The Speaker of the House today warned the Minister of Health, who played in the well of the House an audio tape of a school principal from Minuwangoda denying that a student from his school brought coconut kernels for lunch.
The Minister was trying to convince the house that the child concerned, a prefect from a school in Minuwangoda, did not bring coconut kernels to school for lunch.
Using the Minister’s microphone in Parliament, Keheliya Rambukwella made an attempt to play the audio tape, which was said to be of the principal of the school in question.
The Speaker told Minister Keheliya Rambukwella that only parliamentarians could speak in the House.
Rambukwella, denying the newspaper story, said that it was a blatant lie. He very impulsively blamed the media and said that such an incident did not happen in the school, and the principal of the school told him that it did not take place and played the audio tape of the principal in Parliament.
Then the speaker immediately stopped it and said that only MPs can speak in parliament and that the minister’s action should be stopped immediately.
Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, who intervened said that since Minuwangoda is his electorate, he personally investigated the matter. When he asked concerned reporters, they failed to give a proper answer. He said that no such incident happened.
However, it was revealed that the school in the Minuwangoda education zone in which the incident took place is a school where children of poor parents receive their education.
