Close to 110 members of the 2015 Parliament were in possession of bar licences, including ethanol and other businesses, former Chairman of the National Youth Services Council Eranda Weliange revealed.
Weliange mentioned this during an interview with Hari TV, when commenting on the public’s call to elect new members to Parliament.
“Out of the 225 members of the 2015 Parliament, it was reported that 69 MPs were close to 70 years of age, 96 MPs had failed the Ordinary Level Examination, 126 MPs had failed their Advanced Level examination and close to 110 owned bar licences, including for ethanol and other businesses. These reasons have caused concern among the public, prompting a few groups to call for new members to be elected to the new Parliament ”, he said.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya member said the people had an issue with the members of the old parliament due to these reasons, adding that they did not have issues with one certain political party, but concerns were raised with regard to members from all political parties.
“This was one of the main reasons for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a person who was not a member of Parliament, Provincial Council or Local Government Body previously, to be elected to power in 2019.” he said.
Eranda Weliange further said there is a niche group among the public who affect the political outcome of the country.
“There are around between 3-4 million people from our population who go beyond their political preferences and work for the development of the country. These people were instrumental in the change of Government that occurred in 2015 and 2019. I believe the reason for the change of Governments was due to a decrease in the number of loyal voters of political parties.’ he added.
(Newswire)
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