Marikkar accused of misleading parliament

By Saman Indrajith

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, yesterday, accused Colombo District SJB MP S. M. Marikkar of misleading Parliament and asked him behave without wasting the time of the House.

MP Marikkar during the question time got up raising a point of order and said that 28 Sri Lankans who had arrived at the Bandaranaike Airport, Katunayake were stranded because officials had asked them to pay for quarantine at luxury hotels. “Authorities are not releasing them until they make the payments,” MP Marikkar said.

Speaker Abeywardena stopped the MP from speaking further warning him not to abuse the privilege of raising point of order and to raise any questions the MP had separately following due process.

Later, when he was given the microphone, the MP said the government should give orders to its officials not to exploit the people coming home after serving abroad to nurture the local economy. “They are to be sent back to Oman. This is very unfair.”

The Chair prevented the MP proceeding and asked him to use the microphone for the given purpose.

Chief Government Whip Highways Minister Johnston Fernando:

I need time to make a clarification because MP Marikkar is misleading the House. Either he is telling lies deliberately or someone is feeding him with lies and he repeats them here. This amounts to misleading the House. After his allegation I made inquiries. There is no such incident at the Katunayake International Airport. What actually happened was that Oman Airline had brought down 28 Sri Lankans and the Airline had not paid for PCR tests for 22 passengers. As per the guidelines in place, it is the responsibility of the Airline to pay for the PCR tests of the passengers. The delay has been caused by that. Now, the government has decided to pay for the tests and submit the results to the airline. You should not mislead the House.

MP Marikkar:

Yes. There are only 22 passengers because others have been permitted to leave the airport. The airline is not paying for the PCR tests.

Minister Fernando:

You knowingly misled the House. I do not say you are lying. But either you are telling lies or someone else is feeding you with lies.

Speaker Abeywardena:

MP Marikkar should have raised the question in an appropriate manner without wasting the time of the House.