A total of 11 political parties representing the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led Government launched a new national statement yesterday (2), with over 30 government MPs, including a number of cabinet ministers and state ministers, attending the launch event held in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.
The manifesto, titled “Mulu Ratama Hari Magata” (the entire country towards the right path), was launched by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the National Freedom Front (NFF), the Democratic Left Front (DLF), the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the National Congress, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU), the Sri Lanka People’s Party, the Vijaya Dharani National Council (NC), the People’s United Front, and the Yuthukama National Organisation.
Among the proposals included in the said manifesto were, increasing foreign exchange earnings and reserves; penetration of the foreign employment market by employing skilled workers and professionals; making a complete revival of the tourism industry based on indigenous medical treatments; introducing a National Policy and Targeted Action Plan that includes a long-term generation plan to address the power crisis; ensuring public confidence in the prevention of tax evasion, frauds in government revenue collection, and poor financial management as well as frauds through re-export rackets, and taking appropriate action on issues that are hotly debated among the public; appointment of a Presidential Commission to look into all tax scams, including sugar and coconut oil scams; providing relief to the poor from import taxes, serving justice to the victims of the Easter Sunday terror attacks; eliminating religious extremism and ensuring national unity; strengthening local food production,;ensuring food security in the country and protecting the living standards of farmers, fishermen, and small producers; establishment of farmer-centred economic centres to replace the so-called purchasing centres dominated by wholesalers; reconstruction of nearly 33,000 small tanks and annicuts and associated ecosystems throughout the country; resumption of local seed planting material research and production using farming systems owned by the Department of Agriculture; restarting the Agrarian Bank and relieving the farmer from the debt burden, payment of fertiliser subsidy to the farmer in cash; strengthening the local industrial system; starting important industries at the selected national level and not just waiting for foreign investors to come; supporting the small producer who is mired in microfinance, especially women, thereby utilising their contribution to economic development; expanding opportunities for young people seeking to leave the country to pursue vocational and technical education locally; ensuring social justice in the current crisis and protecting low-income and socio-economically disadvantaged people; protecting the consumer by cracking down on racketeering; providing care and relief to those working abroad; managing the long-standing geopolitical crisis in the Indo-Pacific region; reaffirming national security; strengthening public confidence in the State and making the most of local resources; calling war heroes to economic war; harvesting the fullest from marine and mineral resources; identifying the root causes of corruption in the State and preventing corruption; and considering proper financial management as a precondition not only for the economic development but also for the prevention of corruption and fraud.
The event was attended by SLFP Chairman and incumbent Government Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena, NFF Leader and Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa, DLF Leader and Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, LSSP Leader and SLPP National List Member of Parliament (MP) Prof. Tissa Vitarana, NC Leader A.L.M. Athaullah, PHU Leader and Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila, Sri Lanka People’s Party Leader and Government MP Asanka Navaratna, and Government MPs Ven. Aturaliye Rathana Thera and Gevindu Cumaratunga.