Babes in arms

Wednesday 7th September, 2022

This comment is not about the popular Broadway musical comedy of yore by the above title. It is on something that we find even more hilarious—our not-so-honourable MPs’ ludicrous efforts to protest their innocence vis-à-vis serious allegations of dereliction of duty, malpractices, etc., against them. They have had the discerning public in stitches, again!

Chief Opposition Whip and SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella has taken the Central Bank (CB) to task for what he calls its failure to inform Parliament that the country was bankrupt. Curiously, some MPs, representing the government and the Opposition, have sunk their political differences and joined forces to demand action against the CB. They would have the public believe that the CB kept Parliament in the dark about the country’s bankruptcy and thereby committed a serious offence, which should not go unpunished. We thought it was the duty of the Finance Minister or his/her deputy to update Parliament on the state of the economy.

Our legislators come the babes in arms, trying to dupe the citizenry into believing that they are not accountable for the country’s bankruptcy because they were not informed of it; the implication of their claim is that they would have been able to do something about it if the CB had cared to apprise them of the parlous state of the economy earlier. But at the same time, these worthies claim to be omniscient; they say they are even privy to what their opponents do behind closed doors. They also accuse one another of bribery and corruption, and go running to the national anti-graft commission, carrying and displaying, as they do, slews of files which, they claim, contain information about their rivals’ secret deals. But puzzlingly, such well-informed lawmakers claim that they were not aware that the country was bankrupt!

There is irrefutable evidence that the MPs who are hauling the CB over the coals were aware that the country was bankrupt, months ago. The question is why they did not call for an explanation from the CB or the Finance Minister at the time.

Kiriella knew the country was bankrupt as early as March 2016, when the Yahapalana government was in power. He, as the then the Minister of Education and Highways, declared at a public meeting in Teldeniya, on 14 March 2022, that the country was bankrupt, and stressed the need to adopt measures such as signing a free trade agreement with India purportedly to turn the economy around. (The relevant section of his speech is available at https://www.hirunews.lk/english/128468/sl-bankrupt-nation-lakshman-kiriella).

SLPP MP and former Minister Bandula Gunawardana, way back in October 2015, when he was a rebel MP of the UPFA government, predicted that the economy would collapse soon. He claims to be well versed in the dismal science, and therefore he would not have made such a prediction without reliable information. (See https://www.ft.lk/Columnists/sri-lankas-economy-will-collapse-soon-bandula/4-489475). One may argue that his prediction came true the following year itself, when Kiriella admitted that the country was bankrupt. Or, if his predication had gone wrong, but the danger of the economy going bankrupt had persisted when the SLPP formed a government in 2019, shouldn’t Gunawardena have prevailed on the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration, in which he was a powerful Cabinet minister, to adopt remedial measures urgently? There has been a serious lapse on his part.

On 10 March 2022, Kiriella declared, again, that the country was bankrupt, and added that Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa was going around the world, begging for dollars. When SLPP MP Prof. Ranjith Bandara challenged his claim, SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, who is described as the shadow Finance Minister, leapt to his colleague’s defence, insisting that the country was bankrupt. (See https://www.dailymirror.lk/top_story/Parliament-boils-over-when-opposition-calls-country-economically-bankrupt/155-232790).

In an article published in Colombo Telegraph, on 02 March 2022, Dr de Silva, had this to say in the opening sentence itself: “Today, it is no secret that Sri Lanka is bankrupt ….” Would a person of his calibre have made such an ex-cathedra statement, as it were, unless he had been fully aware that the country was actually bankrupt? So, there was absolutely no need for anyone to tell the MPs, especially those in the Opposition, that the country was an insolvent debtor.

Thus, it may be seen that the MPs who are tearing into the CB for alleged dereliction of duty, etc., have themselves failed to carry out their legislative duties and functions; when they became aware that the economy was in really bad shape or bankrupt, they should have demanded that the officials of the CB and the Finance Ministry be made to provide an explanation.

Let us assume for the sake of argument that the CB failed to inform Parliament that the country was bankrupt and the MPs had been unaware of that fact until recently. What would they have done if they had been informed of the country’s insolvency earlier? If they think they could have done something about it, why don’t they do it now to help the country? Now that they are aware that the country is bankrupt, will the government and the Opposition unite for the sake of the people? Will they make sacrifices and help curtail public expenditure on maintaining Parliament and the government? Isn’t it high time they started stretching their arms no longer than their sleeves will reach, at least during the country’s worst-ever economic crisis? Shouldn’t they say no to perks that cost the taxpayer an arm and a leg, and lead simple lifestyles?