Let us commemorate the 139th International Workers’ Day in a year marked by progress and under a government that represents the will of the people, putting an end to a painful chapter in history where the working class endured hardship, sacrifice, and struggle marked by blood and sweat.

Marking a historic turning point, we celebrate the May Day for this year under a people’s government that rises against five years of oppression by the ruling class, overthrowing corrupted politics.

Amidst nepotism, and political favoritism that subjected the working force to injustice, year 2024 marks a year of courageous decisions, a determined effort to rebuild a nation that was dragged into an abyss, overturning the entire political culture.

As a people’s government, recognizing the true needs of the people, we are making great efforts to guide the distorted economic, political, social, cultural, and moral frameworks of the country back onto a natural path.

Although it is not possible to change the deeply rooted corruption and injustices of this country overnight, the government is systematically restructuring and implementing structural reforms to receive the needs of the people.

A systematic program has been set up to strengthen the economic forces of all working people, including those in the state, private, business, and labor sectors, while also preparing to empower the farming community, who are taking the lead in making the country self-sufficient in food.

This is a time when we must dedicate ourselves and unite to ensuring the security, independence, and rights of the people, while building a more stable and trustworthy future.

Let us work together, with unity and determination, to safeguard hard-won rights and rebuild the nation.

Harini Amarasuriya,
Prime Minister,
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
01st May 2025

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that, even if independent groups are formed and contested under different symbols, the people of this country will not grant them an opportunity unless the conduct, vision, and behavior of the opposition change.

The Prime Minister made these remarks on 30th April, addressing public gatherings held in Kalapaluwawa, Pothuarawa, Akuregoda, and Borallugoda.

Addressing the gatherings, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated:

We are about to face an election for the third time within six months. We are preparing to exercise our votes. Only six more days remain.

This is an opportunity for us to establish the necessary leadership at the rural level and to build the structures needed to implement the systematic programs of the government effectively.

You are well aware of the condition in which the country was entrusted to us. It was not merely an economic collapse but an institutional collapse at every level.

For a country to function properly, governance must be effective, and institutions must operate efficiently with the right individuals in place.

Pradeshiya sabhas are the institutions closest to your daily lives, and you are well aware of the circumstances surrounding them when receiving services.

In 2024, the corrupt political culture rejected by people has been pushed into a state where they can no longer contest under their original banners. Thus, many are now contesting as independent groups.

However, it is the same old faces, merely old wine in new bottles. They are attempting to return under different names and new symbols.

It is clear to us why they are scrambling in this manner. The opposition is facing a crisis of survival and is now attempting to forge a consensus solely to defeat NPP Malima.

The opposition has still not realized that the people have rejected their corrupt political camp. That is why individuals like Pillayan are being elevated as national heroes. If the opposition has not yet learned its lesson, the people will be forced to teach them one on the 6th.

We need a strong opposition. However, the people must deliver a clear message, so the opposition will understand that mere rebranding without change will not lead to victory.

No matter what independent groups are formed, unless their conduct, vision, and behavior are genuinely different, we are confident that the people will not grant them an opportunity.

The responsibility entrusted to us by the people in 2024, and the social contract formed between the people and us must now be taken one step further. Our candidates have come forward to do exactly that.

People across society have begun actively participating as citizens. While some of the shortcomings and areas for improvement remain, the most important fact is that the majority shares a common goal: to rebuild and develop this country.

Even if it requires personal sacrifice or hardships, we are prepared to act in service of the expectations of the people.

Previously, when children were admitted to schools, ministers or secretaries had the authority to issue letters for school admissions, often using that authority to place children in so-called ’popular’ schools. As a result, classes that were meant to have 45 students ended up with 50, 55, or even 60 students.

Can we ensure quality education under such circumstances? How can a teacher effectively teach a class of fifty students? Therefore, we have decided that under no circumstances, whether there are vacancies or otherwise, will the Ministry issue letters to fill them unless done through the proper procedures.

The government is committed to rectifying irregularities and ensuring justice for all. In the absence of proper procedures, some individuals exploited the system for personal gain.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further stated that it will take some time to remove past irregularities and to bring the system into a proper procedural framework.

The event was attended by Members of Parliament Dr. Kaushalya Ariyaratne and Asitha Niroshan, Kaduwela municipal Council candidate Ranjan Jayalal, and the residents of the area.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

There have been numerous discussions and dialogues successfully conducted across various sectors, but it is now crucial to move beyond conversation and focus on strengthening the implementation.

Such collaborative effort like GGGI initiates in leading Sri Lanka towards a resilient and sustainable finance.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while attending the Sri Lanka climate finance awareness session on advancing sustainable finance and carbon markets for climate action held today (30) at hotel Marriott Bonvoy in Colombo City Center.

The awareness session was organized by the Prime Minister’s Office with the collaboration of the ministry of Environment and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) to create awareness of Green finance strategies leading to new initiatives for sustainable Sri Lanka.

Delivering the keynote address, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that this session is intended to support the line ministries in better understanding how these financing mechanisms work and how they could be leveraged to implement the sustainable development priorities.

Addressing the event, the Prime Minister further stated:

Sri Lanka has developed and updated numerous environmental frameworks to address the growing challenge of climate change, that has become the current development challenge that continues to affect lives, livelihoods, and our overall trajectory as a nation.

In Sri Lanka, key sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, energy, tourism, and water are increasingly exposed to climate-related disruptions, threatening both livelihoods and macroeconomic stability. To prevent this trajectory, we must leverage a full spectrum of international climate finance instruments.

Sri Lanka has a solid policy foundation, political will, and the institutional capacity to lead on climate action. What we now need is the financial architecture to match this ambition. Hence, today’s session represents a step toward building shared awareness and technical capacity across the public sector.

The Prime Minister emphasized that while numerous discussions and dialogues have been successfully conducted across various sectors, it is now crucial to move beyond conversation and focus on concrete implementation highlighting that meaningful results can only be achieved when ideas and plans are translated into action, and urged all stakeholders and officers to prioritize execution to bring about the positive changes the country needs.

The event was attended by secretary to the Prime Minister, G. P. Saputhanthri, representatives from the central bank, representatives of Ministries and GGGI institute.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

ජාතික මට්ටමින් ටයිකෝට් ඇදගෙන කළ හොරකම් ප්‍රාදේශිය සභා මට්ටමින් එළිපිට සිදුකළ බවත් ඉදිරියට එවැන්නක් සිදුවීමට ඉඩ නොතබන බවත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය හරිනි අමරසූරිය පැවසුවාය.

හොරණ සහ බුලත්සිංහල ප්‍රදේශවල පැවති ජනහමු අමතමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරිය මේ බව පැවසීය.

මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක් වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය හරිනි අමරසූරිය,

දැන් ජනාධිපති ධූරයත් තියෙනවා, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දැවැන්ත බලයක් තියෙනවා, තව මොනවද ඕන රට හදන්නේ කියලා ඔබට හිතෙනවා ඇති.

හැබැයි ඔබ සියලු දෙනාම පිළිගන්නවා ඇති ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවකින් විය යුතු වැඩක් තියෙනවා. කළ යුතු සේවාවක් තියනවා.

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය කියන එක පවතින්නේ තමන් පත් කරගත්ත මහජන නියෝජිතයින් හරහා සිද්ධවෙන වැඩ තුළින්, ගමට සමීපතම නියෝජිතයා ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ තමයි ඉන්නේ. ඔබේ එදිනෙදා ජීවිතය පහසු කරන බොහෝ කටයුතුවලට වගකියන්න ඕනේ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාව.

ජාතික මට්ටමින් ටයිකෝට් ඇදගෙන හොරකම් කළා. පලාත්පාලන ආයතන ටයි කෝට් නොමැතිව අමු අමුවේ හොරකම් කළා.ඒකනේ මෙතෙක් සිද්ධ වුණේ. ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා කියන ඒවා මිනිස්සුන්ට සත පහකට වැඩක් වුනේ නැහැ. ඒක තමා ඇත්ත කතාව. යළි එහෙම වෙන්න අපි ඉඩතියන්නේ නැහැ.

දරුවෙක් පිළිසිඳ ගත්ත මොහොතේ සිටම ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවට වැඩ තියෙනවා, මාතෘ සායන පවත්වන්න ඕන, දරුවා එන්නත් කරන්න ඕන, ඉපදුණායින් පස්සේ දරුවන්ගේ සෞඛ්‍යයට වග කියන්න ඕන, මව්වරුන්ගේ සෞඛ්‍යයට වග කියන්න ඕන, දරුවන්ගේ මව්වරුන්ගේ පෝෂණ තත්ත්වයට වග කියන්න ඕන. පෙර පාසැල් දිවාසුරුකුම් පවත්වාගෙන යන්න ඕන, ප්‍රාථමික අධ්‍යාපනය, ද්විතීක අධ්‍යාපනය, දරුවන්ට අවශ්‍ය ගමේ සේවාවන් පුස්තකාල, රංගශාලා, තරුණ සංගම්, තරුණ සමිති, තරුණ තරුණියන්ට සෞඛ්‍ය වර්ධනය, අමතර පන්ති පැවැත්වීම කරන්න ඕන.

වැඩිහිටියන්, කාන්තාවන්, ව්‍යවසායකයින් වෙනුවෙන් කරන්න වැඩකොටසක් තියනවා. අන්තිමට සොහොනට යනකොට ඒකත් ගෞරවාන්විත විදිහට යන්න පුලුවන් විදිහට හදන ඒකත් ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ වගකීම.

මේ සියල්ලට මැදිහත් වෙන්න ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවට විශාල බලයක් ඇති බවත්, එළඹෙණ මැයි හය වන දින හොරුන්ගෙන් ප්‍රාදේශිය සභාව බේරා ගැනීමට ඉදිරියට එන ලෙසත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය හරිනි අමරසූරිය පැවසුවාය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන නිහාල් අබේසිංහ, ඔෂානි උමංගා, නන්දන පද්ම කුමාර යන මහත්ම මහත්මීන් ඇතුළු විශාල පිරිසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

Speaking at the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Amarapura Ariyavansa Saddhamma Yukthika Nikaya, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya humbly requested.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that there is a contemporary need to develop the Pirivena and Bhikkhu education and that the government is seeking the revered guidance of Maha Sangha in that cause.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Amarapura Ariyavansa Saddhamma Yukthika Nikaya today (29) at the Sri Subodhi Rajarama Mulasthana Maha Vihara in Bombuwala, Kalutara.

During the event, the Prime Minister honored sixty-three venerable members of the Maha Sangha who had rendered their noble service to the Sasana and also conferred awards upon several distinguished lay benefactors in recognition of their contributions.

Addressing the keynote speech, the Prime Minister further stated:

There has always been a strong bond between Buddhism and society throughout the history. Culture and social relations have been built alongside the Buddhist philosophy. The society we seek to establish as a nation must embody the Buddhist values of fairness, equality, and compassion. These virtues, as taught in the Buddhist philosophy, are ever relevant and alive.

Piriven and Bhikkhu education are currently facing numerous challenges, and considerable efforts are needed to address them. Thereby a substantial and concerted intervention is required.

A pertinent question arises as whether our Pirivena institutions adequately preparing for the evolving needs of the world? There was once a belief in Europe that, with scientific advancement, religion would become redundant. Today, this view has been discredited. Along with material progress, spiritual development remains indispensable.

The knowledge, attitudes, and skills of our Bhikkhus must be enhanced to meet the emerging global challenges. A profound discussion on necessary reforms in Piriven and Bhikkhu education is therefore imperative.

Opportunities for Bhikkhus to study subjects such as mathematics, science, and modern languages are currently limited. Without exposure to contemporary disciplines, it is questionable whether one can successfully confront present-day challenges.

The event, held under the patronage of the Venerable Egodamulle Amaramoli Mahanayake Thera, the Chief incumbent of the Amarapura Ariyavansa Saddhamma Yukthika Nikaya, was attended by members of the Maha Sangha, Minister of Mass Media and Health Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa, several Members of Parliament, and numerous lay devotees.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Let us all unite and transform our city into the most beautiful city. Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the NPP unites everyone without any discrimination to achieve one objective in mind.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing public gatherings held on April 28 in Dematagoda, Kotahena, Maradana, and Kompannaveediya in the Colombo District.

Addressing the gatherings, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further stated:

The annual revenue of the Colombo Municipal Council is Rs. 30 billion. Colombo possesses a wealthy municipal council so the municipal council is possessed by everything they need. Hence, how much could these areas be developed by the municipal council? But they do not have empathy for the people; nor a genuine desire to uplift the lives of citizens. Despite our criticism, nothing substantial happens. The first image that comes to mind when referring to the Colombo municipal council is that of a den of corruption, an institution where funds are squandered and no meaningful work is accomplished. This image must change. In 2024, the people of this country commenced a journey to transform the nation. They made two historic decisions at the Presidential and Parliamentary elections to change the course of our country’s history. As a result, we now have a government that represents all citizens, a government that echoes the voices and addresses the needs of every one of you.

You may recall that elections were initially due in 2023. At that time, we proposed to start rebuilding the nation from the grassroots. However, as the National People’s Power was gaining momentum, what did Ranil Wickremesinghe do? He cancelled the elections. We had to resort to legal action to secure our right to vote. It was through these legal battles that we were able to protect our democratic rights and ensure the Provincial Council Elections, albeit delayed by two years. Let us now take the historic journey that began in 2024 forward to the Municipal Councils.

Our opponents say many things about us, but they cannot accuse us of corruption. We safeguard public funds. Since the day president Anura Kumara was elected, we have demonstrated how a government should be run.

When we look at the situation, there is no doubt that on May 6, the National People’s Power will secure victory in the Colombo city. Our sister, Vraie Cally Balthazaar, is poised to become the next Mayor in Colombo municipal council. You will have a Mayor who is accessible to you, who you can easily approach and speak with, accompanied by a highly capable team. She has a strong desire to develop and beautify this city so that we can all take pride in it.

I know that all of you have dreams, and the children here dream of a bright future. We must reform our education system. Just as we have taken responsibility for preschools through the Municipal Council, we are making great efforts at the national level to rebuild the education system.

We aspire to create schools where every child will genuinely enjoy attending, schools that do not burden children or their parents. Education should not merely be confined to textbooks and exams, it should open the world to our children and broaden their horizons.

Colombo is a truly special place, and this area holds even greater uniqueness. As I travelled here, I passed a beautiful kovil, saw a Buddha statue in front, and a statue of Mary nearby. The church is not far either. This diversity enriches us. Although concentrated in a small area, the understanding and empathy fostered among communities is remarkable. Even in the nearby shops, one can find diverse and delicious cuisines.

When we talk about tourism, this is what international visitors should experience. They should be able to witness and enjoy this rich diversity. These attractions must be preserved and presented in an appealing manner. Colombo must not only be known for its five-star hotels, but also as a city rich in culture, beauty, and diversity. We must showcase this to the world.

Through the new education reforms, you have entrusted us with great power to fulfil all our promises. The reason why we gained this mandate is to fulfill and implement the agreements, discussions, and social contracts and that the very foundations on we are committed to implementing them with dedication. In achieving this process we expect your support in establishing a transparent and clean municipal council.

Through the first budget we approved in March this year, we have allocated funds for preschools, road construction, water management, waste management, and drainage systems. These allocations address issues that have long affected your daily lives. These funds were gathered through significant sacrifices, for the benefit of the people. We cannot allow them to fall into the hands of the corrupt. Hence, we need to clean up the Municipal Council.We have much more work to do. It has only been six months since we assumed office, and much remains to be done. While we have stabilized the economy, the next step is to achieve economic growth. We have allocated funds to facilitate business opportunities, promote self-employment, especially for women and youth, and develop community facilities. We are confident that these initiatives can be successfully implemented. Therefore, we urge you to elect and appoint a skilled team to the Municipal Council to continue this transformative journey.

The event was attended by Parliamentarian and Attorney-at-Law Lakmali Hemachandra, Hemanta Wijekoon, Colombo Mayoral Candidate Vraie Cally Balthazaar, and other candidates.

Prime Minister’s Media Division