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| Monday, 16 February 2004 |
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| President calls on people for clear mandate to negotiate a true peace by Ranil Wijayapala President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday called for a clear mandate from the people at the forthcoming general election to initiate discussions with the LTTE and the relevant parties to the ethnic question and end it through a political solution. She said she was not ready to have discussions with the LTTE without a clear mandate from the people. Addressing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Convention, organised by Western Provincial Council Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna at Mahara yesterday, the President Kumaratunga said the country cannot move forward with Executive powers in her hand and Parliament powers with another party. The President said her party was committed to negotiations with the LTTE and other relevant parties to usher in a true peace in the country in which the rights of all ethnicities are protected. The President said she was not ready to sell the country or to put the country at stake as was done by the UNF government, through its so-called peace negotiations. The President reiterated her commitment towards resolving the ethnic problem through a political solution without resorting to war. Her party and the newly formed alliance was ready with a clear program to be implemented within two weeks after establishing a government after the forthcoming election. President Kumaratunga said her party had already decided to whom the programmes which have been prepared aiming at economic development and solving other national issues including the unemployment problem, are to be handed over after the establishment of a government. Explaining to her supporters as to why a clear mandate was needed for her party at the forthcoming elections the President said it was an urgent need to establish an incorrupt and able government with good leaders committed towards the country's future. She stressed the need to abolish the 'monstrous constitution' the architect of which was former President J.R. Jayewardene. It was designed to keep the UNP in power forever. She said the Executive Presidency and the present electoral system should be changed if the country was to move forward adding that the proportional representation and preferential voting system had created huge problems even within political parties. "I am ready to sit in Parliament as an ordinary MP after abolishing the Executive Presidency", the President said. The President said the mandate is needed to solve the long suffering problems of the people including economic, health and education issues. She stressed the necessity of electing representatives who were not ready to sell their souls for money and power at the forthcoming election, recalling the corrupt nature of Ministers she had to deal with earlier. "If we are to have incorrupt Ministers we should have a clear mandate from the people", the President added. Describing the reasons for her decision to dissolve the Parliament President Kumaratunga said she was compelled to do so considering the grave situation the country was moving towards, owing to the actions taken by the UNF Government. She said the UNF Government kept her in the dark about government programs and about the decisions taken on the peace process. President Kumaratunga said although she was aware that another election would be a drain on the country's economy and cause hardship to the people, she had to take that decision as there was no alternative. The President said she had never seen such a corrupt government as the UNF and added that though they were shedding crocodile tears over the expenditure on the election, one Minister in the Government alone took double this amount as commission. She said all that the UNF government did was to enrich and pamper the elite class, while ignoring the common masses of the country. The increasing cost of living has pushed the people into desperation. |
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