The recently concluded Local Government Elections delivered a massive victory to the United National Party (UNP) in Colombo, and as a result UNP Mayor-elect Rosy Senanayake will become the first female Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).
In an interview with the Daily News, Senanayake explained her comprehensive plans to turn Colombo into a smart and efficient city.
In the meantime Senanayake, speaking about the current political situation, urged the government, all political parties and citizens of Sri Lanka to recognize that the way forward was to work for the betterment of the country.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
Q: How do you take the criticisms that are being levelled against the government?
A: I was so engrossed with the elections. We began campaigning long before the nominations were given. It was a tedious and gruelling experience to arrange a campaign and contest at the election. Our attention was fully on winning the election. We succeeded in that and the UNP won comfortably in Colombo. It was massive victory, which we have never had in the last 17 years.
This time, when compared to the last local elections, the UNP has done brilliantly around the country. For, in 2011 we lost practically every institution except for the Colombo Municipality, which is our stronghold. The Colombo Municipal Council is undefeatable.
But we have done very well in other parts of the country and our percentage has gone up in most councils. And we will also be able to form most councils together with the SLFP and UPFA. I am glad that we have done better.
Q: What is your personal opinion about the current political situation?
 Pictures by Sarath Peiris |
A: In spite of the UNP winning comfortably in most parts of the country and doing better than in the 2011 elections, some people are trying to spin their defeat on us. This was also the hype created by some media institutions. I felt that this was thoroughly unnecessary, because you should not compare national politics with local politics. Local politics gives you a good understanding of the prevailing situation and the mindset of the people.
It can also be a warning to up your game and fulfil your promises. But you do not take drastic measures and destabilize the government or make utterances that would destabilize the central government because of it. It was just a waste of two weeks.
It was a clear plan to spin it on the UNP and say that we have done badly in the past three years. The whole country was very upset and then there was a debate; people made remarks to destabilize the government for petty political or personal gain. I am saddened to see how certain people are making it an issue.
I am glad that everything is said and done and over. I would like to see the central government move forward to fulfil the promises that have been given to the people.
Q: So you take this whole change in the Cabinet and elsewhere in a positive manner?
A: All this talk about instability in the government has gone away. These things are only for two weeks. I take it in a very positive way and the election results were a signal to say that the government could have done things better. Fulfilling the promises, that’s where we failed.
I realized it very clearly when I went from house to house. Many people were trying to abstain from voting and finally agreed to vote because of me; it was a lot of hard work convincing them. This was because the government failed to fulfil the major promises it gave in 2015. That gave me the knowledge that people were unhappy about the progress we have made so far. There were also other issues like corruption. It had an impact.
It is not easy for a government to come in and deal with so many issues. So the Prime Minister had a tough task in sorting out all the problems and finding solutions. It takes time and people sometimes expect things to happen overnight. I must also say that fertilizer and cost of living also had a huge bearing. It was a good lesson for us to know the expectations of the public.
I am hoping there will be a positive change. One can live in hope that things will be better. I strongly believe in the President and the Prime Minister - that they will deliver.
Q: Do you not think that confusion in national politics would have an impact on the progress of local government bodies?
A: I am not so sure if it has such an impact. If you take the Colombo Municipality, the council serves people on their day-to-day needs - from garbage disposal, street lighting, health issues and beautification of the city to environmental issues and hygiene.
Under the theme Ape Colombo, we have initiated a 10-year development plan for Colombo. Physical development with regard to sewage disposal - which would engage in an enormous amount of finance. And we need to do it together with the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development - in line with the ministries and agencies of the central government.
When talking about 50,000 houses for underserved settlements in Colombo, these projects will be undertaken either through public- private partnerships or with the central government.
So the central government needs to fulfil some of their commitments and they need the local government’s support and the local government needs the support of central government to tap into major projects.
Q: There is a view that since the previous regime, all maintenance and development activities in Colombo have been stalled and not maintained properly. How do you see those allegations?
A: It is not only about the maintenance and condition of the roads. It’s all about beautification of the city. After Meethotamulla occurred and the municipality had no place to dump garbage. That’s when this came about.
If people are talking about how beautiful the city was under the former government, I would like to say that I am also for beautification. But you do not beautify a city at the cost of people having to lay their lives down for it. The then government did not understand that garbage was an important factor. They totally forgot that garbage has different functions that you can put to use.
Just to make Colombo beautiful, they went and dumped the garbage in Meethotamulla and used their power to do everything they wanted. Then we faced the major disaster. And the present government has to face the consequences.
There were absolutely no future plans for garbage and other projects. We have got the ball rolling. We educated the public on garbage segregation and everyone knows how it works now.
Our intention is not to superficially beautify Colombo, but to bring a lasting and sustainable solution to the issues which the previous government failed to do.
Q: What do you think of the significance of being appointed as the first female mayor?
A: More than my being the first female mayor, I am very excited about the 25 percent quota for females. We have created history in bringing in 25 percent of women to the political arena even though it is at the local council level. So I am hoping to see this at the provincial and the national level. This is historic because there were more than 25 percent nominees in the list and now it is a matter of getting the 25 percent women into the councils. And I do not see any reason as to why this delay and debate on whether or not to implement the quota exists. Because the Act is very clear about 25 percent women.
I must say Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya acted in good faith when he called for nominations. But now I do not understand what the stumbling block in implementing it is. These women on the list worked at the grassroots to make those ward members win.
The Elections Commissioner has the right to instruct the party leaders to appoint women. The party is reluctant to agree with the quota and they want to bring in their defeated men into councils.
One thing we have to understand is, these 8,700 new people are going into councils and the 25 percent quota was placed to accommodate the women. The reason why there is 40 percent on the list is to accommodate 25 percent women. Otherwise the composition would have been different.
So are we going to fill those 25 percent with men? No, that can never happen. I am totally against it and I have written to the Elections Commission as well. The women also should stand up for their rights. They should not just let this go.
Q: You won the Provincial Councils elections and then the Parliamentary elections and now the CMC. How do you feel about it?
A: I am yet to go to the Council. It is not about where you are, as long as you are serving the people. I know for a fact that the CMC is not like being in Parliament. This is a huge responsibility. This is dealing with the financial capital of the country.
I will have to deal with 1.2 million people on a daily basis. It is like a mini government with a budget of Rs 15 billion. Keeping the city beautiful, safe, clean, efficient and smart is our goal.
We also plan to streamline all the apartments and give better facilities to residents; digitizing the functions and making the services easier and smart is our goal.
Q: What are your immediate initiatives as mayor of Colombo?
A: We have taken a few steps. We have offered a 10-year development plan. Colombo has developed well, but it also needs to be maintained well. Condominiums and buildings have mushroomed everywhere. In the meantime, the population is also increasing. The water pipes and sewage are archaic and need to be changed.
There are major projects similar to that and it will be done with the central government. It will be done in different phases. Housing plans also have been made. In the past 25 years, since the demise of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, no proper housing projects were implemented in the country. People living under the Colombo Municipality have problems regarding sanitation, clean drinking water, housing and toilet facilities; we need to improve all of that. There are some projects that we can start straight away like community centres and digitizing services.
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