The main organizer of the opposition, Lakshman Kiriella, says that the agreement made with the IMF has already been disrupted due to the government’s actions. Due to that, he says that an IMF delegation will come to Sri Lanka in June.
“The government should remind the forgotten part of the agreement with the IMF. We need to understand that we had to go to the IMF because this government bankrupted the country. Also, going to the IMF was delayed by one and a half years. We have no problem with going to the IMF, but we in the opposition, including myself, said from the beginning that we should negotiate with the opposition before going to the IMF. At least it was not discussed in the parliament.
Also, there are many finance committees in the parliament. The government did not accept it even though it was asked to discuss it, it acted in a partisan manner. The government signed the agreement without even discussing it with the civil society. Even the signed agreement has not been properly presented to the parliament. Only a part was presented. After studying what was presented, we can see that the IMF has given money subject to certain conditions.
It is mentioned that the government should always protect the supremacy of law and protect human rights as the main conditions. Apart from that, there is also the need to deal with the civil society. Help is provided subject to these conditions.
A few days after the government received this money, the local government elections were postponed. It is not in any clause of our country’s constitution or election law. An arbitrary action by the government. Then we went to court for that. There an order was given to the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance to release the money required for the election and hold the vote. The government did not care. Later, the government decided to bring in the Privileges Committee, saying that the judges who gave the order violated the privileges of the Parliament. Also, the Independent Election Commission worked to bring the Privileges Committee of the Parliament.
It is very clear that the government has worked to disrupt this IMF agreement. Now we are being blamed for trying to sabotage this. The agreement with the IMF has already been disrupted due to the actions of the government. That’s why an IMF delegation is coming to Sri Lanka in June,” says MP Laxman Kiriella.