Susil Premajayantha should have known better – Minister Johnston

Chief Government Whip and Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said that former State Minister Susil Premajayantha should have known better before taking a stance against the Government.

Commenting on the removal of Premajayantha from the portfolio of State Minister of Education Reforms, Open Universities and Distance Learning Promotion, Minister Fernando said Premajayantha had made public statements detrimental to the interests of the Government.

“He, being a senior politician, should have known better. He as a State Minister representing the Government has responsibilities and should have acted accordingly. He has a responsibility to protect the Government and its policies. If there were shortcomings of those policies, there are many fora where they should have been raised. There are many occasions when the President meets the Ministers. Premjayantha should have raised the problems or opinions he had about the Government policies then. Not even a Minister, anyone who had played in a team, knows the need for standing as a single team of players. As a senior, Premajayantha is expected to provide an example for the new MPs.

We are bound by our duties and responsibilities and should uphold them. The people have voted for us for that purpose. None should do the Opposition’s job while remaining in the Government ranks. Such actions would only please the Opposition. We cannot allow that to continue,” the Minister said.

“Giving Rs 5,000 allowance to every public servant is a timely act done with proper planning. We do whatever is needed on time. The Opposition members are misleading people with their lies and conspiracy theories. Whatever they had said so far was proven lies. Not only the public servants but also Samurdhi recipients, disabled persons, farmers and horticulturalists have been given relief. These are not given targeting elections.

We provide relief to people to help them regain their livelihoods and face the impact of the financial problems caused by the pandemic.

Those in the Opposition were predicting an economic collapse on January 15. People would get this relief by that date and on that day we hope to declare open the second phase of the Central Expressway from Mirigama to Kurunegala. The Opposition members predicted that the economy would collapse after Basil Rajapaksa became the Finance Minister. Now with this relief package, they will have to change their slogans again,” the Minister said.