Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa should be jailed for life for paying the LTTE 2 million rupees to help him win the 2005 election, Regional Development Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has said.

Addressing the gathering at May Day rally held by the United National Party (UNP) at Campbell Park yesterday he further alleged that that the Meethotamulla garbage dump had only been 15 meters tall when Rajapaksa came to power, but was over 45 meters tall when it was given over to the present government.

He said the present government had only added three meters to the Meethotamulla garbage dump, adding that the Rajapakasas’ had no right to blame the present government for the tragedy that occurred on the Sinhala-Tamil new year.

The Field Marshal further said: “There was a ruler in our country. He was Labour Minister. While he was Labour Minister he made unending promises to the labourers. After that he became the Leader. But even after 10 years of leadership he was unable create a sound policy that would benefit the workers. So my humble request to the current Labour Minister is this; formulate a national policy for labourers without waiting till Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to be King,” he said.

“Even though we were the ‘wonder of Asia’, those accolades were of no use when the workers had no money in their hand,” the Field Marshall charged. “We live in a wonderful country, but the benefits of that wonder were not for us. Poor people could barely make enough to have their three meals. On the index measuring the happiest countries, Sri Lanka listed 155 out of 167 countries. The national airline was running at 124 billion loss.”

“People are now talking about the Treasury bond issue. They say the government was caused a loss of ten billion rupees. People are talking about it as if it is the end of the world. Everything we got for the war, he got on loans.  The Rajapaksas’ left the country in hunger but basked in the fruits of their gain. SAITM has become a problem – who started SAITM? Mahinda Rajapaksa. That same Rajapaksa is now walking around championing the anti-SAITM cause.”

“They went to build a port city. Tried to give the Chinese 100 acres of land. They signed agreements. According the agreements they signed, Sri Lankan aircraft could not fly over the 100 acres of land allotted to the Chinese. Mahinda Rajapaksa sent out some of his men in a boat from the Hambanthota Port. They reported to him that ships were going to and fro like buses on the Galle Road. Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to build a port in Hambanthota to attract the ships passing to and fro like buses. Now only frogs and animals living in the mud use the Hambanthota Port. He ruined the scenic beauty of Hambanthota with that port,” the Field Marshal charged.

“Even if Rajapaksa tried to rise again we will crush him to the ground the way we crushed him on January 8, 2015. He has now forgotten this.”