Parliament

Speaker Lokubandara’s baptism of fire
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
It was an eventful beginning to the career of newly elected Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara on the first two occasions he had to preside in Parliament. The Speaker had to deal with a cross over, a resignation, allegations of abduction of an MP monk and a group of MPs picketing wearing black arm bands.

As if all this was not enough, Mr. Lokubnadara also got a taste of difficulties that lay ahead with an openly acrimonious group of government legislators who forced an abrupt end to parliament sittings on Wednesday. They paid scant attention to the orders from the Chair causing an uproar leading to scenes that Parliament has now become synonymous with in this country.

The unanimous choice of Geetanjana Gunawardena for the post of Deputy Speaker and Murugan Satchithanandan for that of the Deputy Chairman of Committees thankfully prevented any repetition of the ugly scenes that took place during the contentious secret ballot for the election of Speaker. Unfortunately though much of the bitterness that came into being after the government failed to elect a person of their choice, to the important post of Speaker, was still evident.

Those at the receiving end of much of this bitterness were the JHU monks who this time too were at the centre of a new controversy and this time with allegations by government members that Kathaluwe Ratnaseeha Thera – one of the two monks who voted with the government for the election of the Speaker -- had resigned allegedly having been forced to do so by the JHU.

The Speaker announced to Parliament on Wednesday morning that Ratnaseeha Thera had tendered his resignation as an MP. This brought Deputy Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi to his feet when he queried as to why the resignation of an MP was announced at a time when there was a police inquiry being conducted into his alleged abduction and allegations that he was forced to hand over his resignation.

The Speaker explained that he had been present when the letter was handed over to the Secretary General of Parliament and said that when he asked Ratnaseeha Thera whether he was resigning on his own free will the Thera had replied in the affirmative.

Next it was the UPFA's Colombo district Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa who brought up the same issue and said the whole episode looked conspiratorial when one takes into account the haste with which the Elections Commissioner was informed of the monk's resignation and a new MP named in his place.

His remarks led to a strong exchange of words mainly between the JVP MPs who are also members of the UPFA and Opposition MPs when a number of unkind remarks were directed at the JHU members.

Repeated attempts by Kolonnawe Sri Sumangala Thera to explain the circumstances that led to Ratnaseeha Thera's resignation were thwarted by all the shouting going on in the Chamber.

Attempts by the Speaker to get UPFA MP Nandana Goonatilleke to withdraw some of the remarks he made against Sumangala Thera too failed, amid the chaotic scenes and the accompanying noise.

Leader of the House Maithrapala Sirisena too expressed the government's displeasure at the decision to accept the resignation of an MP who was alleged to be held against his will and said it was the duty of the Speaker to protect the rights of all the MPs.

The drama of the missing monk was not the only drama to be played out in Parliament last week. The divisions in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress too were once again brought out into the open when one of its national list MP's Hussein Bhaila crossed the floor of the House, on Tuesday, to sit with the government members. Three other SLMC MPs have said that in future they would work as a separate group in Parliament and not under SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem.

However there were others who were eager to express their support for Mr. Hakeem and one among them W.P.S. Pushpakumara who entered Parliament on the national list announced on Wednesday his resignation from Parliament and said he was doing so to show his solidarity with Mr. Hakeem and to allow the SLMC leader to appoint another person of his choice. In the course of his speech, Mr. Pushpakumara said those conspiring against Mr. Hakeem were sure to fail.

After the situation had quietened down somewhat the much delayed adjournment debate on the recent incidents that took place in Kandapola was taken up for discussion. Meanwhile on Wednesday several Tamil legislators came to Parliament wearing black armbands in protest at the government's handling of the Kandapola incident.

They also walked into the Chamber carrying placards critical of the government and police but their protests were overshadowed by the incidents revolving round the Ven. Ratnaseeha Thera's sudden resignation.

P. Chandrasekeran of the Up Country People's Front started the debate urging the government to initiate a proper inquiry against those responsible for the unfortunate incidents that led to the deaths of two persons and damage to property.

UNP Colombo district MP T. Maheswaran seconded the motion and warned the government that if there was no proper security for Tamils there was nothing to stop them from taking up arms.

Towards the end of the Kandapola debate, the issue of Ratnaseeha Thera's resignation came up once again with Wimal Weerawansa seeking further clarification from the Speaker on the incident. This led to a further commotion in the House and the Speaker adjourned the day's proceedings abruptly. It is likely though that things would take off from where they left when Parliament meets again on June 8.

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