Port and Shipping Minister rejects claims that Prime Minister ordered to dismiss Hambantota Port workers
Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 09:55 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 10, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Minister of Ports and Shipping Arjuna Ranatunga has denied claims made by parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered to dismiss a group of employees of the Hambantota Harbor.
"Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa has made a statement to the media by quoting my name that the Prime Minister has instructed to dismiss employees serving at the Hambantota Port. I totally refuse this statement. Prime minister didn't make such advice," Minister Rantunga said.
Addressing a media conference, the Minister said this administration didn't dismiss the 582 workers who took part in the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's election campaign nor the 200 employees who were recruited by Namal Rajapaksa for Rs 10000 monthly salary.
Minister Ranatunga stressed that the President or the Prime Minister never advised his ministry to take a decision to dismiss the Hambanthota Port employees.
The Minister also called for a formal investigation into the amount of debt taken to construct the Hambanthota Harbor since there seems to be discrepancy in the figures claimed by MP Namal Rajapaksa and official records.
According to the government records a total debt of USD 1.347 billion was taken on Hambanthota while MP Rajapaksa claims a debt of USD 400 million.
The Minister said MP Namal Rajapaksa is unaware of a debt of around USD 1 billion and urged the President and the Prime Minister to launch a formal investigation and look into where the money was utilized during the previous United People's Freedom Alliance government.
"Where is this money? Perhaps may be in China. We saw, the former president visiting the Chinese Company which signed the agreement for this project," he said.
Speaking further, Minister Ranatunga assured that during the procedure of assigning Hambantota Port to the Chinese company the government will take actions to secure jobs of the workers.
"When we were preparing the agreement with the Chinese company our first concern was to secure jobs of the employees," Minister Ranatunga said pointing out that the previous government of Mahinda Rajapaksa did not recruit the Hambantota Port employees to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).
He noted that the Hambantota Port employees were recruited in to a company named Magampura formed by the former government and the employees were engaged in political activities of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Namal Rajapaksa for three years without giving them permanent employment at SLPA.
"I made those workers permanent in their jobs. Now we are working to recruit these employees to the new company which is being formed. But an organized group of people are attempting to make these employees helpless. If these workers continue this protest that is being monitored by this organized group, I can't assure the permanency in their jobs," the Port and Shipping Minister said.
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