(By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA)

The action taken by the Joint Opposition to handover a No Confidence Motion against the political chameleon Rajitha Senaratne was a very appropriate move as he acts like a person suffering from a chronic dementia, misusing his powers, uttering abusive and indecent fish market languages and posing as that he is the person who runs this country.

Rajitha on old hag Chandrika

On 5^th May 2002 the Island published a report that Rajitha said President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s “foolish stance” on the peace process would force the UNP-led United National Front (UNF) to double its efforts to send her out of Janadhipathy Mandiraya.

As per Island Rajitha who is one of Chandrika’s strongest critics has pointed out that SLFP statement that attacked the peace process while offering conditional support to the government was evidence that co-habitation has failed.

He has said that they are confident of impeaching the President and has claimed that over 35 SLFP MPs have pledged their support to Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. He has said that they would take advantage of the proposed amendments aimed at ending Kumaratunga’s powers to dissolve or prorogue parliament any time after December 5^th that year and also to allow MPs to cross-over or cast a conscience vote. He has said that they want to clip her wings and ensure that she remains powerless thus allowing the government to do whatever they wanted to do..

Rajitha has assured that the SLFP members will give the required two-thirds majority and claimed that the two parties were in touch over the proposed move against President Kumaratunga. Senaratne claimed that Chandrika’s May day threat to skin MPs who co-operate with the government has increased the need to end her presidency.

He has said that the SLFP MPs who endorsed Friday’s statement would not hesitate to vote with the UNF when the time comes, and has reminded the way SLFP MPs quit the party in last October to join the then opposition just days after assuring Chandrikaa that they would stand by her.  He said that the same would happen again but on a bigger scale, Expressing confidence that they would be able to finalise everything before the end of June they would issue statements with the President but would vote with us, he had said.

Rajtha has said that Premier Wickremesinghe made a determined bid to work with President Kumaratunga and the premier was of the opinion that the two sides would have to work together particularly on the peace process. Senaratne was of the view that the premier had to take a hardened stance and go ahead with planned action against the president.

Rajitha has claimed that Chandrika poses a serious threat to the entire peace process and has attacked her for seeking to torpedo the peace process. He has expressed the belief that she was alone and does not command the necessary support of the parliamentary group to engage in an effective campaign against the government.

Rajitha on Prabhakaran, JHU and JVP

In an interview with Island on 26.06.2009 Rajita spoke in the need to devolve power. He said that he has become a target of the JVP and the JHU, since he has expressed his views very clearly. He said that the JHU is supposed to be a party that is familiar with the cause and effect doctrine in Buddhism.  He said that as per BuddhismeEvery effect has a cause, but in the philosophy of JHU there is no such thing. They see the effect but say nothing about the cause. He said what he says is that Prabhakaran wass an effect but there was also a cause. The cause manifested itself long before Prabhakaran and the cause existed even at the time Prabhakaran was born and it was to address this cause that people spoke of the devolution of power. Where Prabhakaran differed was that he said that nothing was going to be achieved by talking and that therefore, the Tamils needed a separate state. The reason why Prabhakaran said that nothing would be achieved by talking is because there were people like the JVP and JHU even at that time.

Rajitha explained that some people now incorrectly think that everything was over with the war. He said that in Peru, the leader of the Sendoro Luminoso movement (Shining Path) was killed and they had a very big carnival in Peru. People came onto the streets and drank and danced in a vast public celebration. But after some months, the Shining Path movement started again. What happened there was that the effect ended but not the cause.

So in this country, we don’t want to see terrorism raising its head again and in order to prevent that we should address the causes. He said that when the provincial councils system was introduced, the JVP opposed it saying that this was tantamount to creating a separate state. They burned down the whole country, beheaded and chopped off the hands of people who had voted at the first PC elections. Ultimately the JVP also contested and came into the PCs and even said they had the ‘remote control’ in the PCs.

Rajitha said that when he was the minister of lands, a case was filed before the Supreme Court petitioning that the powers relating to land be transferred to the PCs, the JVP also raised their hands approving the move by the Chief Ministers. Those powers were supposed to be given to the PCs at the time they were instituted. It never took effect in the north because there were no functioning PCs in the north and east. He asked now how can we not implement it when we are in a position to do so? Even the JHU came into the PC system at the last WPC election, he said.

Rajitha said that in our country, for anything to become an established reality, it takes four decades. When people asked S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike to declare both Sinhala and Tamil official languages, he made Sinhala the sole official language. Then forty years later, his daughter had to undo the damage done by her father. By that time, it had become commonly accepted that both Sinhala and Tamil should be official languages. But by that time, the issue had gone well beyond the language question. He said that some people talk only of today but he speaks of tomorrow

Rajitha also stated in the Island innterview that the Supreme Court delivered a ruling that land powers belong to the provincial councils, when he was the Minister of Lands. They can acquire, distribute and use land, but they can’t do so without the approval of the central government. Police powers are also included in the 13th amendment, but these powers have not been devolved as yet. Minor crimes will be dealt with by the provincial police. Major crimes and security will be dealt with by the national police. So this is a very practical solution, he said. We have to eliminate the fear that some people have devolving police powers, he added.

Meanwhile, the former Mayor of Colombo and the UNP strongman Mr. B.Siisena Cooray strongly criticized Rajitha on 1^st December 2001saying that Rajitha, a UNP cabdidate appearing on a private Television channel recently made certain false, baseless and malicious references to his wife and to him and announced that Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna is his brother-in-law (massina), and that some JVP funds were kept for safekeeping with his wife in a bank account and that a part of those funds was lost.

He said that Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe is distantly related to him through his late brother, Mr. Nandisena Cooray, who was a long-standing UNP member and was the Deputy Mayor of Colombo at the time of his death. Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe is one of the many brothers of the wife of the late Mr. Nandisena Cooray; and he is not directly connected to his wife or to him as a massina.

He said that the most malicious act f Raitha is the insinuation that a part of this money was lost; an insinuation that his wife or he had played out this money and such a statement has to be the work of a warped mind, whoever fabricated it. He said that perhaps presenting falsehoods and twisting facts may be of a second nature to a one like Rajitha who has flirted with pseudo-socialist and Marxist elements during his whole adult life, until as recently as 1994.

Mr. Cooray said that it is with regret that he notes the antics of a UNP candidate sinking to this level and it is because of people like Rajitha that the Party has been out of power for so long.

Rajitha’s lies, imaginations and absurdities

On 31^st March 2016, almost 1 1/2cyears ago Rajitha inaugurating a healthcare leadership training programme at BMICH said that three hospitals similar to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore will be established in Sri Lanka soon. He said that all equipment will be supplied by Siemens, Germany and finances will be from the United States for one of these hospitals, the second hospital will be set up including Proton Therapy for cancer patients which is not available in other Asian countries including Singapore and Sri Lanka will be able to become the first country in the region to have Proton therapy and the country will be able to promote health tourism with foreign cancer patients visiting Sri Lanka to obtain Proton Therapy. Still we are using Gamma radiation, he added.The third hospital he said will be established with 35% of the funding by the Australian Government and the balance of the funding will be from Exim Bank on zero percent interest.

Rajitha has said that due to his commendable health services activities the number of kidney patients has drastically decreased.  Both Sirisena and Rajitha said a few weeks after establishing this government tha a kidney treatment hospital with all modern facilities will be established in Polonnaruwa and the Chinese government has agreed to provide Rs. 12,000 Million for establishing this hospital.  Ada Derana reported that they made an inspection tour to find about the establishment of this hospital on 28^th August this year and found only a name board exists at the proposed site without even a single brick laid for this purpose. LankaCNews website published a photograph taken by Ada Derana showing the name board and the bare land.

On 18^th June, 2016 the Health Ministry announced that Rajitha has made arrangements to introduce a national health insurance scheme as it is available in many countries in the world and he has already held discussions with private sector health services in this connection.

These illusory anc wild statements remind us many promises made by this bluff master during the Mahinda Rajapaksa government (now it seems had been done deliberately to mislead the people) which included introduction of an insuranc scheme for fishing vessels,

and fishermen, equipments with GPS technology will be fixed in all fishing vessels to make it easy to identify their locations in the sea and guide them, have placed procurement orders with China for two multiday mother vessels which could refuel and provide drinking water and other supplies for multi-day boats and purchase the catch of these boats, the European Union wull not impose a ban on fish imports from Sri Lanka as he has provided the necessary documentation they requested, Vietnam has agreed to come and help us develop our inland fishing industry, Seychelles has agreed to purchase locally manufactured boats and help develop our deep sea fishing industry etc.  Ultimately with all these false promises he has ended up becoming an owner of several vessels and it is reported that these vessels have allegedly been purchased in the names of his two sons and some family members, and among the fshing community he has also earned the ‘honour’ as NaewGilapu Rajitha (Rajitha who has swallowed ships)..

It is also alleged that he has misappropriated 470 Millon and that is why that Ravi Karunanayake’s apartment deal with Peroetual Yreasuries Ltd., became a matter of an ‘Onion Peel’ for him.

Another mega lie he has uttered as per ‘Rivira newspaper dated 7^th July 2017 is that the government has insured all houses in this country.

On 9^th December 2016 Rajitha said it is expected to manufacture 80 percent of the country’s drug requirement in Sri Lanka by mid 2018 and Sri Lanka will manufacture its entire drug requirement by 2019. He said that twenty three local and foreign drug manufacturing companies have already signed agreements with the State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC) to produce drugs in Sri Lanka. He also said that brand names will be banned after establishing the drug quality control laboratory in Sri Lanka to be built with the Chinese government.

On 7^th December 2015 Rajitha said that a Saline producing factory and a medical park will be set up in Sri Lanka next year, and all saline required for Sri Lankan hospitals will be produced in this new factory and the additional production will be exported.

On 20^th June, 2016 he said that a new nursing faculty will be built in Sri Lanka at a cost of Rs. 12.5 billion as promised during the last general election. Rajitha’s Media Secretary said the government has allocated Rs. 2.5 billion for the project and assistance of foreign countries will also be obtained for the project. He said that the nursing faculty will grant degrees, post graduate degrees and doctorates.

Participating in a Sports Meet for state employees in the Kalutara district on 14^th September, 2016 Rajitha said that VAT will be imposed only for 9 months.  He said that the government had to impose VAT because the previous government took loans not through the treasury but through other entities.  He said that the government will impose these VAT conditions for nine months to cover the debts.

Daily News on 3^rd November, 2016 reported as Rajitha said that not a trace of the new party ‘Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’ will be found once its leaders are imprisoned for their misdeeds.  He has said that allegations against the leaders of the new political party are being investigated.

On March 17^th 2017, Rajitha said that the health sector has got 23 foreign investments includimg constructing new hospitals, developing hospitals, manufacturing drugs and surgical items. He said that a Chinese surgical instruments manufacturing company will set up a factory in Sri Lanka and the company will help educate health professionals on using surgical instruments.

Reports published on 2^nd March 2017 said that Rajitha has compared his son MP Chathura Senaratne’s statements to that of US President Donald Trump. He has said that It is good that he is getting popular.  He said that Trump became so popular that he was voted as the President of the United Staes of America”, Chathura Senaratne has publicly claimed that he was involved in Vijaya Kumaratunga’s political campaign, as a toddler. He has said that he first took part in the ‘banned May Day rally’ of 1987 at the age of five and that he conducted a rally at his pre-school to support Kumaratunga in 1986.

Addressing a function held at the BMICH to promote herbal drugs, Rajitha has said that Armed Forces personnel will be deployed to cultivate cannabis in the future and the Maha Sangha did not oppose cultivating cannabis. He has said that there is no issue in using cannabis as an Ayurveda drug but problems occur when it is used for smoking like cigarettes,”He has said that Sri Lanka will also export cannabis very soon.

Following the crisis between Qatar and several Middle East  countries, when the media personnel complained about the difficulties underwent by our overseas employed persons returning from Qatar due to Banks at the airport refusing to accept Qatari Riyals, Rajitha Senaratne participating in the 3 idiots’ weekly media show” has jumped the line and exposed his lack of knowledge about money matters giving an idiotic reply saying that it is the IMF which instructs a country on the acceptance or non acceptance of a foreign currency and the IMF has not instructed to deny the acceptance of Qatari Riyals.  Media personnel, including foreign media personnel, in amazement have pointed out that even a GCE O/L students know that it is the Central Bank of a country that instructs banks in that country on the acceptance or non acceptance of a foreign currency and the exchange rate applicable to each currency on a daily basis. They have said that it is a pity that these so-called idiotic cabinet spokesmen are not aware of these basic rules relating to money matters. (To be continued)