(Lanka-e-News -16.Jan.2017, 6.05AM) It is a well and widely known fact that 51.28 % of the people (majority) of the 81.52 % voted on 2015-01-08 in favor of a new constitution after abolishing the executive presidency to elect president Maithripala Sirisena as the president , and the latter himself gave that solemn promise umpteen times to the masses confirming that. Yet some political opportunists and bankrupt politicos of the SLFP are these days circulating a bogus story that because a referendum has not been held to abolish the executive presidency , Maithripala Sirisena will be the presidential candidate at the next presidential elections 2020.
In response to these wild and vacuous statements , Minister Rajitha Senaratne the frank , forthright and fearless speaker gave an answer yesterday (11) which silenced these rascals and scoundrels on a scale even the Hiroshima bomb , perhaps couldn’t have. He explained most clearly thus ….
''Where is the presidential elections in 2020 and where is the candidature? It is to abolish the executive presidency this new constitution is being brought. The executive presidency shall be abolished through that. It should be mandatorily be abolished. That was the clear unambiguous undertaking given on 8 th January 2015.
President gave that solemn assurance before the remains of Late Ven. Sobitha Thera too , and that it is his unwavering stance all along. I know the stance of the president very well. The group which is saying there is no referendum were nowhere there when we received the people’s mandate .''
It was in a political column of the Sunday Times newspaper , there was a small comment a day before the second anniversary celebration of the president’s investiture that a group of SLFP ministers took a decision that the executive presidency shall be continued , and SLFP’s presidential candidate at 2020 elections shall be Maithripala Sirisena. The following day – that is on the second anniversary celebration day , the Sinhala counterpart –the daily Lankadeepa gave wide publicity to it as headline news. However this news was not written by any specific reporter.
After Lanka e news inquired about this from an SLFP and UNP front line minister , on the same day we published a report under the caption , ‘the headline news of Lankadeepa is an absolute lie. The SLFP ministers have not decided to continue with the executive presidency. An SLFP –UNP minister and a frontline leader reveals the true story’ .
This frontline minister speaking to us further disclosed , one minor topic was of course discussed that is to halt the claims ‘I am the future leader ‘ and creating groups. However one minister had said , it is alright if the publicity campaign carried out is that the president will be contesting again in case there is going to be a presidential election. Thereafter , minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama and SLFP secretary Duminda Disanayake confirmed the story hereinbefore mentioned . Dr. Amunugama told , this is a decision that was taken by the SLFP Central working committee . But that is a lie because the SLFP working committee had not met during that period.
Rajitha on the other hand , while confirming this announcement yesterday , said , he is not aware that the central executive committee of the SLFP has taken such a decision.
Meanwhile on the 10th , S.B . Dissanayake a sidekick of Maithripala Sirisena convening a media briefing, went on to comment further. S.B. who was thrown into jail once because of his spittoon of a mouth , in characteristic style blabbered there has been no people’s referendum to abolish the executive presidency ,and the SLFP did not seek elections by giving such an assurance . Hence , without abolishing the executive presidency and just by curtailing the existing powers ,instead of going for a referendum , by a constitutional amendment alone , the presidential elections shall be held in 2020 , when Maithripala himself will field again as the presidential candidate . This is the decision taken by the SLFP , and Maithripala Sirisena as the party leader cannot act contrary to that decision, S.B. pointed out .
S.B . ‘s verbiage usually smells worse than garbage ,but in this instance it merits serious attention …
S.B.’s contention is something even a grade two child would not advance. He argued ,because SLFP did not go for elections saying the executive presidency will be abolished, there isn’t a people’s referendum . This view is untenable, for the simple reason the people’s referendum he is talking about was defeated on the 8 th of January 2015 by a 51.28% majority of the people voting in favor of abolition of executive presidency. Besides , S.B.’s stupid utterance that in view of the SLFP decision Maithripala cannot contravene it , is also invalid since Maithripala Sirisena was not in the SLFP at that time when the people voted for the abolition of the executive presidency. SLFP had expelled him at that time. In the circumstances , Maithripala is not bound by the SLFP view , but rather by the views of the section he represented then , and their mandate. Even today he is seated in the presidential chair because of that mandate . Therefore if he has to fall in line with the SLFP view , what he must do first is move out from the presidential seat , since that was the clear mandate the SLFP received at that time.
It is high time , these political opportunists and villains who are propagating bogus and malicious tales try to understand the primary and main stance of the consensual government , and extend support to it . In fact that is their primary and paramount duty if they are honorable politicians instead of seeking to selfishly serve their personal agendas , because the people clearly threw them out lock , stock and barrel at the August 17 th elections thereby proving beyond doubt they are a vanquished group. Therefore after having crept into to become a part of the consensual government , they should without seeking backdoor treacheries to revive the mandate of theirs that was defeated , on the contrary must express solidarity with the victorious people’ s mandate received by the consensual government on 2015-01-08 and 2016-08-17 , and rectify their past mistakes .
If there is a dispute within the party what ought to be done is not blabber and bluff that ‘Maithri will be contesting the next presidential election’ and kick away the sacred people’s mandate irreverently. Instead , reveal the truth ,because the executive presidency is to be abolished by the new constitution , there cannot be a presidential election , and ‘in 2020, Maithripala Sirisena shall be contesting the post of prime minister as the leader of the party’. Those who are fond of blabbering will not in that event drive Sirisena into a muddle and uncalled for issues , which will also help resolve the leadership controversy within the SLFP .
But now , by the stupid announcements and senseless vacuous speeches , these opportunists and morons are trying to make their own leader whom the people elected to power , a villain and hypocrite among the very people wittingly or unwittingly. In that event these political opportunists who are trying to pose as heroes by conspiracies and treacheries at the expense of the president will be making Maithripala Sirisena a clown , villain and enemy among the people who installed him in power, vis a vis Maithripala’s solemn promises he made before being elected as president that the executive presidency will be abolished within 100 days of his becoming president .
It is therefore for Maithripala Sirisena to realize, when mad monkeys are clustered around him , the attack of the sword wielding monkeys will not kill the fly on his body , but him.
It is well to recall at this juncture what took place at the residence of a former president Chandrika Bandaranaike prior to the January 8 th people’s victory . Discussions were held with the participation of Maithripala Sirisena and party leaders who were in the frontline . Among them was also TNA leader R. Sambandan.
The final discussion to enlist the assistance of the Tamil people was held on that day . It was inquired from Sambandan whether a written agreement is required in regard to the abolition of executive presidency and devolution of power . Sambandan gave a startling answer to that question : Even when there is or not such an agreement , the Rajapkses are provoking and inciting the Sinhalese people . ‘Therefore the verbal promise given by all of you that the executive presidency shall be abolished , and justice will be done to the Tamil people will suffice ,’ Sambandan asserted. It will be best if everyone recalls at this moment , who was the politician who gleefully said at that moment, ‘ I felt like kissing that aging Tamil politician’ .
We are reminding those incidents so that the president will come to his right senses and take guard ahead against the sword attack of the foolish monkeys now clustered around him.
Indeed the serious attention of foreign diplomatic mission offices in Colombo has by now been drawn to the announcements made on the second anniversary celebration of the president regarding non abolition of the executive presidency , and that Maithripala will be contesting presidential elections in 2020 .
With a media personnel close to the president publishing these villainous statements as headline news , and the president who emerged victorious after making a solemn assurance that the odious executive presidency will be abolished within 100 days of his coming to power , saying nothing at all about it on his second anniversary celebrations speech as president ,at the BMICH had unfortunately triggered grave doubts and misgivings among the foreign diplomatic circles .
The president is behind those aforementioned announcements ? If that is truly so, it is the view of the foreign diplomatic circles that it would be impossible to progress on the reconciliation as there could be sabotage , the consensual government cannot go ahead any more, and the development programs will also be a mere dream . The responsibility is on president’s shoulder to clear the cloud of doubts hovering about the foreign Diplomatic circles.
On the other hand if anybody is having any idea of giving a sly ‘hopper clout’ , it is better they take heed of the warning : though the masses who rallied to elect the government of good governance may eat ‘ araliya rice’ (hal kanawa) they are certainly not halparuwas ( worthless incapable beings ) . They have already proved clearly and demonstrably what they are capable of at the last two elections.
Translated by Jeff
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by (2017-01-16 00:43:54)
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