Kiriella alleges govt. only interested in consolidating its hold

By Saman Indrajith

The Main Opposition SJB alleges that the government has no genuine desire to help the country come out of the present crisis but has only focused on consolidating its hold on power..

Addressing the media at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Colombo on Tuesday, Chief Opposition Whip and SJB Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella said: “Many concerned citizens have called for a consensus among the political parties to get out of this crisis. In an article published by The Island in its today’s instance, a group of economists too has stressed the need for such a consensus to lead the country out of the present crisis. If you read newspapers published during past several days, you will see that the opinion of many economists is that there is a need for a consensus among the political parties and that we should work together as a single party before the IMF. We as the Opposition have expressed in and out of parliament our willingness to work with the government and other parties for the same purpose. But this government has no genuine desire to steer the country out of crisis. Instead, it is concerned with consolidating its power. Take for example the agreement this government reached with the IMF. We asked the agreement to present the agreement to Parliament before it was inked. The government did not do that. Instead, it presented the agreement to the House after signing it. Such actions will not help bring about a consensus among stakeholders.”

“The IMF has recently announced that it works with the people of Sri Lanka and whatever assistance that it would offer would be for the benefit of the people of this country. If so, the government should have kept people’s interests at heart. The government has not been able to discuss with the IMF how to reduce the tax burden on people or at least to bring down power tariffs.