‘Mystery bed’ at Parliament

Friday 16th December, 2022

That the parliament of the Wonder of Asia is full of strange bedfellows of easy virtue is hardly news. But a bed that recently arrived there has become hard news. The king-size bed and a super comfy mattress delivered to the President’ Office at Parliament the other day while most Sri Lankans are spending sleepless nights, on empty stomachs, tossing and turning in their unforgiving beds, continue to be in the news. SJB firebrand, Buddhika Pathirana, one of the few MPs of integrity who have taken their legislative duties and functions seriously and are carrying them out diligently, shed light on the delivery of the bed and the mattress, recently; he said a private company had paid for them and it had also footed the bill for the tea party that followed President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s swearing-in ceremony at Parliament in July.

Parliament, in its wisdom, chose to furnish the offices of the President, the Opposition Leader and the Prime Minister with beds, but they were single ones. Now, the President’s office has a double bed gifted by a private company!

One may wonder why on earth beds should be made available to the President, the Premier and the Opposition Leader at Parliament, where people’s representatives must not slumber. Perhaps, the J. R. Jayewardene government may have thought it fit to make that facility available in keeping with the country’s political tradition; the leaders of the ruling party and the Opposition are in the habit of falling into slumber and even having lie-ins while the country is burning.

It is not only the President’s double bed provided by a private company that should cause concern to the lawmakers and the general public; many other things in the current Parliament have been sponsored by outsiders including foreign governments. Computers used by our honourable MPs have been given by China and funds for the refurbishment of the parliament media centre reportedly came from the US.

One should not lose sight of the Procrustean bed at Parliament. The eponym was a robber, named Procrustes, in Greek mythology, who ensured that all his victims fitted the length of his bed by either stretching them or cutting off their legs. However, it is not humans who are made to lie on the Procrustean bed by the Diaywanna; the ruling party lays all important matters thereon and makes them conform to its agenda!

There is no such thing as a free bed. According to what MP Pathirana has told the House, the company that bore the cost of the President’s bed has asked for 20-acres of state land at Thanamalwila. It is said to be involved in sending people overseas for employment and allied matters, and why does it want to have land in the Monaragala District, of all places? Is it planning to diversify into cannabis cultivation, which the government has, in Budget 2023, proposed to promote to earn forex? A director of the company who doubles up as a presidential advisor is reported to have instructed the authorities concerned to release the aforesaid land! And while on the subject, another letter has been sent by the President’s Office ordering that a foreign company of dubious background be granted permission to extract ilmenite on a state land at Aruwakkalu, without following proper procedure! What this company has promised to deliver in return is anybody’s guess.

In the aftermath of the assassination of upright High Court judge Sarath Ambepitiya in 2004, we exclusively reported that Kudu Nauffer, a drug baron, who ordered the killing, had, through a front, sponsored food and beverages served at a judicial officers’ function a few months back. Treasury bond racketeers helped the UNP financially in 2015, and made a killing. The self-proclaimed intellectuals of Viyathmaga relished food and drinks at their pre-election events without caring to ascertain who was lavishing funds on their outfit. The sponsor had import duty on sugar slashed in return for his services immediately after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as President. The country lost billions of rupees, as a result. Crooks operate in mysterious ways, and hence the need for politicians, public officials, judges and other such prominent persons to maintain transparency in everything they do. All of them had better bear in mind that when one makes one’s bed, one has to lie in it. People are wide awake and watching!