A BIG BOUQUET OF THANKS TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE GOVERNMENT
Posted on December 28th, 2020
RANJITH SOYSA
The President and the government stood firm in protecting the national sovereignty and the rights of the people when dealing with the MCC issue. Despite the tempter in the form of $480 million involved in the deal the President and the government were able to compare the ultimate cost to the nation by analysing the pluses and the minuses.
The main issue which was the subject of the discussion among the critics of the MCC was that it will pave for a land grab and destroy the small land holding peasantry of the country. MCC land project was rightly considered as trap in enticing the small land holders to sell their lands to pay off their debts to multi-national companies so that the land will be an efficient factor of production. MCC proposed the removal of the existing land laws of the country such as 50-acre limit for private land ownership. Further, the districts coming under the proposed MCC compact were rich in minerals and the MCC was aiming to open the door for exploitation of these resources by the foreign companies
MCC was thus considered not as poverty reduction project but as a program in increasing the poverty levels of Sri Lankans. The previous Yahapalaya government had entered into several agreements in relation to the MCC. In October 2018, the negotiations regarding the compact were conducted by the leading Cabinet members and the AG with the officials of the MCC. The Cabinet of Ministers gave the approval for final agreement on 29.10 2019,
Sri Lankan people were saved at the last minute when the President Gotbaya Rajapakse was elected in 2019 and he and the government resolutely held back the tempter of US $480 million saving the country of neo-liberal destruction
December 28th, 2020 at 7:30 pm
I hold a different view; things are what it seems.
He had not spoken a word about it though the process launched by yahapalanaya went ahead with regard to land matters. We all knew his weaknesses and strength very well before all Sinhalas got together and put him in office. This was because the alternative was a surrender to a front controlled from behind by wahabis.
It is in the news that our foreign remittances have jumped up by some 19 odd percentage in November. How can this happen in this Covid gloom where so many ‘ratawiruwos’ (expatriates) are becoming unemployed?. It was just yesterday when the Russian government itself warned Hon. Sarath W, the minister in charge of state security that there is large scale terrorist funding coming into the country without being checked. But for the GOSL every dollar coming to the country counts as it has to pay salaries and keep the state employees who are demanding ‘deemana’ (allowances) all the time, happy.
So, to my mind his actions or inactions are not his own, but dictated by some others.
December 28th, 2020 at 7:32 pm
Sorry.
Please read as “….;things are not what they seem.” in the first line