A commotion broke out in Parliament on Thursday after Minister of Environment Dhammika Patabendi said Opposition MP Hector Appuharmy was out of his mind, the Daily Mirror reported.
Opposition MPs rose in protest against the Minister, and Deputy Speaker Rizwy Salih, who was in the chair, advised him not to make defamatory statements.
Leader of the House Bimal Ratnayake then intervened, asking the Deputy Speaker not to allow MPs to raise unnecessary supplementary questions during oral question time.
What the exchange turns on
The Leader of the House’s response reframes the dispute from the Minister’s language to the conduct of question time itself. Supplementary questions are the follow-ups an MP may put after a minister answers a tabled oral question, and the Chair decides which are admitted. A request to curtail them is a request to narrow the Opposition’s principal device for pressing a minister in the chamber — which is why it drew the protest it did.
The exchange took place during a sitting that was already contentious. Parliament was scheduled the same day to debate and pass the Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Bill, while opposition MPs were signing a no-confidence motion against Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne at the Opposition Leader’s office in the same building.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror’s filing does not say what question or subject was under discussion when the remark was made, what Appuharmy had said beforehand, or whether the Minister withdrew the remark. It does not record whether the words were expunged from Hansard, whether the Deputy Speaker made any ruling beyond his advice to the Minister, or how long the sitting was disrupted. No response from Appuharmy, from Patabendi or from the Speaker’s office appears in the filing, and this desk found no second verified newsroom carrying the exchange.
Sources: Daily Mirror.
