President urges youth to support economic transformation
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared that the revolutionary
change he promised in the ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ policy statement
would be achieved and urged youth to bring about far-reaching economic transformation.
“We are making the revolutionary change that the ‘Vistas of
Prosperity and Splendour’ has put forward. I invite the youth of this country
to trust this Government and come forward once again. No need to have fear,
this is a huge change,” he said at the ceremony to declare open 1,500 completed
roads at the Mandaduwa Stadium on Saturday.
“The people demanded a revolutionary change. In achieving
this, difficulties and obstacles will have to be faced,” Rajapaksa said,
insisting that he would proceed with commitment to overcome those challenges.
He claimed that there were two groups of people criticising
his conduct. “One group has no understanding of what happened over the past two
years. They assume the past two years went on as previous years. The other
group is the one that wanted a revolutionary change from me,” he charged.
Rajapaksa asserted that due to COVID-19, the tourism
industry which earned close to $ 5 billion had collapsed, pointing out the
adverse economic impact for small economy like Sri Lanka.
The President said that if the Government could make this
change, it would pave the way for an entrepreneurial and research-based
economy. “Then we can bring in more tourists. We can export our food and earn a
better foreign exchange. This is a challenge. I invite all farmers, let’s
cultivate. The promise that the revolutionary change demanded will definitely
take place.
“Not only the loss of revenue; over three million people are
dependent on this sector, from top-notch hotels to persons who sell king
coconuts, their income completely collapsed. When we lock down the country, the
economy of everyone from entrepreneurs who run a small shop to top businessmen,
it had an adverse impact,” he said.
Despite the early loss of export earnings at the beginning
of the COVID outbreak in 2020, he said exports had recovered at present.
“Nearly 200,000 people who worked in the Middle East have
lost their jobs because the economies of those countries collapsed. We brought
them back to Sri Lanka. We lost the money which came in as foreign
remittances,” he added.
Against this backdrop, the Government also had to repay $ 4 billion per year as loan payments taken by previous governments. “We paid off that debt in these two years as well. In addition, we had to pay $ 1.5 billion as sovereign bond interest. The previous Government handed over a very trivial reserve to us,” he charged.
Rajapaksa said people needed to realise the amount of
foreign exchange the economy had lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the
debts that the country had to service with all income generation sources being
blocked.
“Considering these factors, people should understand how
difficult it is for a small economy to move forward. Nevertheless, we kept the
public servants at home, granting them leave.
We commenced the process of work from home. We did not deduct their
salaries. Everyone’s wages were paid. The teachers were at home for two years.
We paid their salaries too. We provided financial assistance to every
COVID-affected family. Even in such a difficult situation, we realised that people
need to survive,” he pointed out.
The President said that the Government also enabled flexible
work for State employees to work from home. “We did not deduct their salaries.
Everyone’s wages were paid. The teachers were at home for two years. We paid their
salaries too. We provided financial assistance to every COVID-affected family.
Even in such a difficult situation, we realised that people need to survive,”
he said.
“A year ago, I laid the foundation stone for the National
Programme of Developing 100,000 Km of Roads Project. At the end of the year, we
completed the construction of 1,500 roads. We fulfilled our duties during this
period amidst countless obstacles. On several occasions, the country was
completely locked down. We know how difficult it was for the contractors to
bring their labourers because of the COVID situation. I thank the Minister for
completing the work on 1,500 roads amidst those obstacles,” President Rajapaksa
said.
He stressed that the Government worked towards the
betterment of Sri Lankan farmers, while charging that the previous regimes
failed to do that.
“Experts come in front of cameras and speak of food
security. Food security does not mean feeding the people with poison-infused
food,” he said, adding that he had no desire to force the farmer community to
move towards organic fertiliser, but made the decision as promised to implement
what was right for the country at large.
“If I go military style as envisaged by some, I have to use
the military to force the farmers to use organic fertiliser. I did not do that,
because this is a democracy. I promised to make a change, and I will,”
Rajapaksa stressed.
He also said people like Sajith Premadasa, Wijeyadasa
Rajapakshe, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Joseph Stalin and Mahinda Jayasinghe went and
obtained advice from Ven. Muruththettuwe Anandha Thero and yet they themselves
were criticising the very appointment of the Thero from whom they sought
advice.
In addition, President Rajapaksa justified the decision to
appoint Ven. Gnanasara Thero to the Task Force on ‘One Country One Nation,’
noting that the Thero was the only person who spoke of ‘One Country, One Law’.
“I told the Thero to make it and then I will produce it to
the Justice Minister and then to the Parliament,” Rajapaksa said.
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