A damp squib with a smattering of mud
The UNP-sponsored debate in Parliament, on Thursday, based on a New York Times (NYT)-article in June, titled “How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port”, resulted in another damp squib, with the debate’s sponsors unable to cough up sufficient numbers to retain a Quorum in the House, to sustain the debate till the end of its scheduled time.
There were early signs when the debate began, it was not going to yield any new or useful information, given the large number of vacant seats in the Chamber. The debate also got off to a rather muddled start, with Kurunegala District MP Thushara Indunil Amarasena who moved the motion, unable to get across clearly why exactly a debate was being held, other than give a forum for both sides to wallow in the same allegations against each other.
The NYT article alleges that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was given more than US$ 7.6 million by the China Harbour Engineering Co. to fund his 2015 presidential election campaign. MP Amarasena said, “Accepting money from a foreign nation was a great betrayal. The very people who speak so highly of patriotism have accepted money from a foreign country to fund their elections,” he said.
He was backed by Minister of Highways Kabir Hashim who said the former regime was waiting to barter away the country’s sovereignty by accepting money for their personal use, but their plans were averted due to the election defeat. “They act like hermits but, in reality, they are men who go hunting on a Poya Day,” he said.
However, the allegations leveled at the former President were dismissed by Colombo District [(Joint Opposition Group (JOG)] MP Wimal Weerawansa who said these allegations have been publicised since 2015. “There were reports that the US State Department spent US$ 500 million to bring about regime changes in various countries including Sri Lanka.Why aren’t you investigating these. There were also reports in the Australian press, making allegations against the present President. Why weren’t these looked into?” he queried.
Neither the former President, his son Namal Rajapaksa nor Chamal Rajapaksa was present to answer the allegations leveled at them. Instead, it fell on the JOG MPs to come to their defense.
Chief Opposition Whip and JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayaka said that, when there were serious allegations leveled at the former President, he had a duty to be present in the Chamber to defend himself.
“I felt the former President would remain in the Chamber throughout the day the debate is being held but, on the contrary, neither he nor other members of his family are here. Similarly, his supporters in the JOG have tried to thwart this debate from the start,” he said.
Despite some upbeat speeches by UNP MPs and equally loud rebuttals of the allegations by the JOG MPs, the debate ended 45 minutes before the scheduled time.
By 6.45 pm there were less than 20 MPs in the Chamber, the number needed for a Quorum, and hence, the Quorum bells were rung to gather sufficient numbers.
Despite the bells sounding for a reasonable length of time, there were only 8 MPs in the Chamber. Without sufficient numbers, the presiding member adjourned the day’s sittings.
-Sunday Times-
Thank you for your blog post.Really thank you! Awesome.
Hello there! I simply want to offer you a big thumbs up for your excellent information you have
got here on this post. I am returning to your website for more soon.
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing
through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Nonetheless, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back
frequently!
I will immediately take hold of your rss feed as I can’t in finding your email
subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any?
Please permit me understand so that I may just subscribe.
Thanks.
They simply phone the author Shonda although she doesn’t seriously like being known as like that. The favourite interest for my youngsters and me is kayaking and now I’m trying to gain dollars with it. She is at present a credit history authoriser but quickly her partner and her will commence their personal enterprise. Indiana is her beginning place but her partner needs them to transfer.
I have to thank you for the efforts you have
put in penning this blog. I am hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well.
In fact, your creative writing abilities has
encouraged me to get my own blog now 😉
Wow, incredible blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is great,
as well as the content!
Having read this I thought it was really enlightening. I appreciate you spending
some time and energy to put this information together. I once again find myself spending a lot of time both reading and posting comments.
But so what, it was still worth it!
Hello, after reading this remarkable piece of writing
i am as well happy to share my familiarity here with friends.
This is a very good tip especially to those fresh to the blogosphere.
Brief but very accurate info… Thanks for sharing this one.
A must read post!
Hello There. I found your blog the use of msn. That is a really well
written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read extra of
your useful info. Thanks for the post. I will definitely
comeback.
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community.
Your website provided us with useful information to work on. You’ve done
a formidable job and our entire neighborhood can be thankful
to you.
Diamond sportsbook Poker – This is the location to be if you love taking part in poker on-line. Millions of bucks every day are bet on sporting events and horse racing from about the globe.
Outstanding post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic?I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more.Thank you!
Awesome write-up. I’m a regular visitor of your blog and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I’ll be a frequent visitor for a long time.
I was able to find good advice from your content.
I’m the co-founder of JustCBD Store company (justcbdstore.com) and am planning to grow my wholesale side of business. It would be great if someone at targetdomain can help me . I thought that the very best way to do this would be to connect to vape shops and cbd stores. I was really hoping if someone could suggest a reputable web-site where I can get CBD Shops Business Contact Details I am currently reviewing creativebeartech.com, theeliquidboutique.co.uk and wowitloveithaveit.com. Not sure which one would be the most suitable selection and would appreciate any assistance on this. Or would it be much simpler for me to scrape my own leads? Suggestions?
What i don’t understood is actually how you
are not actually much more well-favored than you might be now.
You are very intelligent. You realize therefore significantly on the subject of this matter, produced
me in my opinion believe it from so many varied angles.
Its like men and women aren’t involved until it is something to accomplish with Girl gaga!
Your personal stuffs outstanding. Always take care of it up!
hello there and thank you for your info I’ve definitely picked up something new
from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this
site, since I experienced to reload the website lots of times previous to
I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK?
Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances
times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if ads
and marketing with Adwords. Well I’m adding this RSS to my
email and could look out for a lot more of your respective fascinating content.
Ensure that you update this again very soon.
Thanks for finally writing about >Hire Joomla Developers Economically – AllCADSolutions <Liked it!
I like what you guys are usually up too. This sort of clever work and coverage!
Keep up the superb works guys I’ve added you
guys to blogroll.
https://putlockerstoworld.com
Hiya very nice web site!! Guy .. Excellent ..
Amazing .. I will bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally?
I am glad to seek out numerous helpful information here within the publish, we want work out more techniques in this regard, thank you for
sharing. . . . . .
What’s up to all, it’s truly a good for me to pay a quick visit this site, it contains useful Information.
Very nice article. I absolutely appreciate this site. Continue the good work!
I’m excited to find this website. I wanted to thank you for ones time due to this fantastic read!! I definitely appreciated every bit of it and I have you bookmarked to see new information on your blog.
If some one needs to be updated with latest technologies afterthat he must be pay a quick visit this web page and be up to date everyday.
I’m amazed, I have to admit. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s both equally educative and entertaining, and without a doubt, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something that not enough folks are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy I came across this in my hunt for something concerning this.
I absolutely love your blog.. Great colors & theme. Did you develop this site yourself? Please reply back as I’m wanting to create my very own site and would love to learn where you got this from or just what the theme is called. Kudos!
Next time I read a blog, Hopefully it does not fail me as much as this particular one. I mean, Yes, it was my choice to read through, but I really thought you would probably have something helpful to say. All I hear is a bunch of crying about something that you could possibly fix if you weren’t too busy looking for attention.
May I simply say what a comfort to find somebody that truly understands what they’re discussing over the internet. You actually understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important. A lot more people really need to look at this and understand this side of your story. I was surprised you aren’t more popular given that you certainly possess the gift.
This is a topic that is near to my heart… Best wishes! Where are your contact details though?
It’s in point of fact a nice and useful piece of info. I’m happy
that you just shared this helpful info with us.
Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, i think that i saw you visited my site thus i came to “return the favor”.I am attempting to find things to
improve my web site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your
ideas!!