Ali Sabry apologises to people

Former Minister Ali Sabry yesterday (April 07) in Parliament apologised to people for his contribution to their suffering.

“We know that people are under tremendous pressure due to various crises. There are many shortages and it is reasonable that people are joining in protests. Their protests have a just reason. Until a few days back, I was a member of the Cabinet and we all should take responsibility for the prevailing situation. I may not be the person who should take the entire responsibility for the crisis. We all had a collective responsibility as members of the cabinet. I accept that as one of the members of that cabinet I too must take responsibility for my contribution to this situation. Therefore I apologise to the people for what has happened.

“There is no use of blaming the former governments for their contribution for this mess. Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella said that there had been 7.5 billion dollar reserves when they handed over power to us. That is true. It is also true that the former government borrowed 12.7 worth loans through international sovereign bonds. There is a huge question on what they did with that money. Those loans have matured and we have to settle them. Likewise, we are in the present crisis as a result of the sum of all what the governments of the past did and did not. I am not here to blame anyone. I agree with former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for stating that if we go on with the blame game then we would go upto the arrival of Prince Vijaya. That does not mean that we are running away from responsibility by citing past mistakes. I accept the responsibility for what I did and part of this government’s failure to provide to people is mine too.

“We must find solutions to stop the suffering of people. If you have a proposal to bring more dollars, make it now, rather than calling for the government to step down. Suppose you send us home, will you find solutions then? Will you be able to bring dollars? Will you be able to give gas and electricity to people? Will you be able to provide fuel? Even if we are able to provide continuous fuel to the power plants throughout the year, there would be four hour power cuts if the hydropower generation is hampered by rain shortage. Will there be rain if the government resigns,” he queried.

(Source: The Island – By Saman Indrajith)