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| Wednesday, 9 July 2003 |
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by Jayantha Sri Nissanka and Bharatha Malawaraarachchci Parliament sittings were suspended for fifteen minutes last morning following a dispute over six unchecked lockers belonging to opposition MPs inside Parliament. Earlier, Speaker Joseph Michael Perera informed the House that strict security measures have been implemented in Parliament in order to ensure the safety of the MPs. However, several lockers could not be checked as the duplicate keys too had been taken away by the concerned MPs. At this point, Parliamentary Affairs Minister A. H. M. Azwer requested the Speaker to conduct a thorough inspection on these unchecked lockers as it is a serious threat to the security of the Parliament. Supporting the point of order raised by Minister Azwer, the Chief Government Whip and Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe requested the Speaker to take extreme measures to check the controversial lockers. "There may be security lapses. This is a very serious matter. Already, the party leaders have agreed to give full authority to you on ensuring security of the House and now it is very disappointing to hear that duplicate keys of six lockers are not available. Therefore, we request you to suspend sittings and take steps to check these lockers," Minister Samarasinghe said. Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapakse said they do not oppose the suspending of sittings, but requested not to reduce the time allocated for the day's debate. At the time, there was commotion in the House and the Speaker asked the party leaders to control their members in the Parliament chamber. However, the Speaker Joseph Michael Perera suspended the sittings for fifteen minutes. The Speaker said he would take action against the officials who are responsible for issuing the duplicate keys of certain lockers. |
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