Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody, who initially claimed that a monkey was responsible for the nationwide power outage, later shifted his stance, blaming the failures of previous governments for the collapse of the national grid.
In the morning, the minister stated that the power failure was caused by a monkey interfering with a transformer at the Panadura grid substation. However, by the evening, he issued a new statement, attributing the blackout to short-sighted policies and mismanagement by previous administrations.
According to Jayakody, successive governments failed to implement necessary reforms and infrastructure upgrades to stabilize the national electricity grid, making it vulnerable to failures. He claimed that the lack of long-term planning and investment in energy security was a major reason for the grid instability that led to the complete system collapse.
His contradictory explanations have sparked public skepticism, with many questioning whether the real cause of the blackout is being covered up. The absence of a clear, technical report from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has only fueled speculation and confusion regarding the actual reasons behind the power failure.
