Providing a clarification with regard to a video of him recently leaked online, Minister of Housing and Construction Sajith Premadasa says that there is an unemployment issue in Hambantota and that he was merely addressing the problem and providing solutions.

The leaked video shows the minister ordering his staff to write letters of recommendations to other ministries, while also instructing his staff to give labour and security jobs for people based on their height.

The video instantly went viral, especially on social media websites such as Facebook, while it has also been the inspiration for many memes and posts on social media. 

“To all those who are assassinating my character and attempting to malign my name all I can say is I love you all from the bottom of my heart...keep on insulting,” Premadasa wrote on Facebook, in response to certain comments criticizing him over the video. 

The minister said he was “speaking facts not fiction” and that there is a “huge unemployment issue” in Hambantota in spite of the port and airport projects which have “failed to generate jobs.”

“I got a few job opportunities in the private sector and those employers insist that security personnel have to possess a reasonable height but the labour grade do not specify such a stipulation,” he clarified. 

Premadasa said that this is what he was explaining and that this is the truth and as usual many want to “make a mountain out of a mole hill”.

“As such I was merely addressing the problem and providing solutions without wasting everyone’s time,” he wrote.