Saturday 13th January, 2024

NPP Leader and MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake deserves praise for having shed light on some questionable public fund allocations. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, he took exception to a supplementary estimate which sought legislative approval for Rs. 1.3 billion as Sri Lanka Telecom divestiture costs, and Rs. 200 million for President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s foreign tours and domestic travel in addition to the annual budgetary allocations for him.

Dissanayake hit the bull’s eye when he said President Wickremesinghe himself had to adhere to financial discipline. The need for the example to come from the top for a culture of integrity to be fostered in the government and the country cannot be overstated.

The government has curtailed fund allocations for state institutions, adversely impacting their operations. Universities are crying out for more funds. One may recall that in July 2023, President Wickremesinghe, speaking at a meeting where he received the report of a committee which he had appointed to identify new sources of state revenue, stressed the importance of financial discipline for nation building. He said the government would introduce measures to control public expenditure and enhance state revenue.

If President Wickremesinghe, who keeps asking the people to tighten their belts, cannot manage his expenses within the predetermined limits outlined in the national budget, how can he tell others to rationalise expenditure? There have been such budget overruns under successive Presidents, and the situation took a turn for the worse during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure.

When the self-righteous Presidents urge others to cut down on their expenses and save public funds while they themselves are overshooting their budgets and having supplementary estimates presented for more fund allocations, we are reminded of the proverbial crab which asked his children to walk straight.

The Opposition should make use of its parliamentary privileges to ascertain how much government politicians’ foreign tours, domestic travel, etc., cost the state coffers. Politicians have an insatiable wanderlust, and Opposition MPs also accompany the President on some of his overseas tours. They sink their political differences and enjoy junkets while people are starving and paying oppressive taxes to maintain them.

Sri Lankan politicians are notorious for travelling far and wide ahead of elections at the expense of the public on various pretexts. When the President, the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and the Ministers travel, special arrangements have to be made to ensure their safety and comfort at a huge cost to the public. The ruling party leaders also utilise public funds to influence voters by distributing freebies, which lead to increases in government expenditure and taxes and tariffs. This practice is not of recent origin, but it must end.

We argued in an editorial comment during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency that the incumbent President engaged in his or her election campaign must be made to bear the cost of his or her electioneering without passing it on to the public. The Opposition Leader must be made to do likewise, for his or her extensive travel, accommodation, etc., also cost the taxpayer an arm and a leg. If the existing laws do not provide for action against such expenditure, then new laws will have to be brought in.

The public must not be made to pay for the election campaigns of politicians and enable the latter to live the high life.

MP Dissanayake, yesterday, demanded to know why SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa had been allowed to occupy a ministerial residence. The NPP leader said Namal, his father and uncles were so shameless that they were living off the public. Former President Maithripala Sirisena had to face legal action for continuing to occupy an official residence, which he converted into a palace of sorts while he was in power.

Someone should explore the possibility of resorting to legal action to evict the ordinary MPs occupying ministerial houses. Most of all, the children of political leaders living high on the hog must be made to disclose the sources of their income, if any.