We united a divided nation - President

Rasika SOMARATHNA in Kahawatte, Ratnapura

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the positive and courageous outlook of the present regime had made a fragmented country into a united one and had turned a downward economy into one which was on the threshold of prosperity.

Addressing a victory rally of UPFA held in support of its candidates contesting from Ratnapura district at Kahawatte yesterday, the President reminded the large gathering that he was given a mandate in 2005 to unite the divided nation.

“When we took over the country it was severely fragmented with North and East bearing the brunt. Two thirds of our coastline was lost to us and the terrorist dominated an area which was 20 times the size of Singapore.”

“At the time I got a Government which could not even appoint its own Speaker. People even failed to identify a terrorist as a terrorist out of fear. However, we did not deter in the face of such heavy odds.”

“We accelerated the process to save the Motherland and enlisted the support of all like minded. We saved the country and united the people, as was expected by them. As a result when I desolved Parliament we had a majority of 47 seats”, the President said.

If not for the above efforts Sri Lanka today may have faced the humiliation of waging war with another Nation on the same soil in search of its territorial integrity, he added.

The President pointed out that certain regimes in power lacked courage to take up such bold steps and this had hurt the interests of the country.

He emphasized that the country’s geographical position as a trans-shipment hub had not been utilized in the past and the airports and seaports had not been constructed accordingly. “Now we have initiated power plants such as Norochcholai, Upper Kotmale, Kerawalapitiya etc. in addition five harbours, new Airports, Highways, irrigation schemes, concreted roads for villages, are coming up. “We did not stop their but took steps to upgrade education, hospitals, provided jobs for youth and increased the number of State sector employees to 1.2 million, boosted agriculture and the estate sector. “All this was initiated in spite of a raging conflict. These were not initiated due to lack of political will, he added. “These initiatives should have originally come up in the 1980s. “Now we have to rectify these mistakes and we are taking necessary steps to do so”, he added. The President urged the public to give him a stable and strong Parliamentary majority at the forthcoming polls to accelerate the process in addition to make necessary constitutional amendments.

Ven. Ellawela Medananda Thera, Artistes Jackson Anthony and Malini Fonseka along with former Parliamentarian and UPFA National List member Sarath Kongahage too addressed the gathering. The UPFA Ratnapura team headed by Minister W D J Seneviratne also spoke.