• PHU calls for all party committee to be established for oversight

The Leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) and Opposition Parliamentarian, Attorney Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (3) said that the PHU will support the privatisation of State owned enterprises (SOEs) under five conditions.

Speaking at a media briefing held in Colombo, he said that most of the SOEs have become corrupt and ineffective as a result of political interventions. "The experience of the last 75 years is that public enterprises have become a burden to the people due to reasons such as politicisation, corruption and inefficiency. I have worked as a Minister, an Advisor and a Chairman. From the Minister to the worker, everyone is looking at what they can get from the institution, and not at what they can give to the institution. But, in private institutions, everyone thinks of it as their own place and the development of the company as their own development," he said.

He also said that skillful people lack opportunities in promotions within a public institution as the Government is biassed towards workers who support them.

He also noted that they would support the Government's decision to privatise SOEs that are at a loss, only if they agree with the conditions of the PHU proposal. "A common accusation levelled during the three eras of privatisation, i.e the Premadasa (a reference to late President Ranasinghe Premadasa) era of 1989-1993, the Kumaratunga (a reference to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga) era of 1994-2001 and the Wickremesinghe era (a reference to President Ranil Wickremesinghe when he was the former Prime Minister) of 2001-2004, was that the privatisation process was extremely fraudulent, specifically that they allegedly took huge commissions and transferred State resources for foreign companies. Therefore, privatisation should be done with utmost transparency. An all party committee should be set up in the Parliament to oversee the privatisation process. Before privatising a SOE, an assessment report on the real value of the company should be submitted to that committee. Also, once the privatisation is done, an audit report should be submitted to that committee. The Government should not be able to privatise any institution without the approval of the said committee," he opined.

Gammanpila also said that there should be proper regulation in order to prevent the emergence of a market that exploits the people as a result of privatisation and also that privatisation should not take place in such a way that these institutions fall into the hands of the enemies of the motherland. "In order to prevent private sector bargains and the SOEs which are needed to face national emergencies being privatised, new entrepreneurs should be given the opportunity and a fully competitive market should be provided. Strategically important institutions should however be kept under the Government," he proposed.

He also emphasised that the Government must take necessary steps to make this restructuring process more transparent and should not allow history to repeat itself as what happened during previous Governments.