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By Sandun Jayawardana   

Parliament on Friday (6) approved the extension of a state of public emergency, declared by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, amid accusations by the opposition that the government was attempting to use the legislation to stifle dissent.

The Resolution under the Public Security Ordinance to extend the state of public emergency was passed with 106 votes in favour and two against. Most opposition MPs were not present in the House at the time of the vote on Friday evening, with the exception of Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress and Amirthanathan Adaikkalanathan from the Democratic Tamil National Alliance, who both voted against the resolution.  

While they may not have been present during the vote, opposition MPs who spoke during the debate earlier in the day questioned why the emergency was needed more than two months after the cyclone. The government though, countered that it was still necessary to ensure that the response to the disaster is managed quickly and efficiently so that those affected can go back to their day-to-day lives.

Presenting the resolution under the Public Security Ordinance to extend the state of public emergency, Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara pointed out that 22 districts were designated as disaster zones following the cyclone. The state of public emergency was necessary to see to the urgent needs of the victims and to restore and maintain essential services, he said, adding that this was why the president first declared it on November 28 last year. The declaration paved the way for the appointment of a Commissioner General of Essential Services with powers to coordinate relief and recovery efforts, the deputy minister further observed.

Noting that Cyclone Ditwah was the most destructive natural disaster to affect the country since the 2004 tsunami, Mr. Jayasekara stressed that the government has a responsibility to restore the lives of the people who had been affected. “The government is currently engaged in efforts to restore infrastructure, crops, businesses and livelihoods affected by the disaster. We are in the process of providing compensation for those who had lost their lives while a large and very complicated process is being undertaken to relocate people,” he explained. The government is faced with many challenges and it is to assist in this massive recovery process that the state of emergency has been declared, stressed Mr. Jayasekara.

He also claimed that the government had been able to bring about a state of normalcy within six weeks after the disaster, pointing to the fact that over 250, 000 tourists visited the country in January. He argued that this was proof of how well the government had managed the disaster situation.

Referring to Mr. Jayasekara’s claim that normalcy had been restored within six weeks of the disaster, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) General Secretary Ranjith Maddumabandara questioned why the country needed a state of public emergency to continue if this was indeed the case.

A state of emergency is usually declared when the country is facing a threat from some party, Mr. Maddumabandara remarked. A state of emergency was declared when the JVP launched its insurrection in 1988/89. A state of emergency was also in effect during the 30-year-war with the LTTE. “No one is opposed to assisting people who have been affected by Ditwah. It was parties in the opposition that initially came forward to help those who had been affected even before the ruling party went into action. You said you needed the state of emergency to get officers to work. Why? All this can be done under normal law.”

The gazette on the state of public emergency issued by President Dissanayake makes even the distribution of leaflets a crime, alleged the SJB MP. “When we were in power, the JVP conducted street protests on a daily basis mainly through university students. Today, you have used the disaster brought on by Cyclone Ditwah to impose a state of emergency to stop protests just like the ones you used to carry out. You are trying to crack down on protests using the state of emergency. Are you trying to extend the state of emergency to control the forces now massing against you?” he queried.

The government is asking Parliament to extend that state of emergency by one more month to assist its efforts to do what is required speedily and efficiently to restore the lives of people in areas impacted by this disaster, said Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya.

The premier pointed out that the President had appointed a Presidential Task Force under her chairpersonship to plan, regulate and properly allocate resources needed for the recovery effort. Eight sub-committees coming under that task force have also been appointed, with each sub-committee dealing with a different aspect of post-disaster rebuilding efforts. Meanwhile, a high-level committee had been appointed to coordinate foreign relief to ensure that the support the country is getting is used meaningfully and effectively, she added.

“I want to reiterate that the only purpose of extending this emergency regulation is that the government wants to ensure that the response to this completely unprecedented situation is being managed efficiently and as quickly as possible so that we can restore the lives, livelihoods and day-to-day activities of these affected communities as soon as possible,” the PM asserted.

“Do you need a state of emergency to distribute Rs. 25, 000 or Rs. 50, 000? Do you need a state of emergency to compensate for crop damage, or to provide Rs. 5 million (for houses)?” questioned Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. If a state of emergency is needed to distribute such things, the country will have to be under a state of emergency 365 days a year, he quipped.

Instead of extending the state of emergency, what the government should be focused on is amending the Disaster Management Act and creating a new Ministry for Disaster Management, the opposition leader said. Agencies such as the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) and the Department of Meteorology should be strengthened. “The officers in these agencies performed incredibly during the disaster, but the government failed to properly implement even the existing Disaster Management Act. They couldn’t even proclaim a disaster situation in the country using provisions under the Act,” Mr. Premadasa alleged.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Vijitha Herath reminded that it was the opposition which first insisted the government declare a state of emergency in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, though they seem to have forgotten this. The government declared a state of emergency after agreeing to their proposal, he noted.

“The reason we had to declare a state of emergency was that the existing Disaster Management Act was not strong enough to tackle a disaster of this scale. Those in the opposition also acknowledge this, which is why the opposition leader is also saying that the Act needs to be amended. He and other opposition representatives who attended the Disaster Management Council convened by the president also accepted that the Act needed to be amended. The Council itself had not been convened in seven years.”

The emergency was not imposed to distribute Rs. 25, 000 or Rs. 50, 000 for the disaster victims. It was imposed because the tri-forces, other relief services and government officers needed to be mobilised immediately to provide essential services, said the Foreign Minister, adding that the necessity continues to this day. “You too are saying certain things had still not been done sufficiently. This is one of the reasons why we continue to need emergency regulations; to get those things done,” said Mr. Herath. He claimed it was the state of emergency that enabled vehicles from the Colombo Municipal Council to be sent all the way to Gampola, whose local council is under opposition control, to help clear flood debris from Gampola town. Under normal law, vehicles of one local council cannot be sent to another council like that, he insisted.

Parliament will reconvene at 9.30am on February 17.