President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake has informed the Chairman of the Election Commission R. M. L. Ratnayake that since the various development and welfare programmes implemented by the Government are not illegal activities, it is not possible to issue written orders and instructions to government officials to stop those programmes.  

This is in response to a letter sent by the Election Commission Chairman to the President’s Secretary noting as the Presidential Election will be held soon, complaints have been received from many parties that party and candidate promotions are being carried through development programmes in the country and all institutions should be requested to stop this illegal practice which is being done in violation of the directives issued by the Election Commission.

In that letter, the President’s Secretary has recalled that two years ago, the country was economically bankrupt and the then government was not able to meet the basic needs of the people and the situation was such that there was no conducive atmosphere either to discuss or hold elections.

The President’s Secretary points out that although the economy has reached a stable state through the economic reform programme implemented together with the IMF, according to the data of the Department of Census and Statistics, one out of every six Sri Lankans is suffering from multidimensional poverty and an agreement has been reached with the IMF to bring them to a full economic recovery and for this purpose it is essential to continue the development programmes and meet revenue targets.

The President’s Secretary emphasises that if there is any obstacle to the programme, the country’s economy will collapse again and it will be inevitable that the country will go into a severe economic crisis. It has also been mentioned that the Government has no intention of making the low-income earners who have been living in the grip of the economic crisis even more miserable.

The President’s Secretary has also stated that he is not able to give written orders and instructions to the government officials to stop the development and welfare programmes as requested since he is not able to interpret the various development and welfare programmes implemented by the government as illegal actions as stated in the letter of the Chairman of the Election Commission.

President’s Secretary Ekanayake has also mentioned in his letter that it is appropriate to give space to all the relevant parties to present their facts while dealing with the complaints received by the Election Commission.

He has also said during the Presidential Election period, the Election Commission should pay due attention to the economy of the country and the living conditions of the low-income people and to the Articles 104b(4a)(a) and 104b(4a)(b) of the Constitution when issuing guidelines to public institutions and officials.

dailynews.lk
(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by dailynews.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)