among students for the new year would commence once schools reopened.

The Minister said the distribution of free school uniform material in five districts for the new school year had already been completed.

The Ministry had uploaded all textbooks from Grade One to Grade 11 to its official website. All free textbooks for the new year would be distributed among schoolchildren once the schools reopened. “How could you distribute uniform material before reopening schools?” the Minister queried.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that the Opposition Leader was breaching Parliament traditions and practices by raising questions out of turn and setting a wrong precedent.

Minister Fernando said that the Opposition Leader was acting irresponsibly and he should either be restrained or taught how to behave in the House.