Prez fighting war on virus left with no time for politicking – Johnston

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is being attacked by outsiders as well as members of the government, Chief Government Whip and Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the commissioning of the Second Phase of the Central Expressway on Saturday, the Minister said that the dissenters were upset and angry with the President because he would not leave any room for corruption. “The President has taken a vow that he will rid this country of corruption. This has antagonised many, including some in the government ranks. They sling mud at the President since they are frustrated. We will protect the President unconditionally, because we know that he is doing the right thing,” the Minister said.

Minister Fernando said that this country had a political history of killing of civil society leaders, members of the Maha Sangha and innocents with the intention of achieving political goals. “Some of those killers are still alive and masquerading as champions of democracy. We see one of them posing on Facebook as the next President of the country. He is daydreaming. The 6.9 million people who had voted for this President are ready to protect him.”

“It was Mahinda Rajapaksa who gave the leadership to the war to save this land from terrorism. Similarly, it was Gotabaya Rajapaksa who gave political leadership to the country’s war to save people from the COVID-19 pandemic. He has not had any time to do politics during the last two years. His main and only concern is to complete the vaccination drive. While he was trying to save the lives, we had an Opposition leader who went around prescribing drugs for Covid-19.