President Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged all persons to unite and fulfill their moral responsibility towards the country, while assuring that he has not forgotten the predicament suffered by the people over the last few months.

Speaking at the progress review meeting of the food security district program held at the Nuwara Eliya Town Hall this morning (22 Dec.), Wickremesinghe stated that everyone should step out of ‘traditional politics’ and join hands to fulfill their moral responsibility towards the country.

Referring to ‘traditional politics’, Wickremesinghe sidelined the traditional political system of trying to grab power at the next election by palming off all the responsibilities on the government.

The President also said that he has not forgotten the difficulties the people are facing today due to the increase in the prices of goods as a result of inflation, and that he will solve the country’s economic problems step by step and provide more relief to the people by next year.

“I have never been involved in politics since becoming President. Talking to everyone, representing everyone, I am trying to save the suffering people from this crisis. We should provide relief to all these people living in plantations, villages and cities. Regardless of political differences, we will work together for this purpose. However, some people still think in a traditional way. They think that if all the responsibilities are assigned to the government, they will be able to grab power at the next election. It doesn’t work. Today people are not only blaming the government, they accuse the entire Parliament. The people are fed up with the political system. We are all responsible for this situation after 75 years”, he said, emphasizing that the people today have rejected not one group but the entire political system.

Thus, Wickremesinghe requested all persons to cast aside political differences and join hands in order to make the food security program a success.

He assured that they intend on continuing the Food Security Programme throughout 2023, adding that a food crisis too, will be likely owing to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“Recently, I received a report on the relief that we are to be provided with from the World Food Programme. I hope we will get help from other countries as well”, he stated.

President Wickremesinghe also assured that while the programme is currently functioning at a village-level, a joint mechanism is also being established at the regional level for all these activities. 

Efforts are also being made to involve non-governmental sectors in this regard, Wickremesinghe assured.