President Maithripala Sirisena said certain top-brass members of the previous administration are now going from village to village, distributing money to sabotage the SLFP’s May Day rally. “It is important to find where this money came from,” the President said, addressing a breakfast meeting with media heads and newspaper editors at the President’s House, yesterday.
“We all know how they ran the country. Every morning, about five members of the former first family got together at the breakfast table and made important decisions about the country. Then they were passed on to the Cabinet and to Parliament. The previous ruler completely disregarded the opinion of other senior leaders of the government and the party’s important decision making bodies,” the President said.
Criticizing the conduct of former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, the President said he attempted to run the government using the ‘state machinery.’
“He went to every district and the district secretaries were asked to organize meetings. People’s representatives in the districts were kept in the dark about those events. They were not even given a chance to deliver the vote of thanks. At the event, the minister would deliver a letter to the District Secretary, allocating funds for development projects in the area. Disappointed with this whole process, some senior MPs in Matale, Ratnapura and Badulla districts even boycotted such events,” he added.
“The majority of Cabinet ministers were utterly dissatisfied with their conduct. But, they were helpless. It was against this backdrop that I stepped down from my ministerial position to become the common candidate of the opposition.
The President also said negative criticism coming form certain sections about the present government’s good governance track record was natural and justifiable.
“This is a democratic country and anyone can criticize. But, we must understand that this is a damaged road and we are in the process of repairing it. Until we fully repair it, we too have to use the same road.
“But I can guarantee that we will fully repair it. I request all our critics to focus on the end result,” the President said.
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