Parliamentary leaders who deceiving the Speaker

Samagi Jana Balawegaya Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahuman made a special disclosure in Parliament yesterday, raising a special issue regarding the alleged harassment of some female employees of the Information Systems and Management Department of Parliament by some of its heads.

Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne publicly stated that an investigation will be conducted into the incident after these facts were revealed.

Parliament sources say that the heads of the department, who were disturbed by this statement of the Speaker, have launched a fraudulent campaign to force signatures on a letter to inform the Speaker that such harassment will not occur to its employees. It is understood that the purpose of this is to deceive the Speaker. Informed sources said that another purpose of this fraudulent subterfuge is to save some of the heads from the humiliation caused by this incident.

The sources, who state that this signature document is to be handed over to the Speaker today or tomorrow, also revealed that another group of employees are preparing to request the Speaker not to fall for this trick. The heads of Parliament have already warned their heads regarding the harassment of women in the department. Despite this, the parliamentary employees point out that it is ridiculous to get such signatures stating that there was no such harassment.

In the past, many of the internal investigations conducted by the Parliament regarding its employees have ended without doing any justice to the victims. This was due to the pressure of certain heads. Therefore, the employees are urgently requesting the Speaker to conduct this investigation with the assistance of external investigators.

They also emphasize that if any decision is taken based on these false signatures, it will be a great injustice to the real victims. Since the truth is like this, the parliamentary employees who value justice continue to hope that the educated and intelligent Speaker will assign the investigation into this incident to an external investigation team.

Many people point out that what the leaders of Parliament should do at this time is to investigate the harassment that has occurred extensively and resolve it, rather than cover it up by making other excuses. This is because many in Parliament have been well aware of the harassment that some women in this department have been experiencing for some time.

(Sujith Mangala)