• Claims that allegations made by Opp. MP’s are misleading, says no personal allocations have been made

 The Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana said that the allocation of decentralised funds to the Parliamentarians was a matter beyond his control.

Several Opposition MPs, including Chief Opposition Whip and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Lakshman Kiriella, recently raised concerns about the selective allocation of decentralised funds.

When contacted by The Daily Morning whether he would intervene to ensure the allocation of decentralised funds for all MPs, Abeywardana clarified that neither he nor the Parliament is involved in the matter. “This is something that is handled by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies. I can only ask the ministry regarding the situation.”

He further said that the claims made by Opposition MPs are misleading, emphasising that no personal allocations have been made to MPs. “Proposals have been called from the relevant development committees at the district level. Following that, financial allocations have been made, and the implementation of projects has been handed over to MPs. There have been no personal allocations to MPs,” he clarified.

Protesting against the Government’s alleged practice of providing decentralised funding only to selected Opposition MPs, Opposition MPs including Kiriella and Dayasiri Jayasekera urged Abeywardana to intervene to ensure that the relevant allocations are provided to every MP. Jayasekera also submitted a list of Opposition MPs who have recently received decentralised funding, to the Parliament. According to the list, which was shared with The Daily Morning by Jayasekara, a total sum of Rs. 1,206 million has been released to 19 Opposition MPs.