Govt. shouldn’t sign pact with MCC before prez poll - Mahinda

Leader of Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa has stressed that the government should not sign the pact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the USA behind the backs of the general public and the Parliament.

He quoted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as saying that the government intends signing this agreement before the presidential election.

Issuing a media release today (31), Rajapaksa said no agreement should be hurriedly signed with a foreign government just days before a decisive presidential election, however, the Cabinet has decided to enter into a pact with the MCC before the upcoming election.

“Any such agreement should be signed, if at all, only after the presidential election,” Rajapaksa emphasized in his statement.

“The contents of this proposed agreement are not known even to parliamentarians let alone the general public. Before this agreement is signed, its text should be made public, and presented to Parliament and debated,” he added.

The information available indicates that this agreement has to do with road development and land reform, the statement continued.

However, the government has not taken any steps to explain what exactly this entails and what its impact will be on the country, Rajapaksa pointed out while raising questions on the benefits this agreement can bring to Sri Lanka and the reasons for everything regarding the pact being shrouded in secrecy.