Ketagoda who resigned for BR to re-enter House as Cabraal’s successor

Resigned in July… back in Sept

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former actor Jayantha Katagoda will be the first lawmaker to re-enter the same Parliament on the National List after having quit the same.

The ruling SLPP has decided to re-appoint Ketagoda to Parliament on its NL to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Ajith Nivard Cabraal. Sources say it’ll be the first such re-entry since the creation of the National List in 1989.

Ketagoda quit his seat in early July to pave the way for Basil Rajapaksa’s entry into Parliament. Sources say Ketagoda’s re-appointment received the immediate blessings of SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa.

Of the total of 29 NL slots, the SLPP secured 17 and the remaining slots were shared among several political parties. The main Opposition SJB obtained 7.

Political sources say that of the 17 NL slots won by the SLPP, civil society grouping Viyathmaga received two. Cabraal who served as the Governor of the Central Bank (2006-2014) filled one slot whereas Dr. Seetha Arambepola secured the other, sources say.

Altogether Viyathmaga group in parliament comprises nine members – two NL slots and seven elected members.

They say Basil Rajapaksa, too, entered Parliament under controversial circumstances as he hadn’t been on the SLPP NL submitted to the Election Commission (EC) in the run-up to the last parliamentary election in August 2000. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC (2004), Dullas Alahapperuma (2005), Basil Rajapaksa (2007) and Saman Ratnapriya (2020) entered Parliament in spite of them not being nominees in the original NL or failed candidates at the relevant general election, sources say.

One-time UNPer Jayantha Ketagoda first entered Parliament in 2010 to fill the vacancy created by the then Democratic Party Leader Sarath Fonseka’s dismissal on a ruling given by a Military Tribunal.

Ketagoda received the parliamentary seat after the JVP’s Lakshman Nipunaarachchi turned down the opportunity.

Sources say it is not clear who’ll receive portfolios –State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets, State Enterprise and Reforms held by Cabraal.

Meanwhile, the former Governor of Uva, Central and Southern Provinces during Maithripala Sirisena’s presidency, Keerthi Tennakoon questioned Cabraal’s re-appointment on the basis him being named in the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) report that dealt with the issuance of Treasury bonds.

Civil society activist Tennakoon said that the SLPP parliamentary group should make its position clear whether the appointment of a person who functioned as the State Finance Minister to the post of Central Bank Governor, was acceptable to the party. Tennakoon compared the latest appointment with that of Arjuna Mahendran’s appointment as CB Governor, a Singaporean national in 2015 in spite of strong objections by the then Joint Opposition.

Tennakoon rather frivolously asked how Cabraal could take over the CBSL Governorship immediately after giving up his parliamentary seat.

The former Executive Director of polls monitoring NGO outfit CaFFE said that the SLPP obviously had failed to learn from what he called yahapalana leaders’ strategic mistakes. The national economy was in such bad shape the government should quickly work towards ending continuing any uncertainty, Tennakoon said.

Responding to questions regarding the deepening financial turmoil, Tennakoon said that the government couldn’t afford to delay taking tangible measures to stop the rot.

He emphasised that the crisis today was certainly not political. “The SLPP should know that its near two-thirds majority is irrelevant and doesn’t in any way help address the deteriorating national economy,” Tennakoon said, adding that making big plans for the 2022 budget was nothing but a joke.

Tennakoon asked whether Cabraal received CBSL because he represented Viyathmaga that campaigned for Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the 2019 presidential poll. Tennakoon alleged that the SLPP had lost direction and was simply struggling to cope up with the extremely difficult situation caused by the raging Covid-19 epidemic.