Government tells parliament it will not honour any agreement detrimental to country

Dinesh Gunawardena

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government would not continue with any agreement that was detrimental to the country, Foreign Relations and Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations Minister and Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena said in Parliament yesterday.

Gunawardena said so in response to a special statement made by JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who asked whether the government would continue with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact.

Minister Gunawardena said that the Cabinet of the former UNP government had approved the MCC agreement, which the then Opposition opposed.

The UNF administration had undertaken to sign the agreement after the last presidential election.

Gunawardena said that the government had appointed a committee on December 18, 2019 under the Chairmanship of Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan to study the MCC agreement. Dr. D.S. Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Nihal Jayawardena and Nalaka Jayaweera are the other committee members. Gunawardena said that the committee had been given four months to study the matter and submit its report, which would be presented to Parliament.

MP Dissanayake said that there was a rumour that the government would ink the MCC agreement.

Dissanayake asked if the government had appointed a commission to study the clauses of the MCC agreement. He asked who was the chairman and the members of the Commission were. He also queried whether the government had set a deadline for the report to be submitted by the committee.

(Source: The Island – By Saman Indrajith)