In a candid appeal to the public, Minister Samanna Vidyarathna acknowledged the limitations of his party’s time in power, urging the electorate to grant them another mandate to continue what he described as an uphill rebuilding process. Speaking at a National People’s Power (NPP) election campaign rally, Vidyarathna made it clear: the task ahead is too great to complete in just a few months.
“We can’t change everything in four months,” he told the crowd, underscoring the scale of the challenge inherited by the government. “Last time, we were given five years. This time, we haven’t even had one full year. That’s not enough to fix what was broken.”
According to Vidyarathna, the government didn’t inherit a functioning country—it inherited a mess. “If the country we took over was stable, built, and in order, things would be different. But we’re trying to construct something meaningful from chaos.”
He noted that while reforms are underway, they’re being rolled out with care, including financial concessions and targeted relief for the people. “We’re not just building blindly—we’re balancing recovery with compassion,” he said. “And that takes time.”
The message was as much a defense of his party’s performance as it was a rallying cry for continuity. “If you want real change, meaningful progress, then the direction we’ve taken must continue. That means giving us this next election as well.”
For Vidyarathna and the NPP, the path forward isn’t about instant transformation—it’s about sustained momentum. And as the next election approaches, his appeal is clear: judge us not by how quickly we’ve worked, but by the direction in which we’re moving.
