A Zoo – the latest craze and other miseries

Cassandra scrabbles around for mishaps and mistakes, of the Mighty of course, for her Friday Cry and ruminates like a true female bovine for scraps of gossip starting Sunday. Strangely this Sunday she fished out nothing. There was much about Pandora and the papers that flew out of the box of investigative journos, but Cass decided not to touch these, too hot and far too close to a pretend royal family for an unprotected woman to look into, least of all, comment on. Then viola! Serendipity! Ooh la la! The editor of The Island, on Monday, October 18, inadvertently threw a morsel in her way: “A move to set up a zoo on a 72-acre land (in Piliyandala)…” And who pray is the Zoo Enthusiast, cruel to animals, behind it? Minister of Power, Gamini Lokuge who, the Ed implies, fits into Bob Hope’s definition of senile: “when candles cost more than the birthday cake,” and Cassandra says outright: Should have retired to anonymity, more probably ignominy, many years ago. Wasn’t this minister the one that defied COVID-19 restrictions and wanted open sesame for his electorate to go where they pleased, as they liked, when the entirety of Sri Lanka was locked down? Resembles another costly candle buyer, ex-tuition master, Bandula Goonewardena, who wanted a cricket stadium built in Piliyandala or thereabouts notwithstanding the many Colombo boasts of, and Moratuwa too.

These Ministers of the government who come up with these ‘brilliant’, read absolutely haywire but personal money making or vote catching, projects should have their heads examined. Free Sri Lanka is on its knees or on its last legs economically so how would it spend on such completely unnecessary projects. The land in Piliyandala was earmarked for a veterinary hospital and factory to turn out food for existing zoos. No, the ‘Big House’ man decided to imprison animals and not cure them. Cass suggests we set environment protector Devani on Lokuge. She will crush the bod using only her knowledge of nature matters, experience as ecosystem protector, womanly wisdom and of course, her sharp, unafraid tongue.

We are sick of these crazy ideas. More seriously, the country is damaged irreparably by these VIP-dreamed-up projects. Cynics say it is to harvest commissions. Surely you don’t send the country down the ‘pallam’ of destruction to enrich yourself? That is idealistic Cass speaking. The realistic Crier of Doom realises that the most important matter of the hour is stashing away pilfered lucre. And there are ways, means and facilitators for this as exposed in the Pandora Papers. The truth however is that now, persons will sell their mothers, their very motherland, to enrich themselves further. They impoverish an already economically challenged country, aggravate the poverty of most, so that 50 percent of the population is ill-fed and half of them malnourished to the extreme.

We, at first, freely allocated forest land for many insane projects; given away by mere word of mouth, however presidential, treating askance written orders. So we saw forest cover, of massive soaring trees, reduced to corn plants. The latest trend is to give away forest land to grow aloe vera. My heavens! Can’t this resilient plant be grown interspaced with trees in other plantations? Can one bear to cut down a tree for this insignificant plant? It is a money-plant though.

Next came the overnight banning of inorganic fertilisers, insecticides, weedicides; then delay in obtaining COVID-19 vaccines while power was consolidated and dual citizens legally brought to the country as saviours. Next followed the rape of Wewa bunds to lay jogging paths for non-est joggers. Billions were also earmarked for beautification of certain cities. OK with excess money obtainable. But aney appé not when the Treasury is drained of cash and SL cannot pay its debts, though, of course, the Governor of the Central Bank (CB) says we are on cloud nine money wise. Ex-Prez M Sirisena tots up billions that were sent in cheques from the Treasury in 2000-something and again on January 7, 2015, just the day prior to the presidential election that saw him through. He asks where the money was sent on a day business was not carried out. It was supposed to be for a huge project to divert the Nilwala Ganga and another to Hambantota. Not a tiny stream has been diverted nor even a start made. Money transferred though.

Now it’s zoos to be built. The Ed had a super solution to this latest craze. Yes, build the zoo with its protective boundaries that converts it to an open prison, but save the beasts and others of the wild and make the politico animals, who commit crimes against humanity, the inmates of the posh new Zoo in Piliyandala; named Lokuge Udyanaya or have again the R name one sees all over the island, except in the North.

Statements, not quite quotes

The President, at an army ceremony with much pomp and pageantry, apologised, or at least said, he had been unable to fully implement promises made to the people. We appreciate this admission. He does not seem to see reasons. Shall Cass dare point them out? To her it’s the false prophets, unwise advisers and the Cabinet who have caused him to be ineffective in the keeping of promises he made which won our votes. The Cabinet, different names given by different persons to most of them, knows only how to shake heads in the correct direction to say yes to the Prez and of course PM, and shake heads horizontally if the answer required is nay. Have we Ordinaries ever heard a Cabinet Minister asking an in-depth, contradicting question from either of the royals or shown the slightest disapproval of their proposals? Most are uneducated boors. So Prez, out with most of them and nominate pragmatic intellectuals in, women included; never mind if they are not lotus buds.

The Governor of the CB says that we can manage even if GSP+ concessions are not granted us. The visiting EU team’s negative opinion of this fair isle gone rotten will be no surprise judging by what a State Minister did while they were right here investigating the human rights status quo. The Minister goes marching into one prison, inebriated it was said, accompanied by a shorts-clad ‘beauty’ and played with the hangman’s rope disregarding the imprisoned inmates. To the other he barges in, not in a playful mood but revengefully and threatens Tamil prisoners with his gun to their heads. No reprimand; no punishment at all for this pohottuwa. And thus, no GSP in all probability. The Governor of CB suffers not, neither does the karachchal Minister, but our garment and fisheries exporters will, very significantly, losses passed onto the near-slaving factory and fisheries workers.

Minister Aluthgamage continues to be hit, trod on, spat at, red paint splashed and burnt. Oops sorry! Minister A’s effigy is subject to these crescendoing indignities. Cass spied another’s effigy being paraded by farmers somewhere. No burning of it; or no TV cameras captured it. These farmers are desperate and their cry for inorganic fertilizers should be respected and attended to immediately.

Teachers, and shockingly principals, striking and marching is not tolerable. They are crushing the dignity of pedagogues or pedagogy and seem to be dementedly following vituperative, hate scattering Stalin, their leader, who gives Cass the impression this mass strike is really a personal vendetta. Those who are supposed to mould totally balanced personalities out of the students in their charge, are behaving worse than jackals. What can salary increases be paid with? The situation is as basic as that.

And so the caravan of leaders moves on; the river of tumult flows; the sea of discontent rises and serendipitous Lanka is changed almost wilfully to a miserable place of high costs and low living.