Editorial
Gas explosions
During the worst days this country faced in its contemporary history, now dimming in memory, of LTTE and JVP terror, people waited with trepidation for news of the number of deaths on any given day in the evening television news bulletins. The wheel has now turned a full circle and many people, during the last few days waited for word on how many gas explosions had occurred that day. Last week, Consumer Affairs Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna admitted in Parliament that an average of 10 explosions were being reported daily. He admitted the fact that 40 percent of over five million households in the country were living in fear, wondering (like in the terror days, we might add) when another explosion would hit.
After much waffling and obfuscation by the gas suppliers – one state-owned and the other private – the responsible political authority has taken responsibility saying “We’re on the side of the consumer.” It could not have been otherwise, although such was not the case in the ill-thought chemical fertilizer ban where both the producer and consumer were hit. The president appointed a committee of inquiry, after 14 explosions and fires in a single day, setting a two-week deadline for a report. A cross-party parliamentary investigation at which gas supply company representatives were present happened later in the week. The expertise of the Moratuwa University and the laboratory of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has been mobilized. But their was no clear word as this is being written of how and why the country has been landed in this mess.
Litro Gas, a subsidiary of the state-owned insurance corporation, said soon after the fireworks started that gas explosions have been occurring for a number of years though not a frequently or as close to each other as in recent days. The gas supplier has taken out full page advertisements in the print media suggesting that technical faults in regulators, gas cookers etc. and negligence in kitchens may be partly attributable to what is happening. But there is no escaping the reality that the problem intensified after the propane-butane composition of the gas pumped into cylinders have changed. There is scant comfort to be taken from the statement that there is no set criterion about these matters laid down by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. But there is no credible explanation of why this is so and why the problem was allowed to exist for years without necessary regulatory action. Welcome news on Thursday was that the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka was taking on the job. Better late than never.
But the inescapable reality is that changes in the composition followed increases in global gas prices with local price controls not adjusted accordingly. Laugfs was authorized to raise their prices while Litro, as an obvious concession to seething consumer anger of the dizzy rise in prices of everyday essentials retained previous price levels. Obviously the taxpayer will have to pick up the tab for the political establishment choosing not to be more unpopular. This was rather like something that happened in the petrol/diesel sector where LIOC raised prices while CPC maintained existing price levels. Obviously most motorists preferred to tank up at CPC while its competitor was happy to sell less because every liter sold at less than than the procurement cost eroded the bottom line. People chose the more expensive alternative only when there were shortages and they had brave long queues at filling stations. So also with gas when Laugfs cost more than Litro. But unlike petrol/diesel you had to have the right cylinder, be it blue or yellow, to get a refill from either supplier.
There have been a number of explosions since a gas cylinder exploded at an upmarket restaurant in Colombo on November 20 gutting the premises. Since then there have been dozens of explosions and fires countrywide, all of them grabbing headlines. For the past several weeks there have been cooking gas shortages inducing people to try to snap-up the few kerosene cookers available in the market or return to firewood cooking difficult in urban neighborhoods. “No gas” signs were freely visible everywhere and we’re told that some ships carrying supplies are due in the very short term. But in the context of the squeeze on the country’s foreign exchange reserves and the fear of fuel shortages thereby triggered, consumers fear continuing availability of supplies.
A Colombo datelined photograph of a man having his breakfast seated on a gas cylinder at a wayside restaurant was widely published globally illustrating a report of “mystery” gas explosions here. People have also not forgotten that it was not long ago that the then Chairman/CEO of Litro Gas refused to reveal his monthly emoluments, believed to exceed a million rupees. He told an inquiring reporter that this was a matter for the shareholders of the company and not the press. Since then his successor, presumably drawing similar emoluments, chose to allege a gas supply Mafia. This drew a strong protest and a demand for an inquiry from the predecessor. There has been no word on whether there was such an inquiry and if so what has been determined. True, monthly pay cheques running into millions in today’s depreciated currency are not uncommon in the private sector today. But that is not yet true of the public sector although many a political bigwig costs the taxpayer that much and more if all their perks are quantified. But if Litro was/is spending millions on its top honcho, the public could rightfully expect a safe gas cylinder and stability of supply. But people today have to pour soapy water on gas regulators to see whether it bubbles and store their cylinders outdoors for fear of fire and explosions.
Saturday 8th June, 2024
It was with shock and dismay that we received the news about death threats to COPF (Committee on Public Finance) Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva over the ongoing parliamentary probe into the on-arrival visa scam. Dr. de Silva yesterday told Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, in Parliament, that he was facing death threats and intimidation, and it was incumbent upon Parliament to ensure his safety. He stopped short of naming names, but revealed that some ruling party MPs were among those who had ganged up against him. The Speaker only said there had been no complaint, and he would look into the matter.
The SLPP-UNP government has been doing everything in its power to have all parliamentary committees under its thumb. The COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises), which once helped restore public faith in the legislature by exposing state sector corruption, has now become a mere appendage of the incumbent regime, thanks to the appointment of SLPP MP Rohitha Abeygunawardena as its Chairman. The SLPP-UNP combine also tried to oust COPF Chairman Dr. de Silva, but in vain. However, it knows more than one way to shoe a horse.
The COPF, under Dr. de Silva’s chairmanship, has been a thorn in the side of the government, which is struggling to cover up numerous corrupt deals. Dr. de Silva yesterday told Parliament that he found it extremely difficult to function as the COPF head due to severe resource constraints his committee was facing; he himself had to pay the salaries of some of his staff members besides burning the midnight oil.
The sheer workload he had to cope with as the COPF chief had taken its toll on his health, he said, informing the Speaker that he was at the end of his tether, and at times thought of resigning from the COPF. This is exactly what the government wants him to do; resource squeezes and threats are aimed at making him quit.
On 26 May, Dr. de Silva revealed, in an ‘X’ post, that the COPF had uncovered some vital information about the visa scam and it would reveal everything after its final meeting on the issue; the COPF was committed to exposing the truth behind the controversial tender, he added. In an editorial comment on 27 May, we warned him.
While thanking him for his bold stand, we pointed out that by making such a statement, he had thrown caution to the wind, and become a marked target, with the government making an all-out effort to delay the COPF investigation lest the truth should come out much to the detriment of its interests in this election year. Unfortunately, what was feared has come about; Dr. de Silva is complaining of death threats and government moves to strangulate the COPF financially to derail its investigations.
Dr. de Silva’s predicament exemplifies the fate that befalls the few good men and women in Parliament. It is hoped that all those who seek an end to the state sector corruption will rally behind Dr. de Silva, and bring pressure to bear on the government to ensure his safety. Let Dr. de Silva be urged to reveal the names of those who have issued threats, veiled or otherwise, to him and are trying to scuttle the COPF probes.
Friday 7th June, 2024
The SLPP-UNP government is going hell for leather to make bad laws as if there were no tomorrow. It is abusing its parliamentary majority, which has been retained with the help of some crossovers, for that purpose. The Opposition, the media and trade unions are up in arms, and understandably so. The incumbent regime is a dead man walking; it is so desperate that it is capable of anything. Hence the need for it to be restrained.
The Electricity (Amendment) Bill (EAB) plunged Parliament into turmoil yesterday, but the government secured its passage. The Supreme Court (SC) determined the entire EAB inconsistent with the Constitution and recommended changes thereto. After unveiling the Bill, sometime ago, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera hailed it as an excellent piece of legislation aimed at straightening up the power sector to serve the public interest better.
The SC determination left him with egg on his face. He reminded us of the proverbial curate who, while eating a stale egg, assured his host, a Bishop, that parts of it were excellent. Wijesekera’s egg, as it were, made Parliament stink yesterday, but he sought to please his masters by praising it as a silver bullet.
EAB should have been discarded and a new one drafted in consultation with all stakeholders. But the government is apparently driven by an ulterior motive; its aim is not to serve Sri Lanka’s interests but to look after those of some moneybags.
It is not uncommon for Bills to contain some flaws, which are rectified either before or during the committee stage. But there is something terribly wrong with draft Bills that are full of sections inconsistent with the Constitution. The drafters of EAB have demonstrated their sheer ignorance of the supreme law, and that they are not equal to the task of drafting Bills. If they had read the Constitution at least perfunctorily, they would not have drafted such a bad law.
Ignorant and incompetent, they do not deserve to be paid with public funds and must be sent back to law school. They must be summoned before Parliament and questioned on their serious lapses, which have caused public faith in the national legislature to diminish.
Curiously, the MPs who demand that judges, doctors, Central Bankers, and other public officials be summoned before Parliament have taken badly drafted Bills for granted. The power sector trade unions yesterday alleged that EAB was of Indian origin and geared towards furthering the interests of Adani Group at the expense of Sri Lanka.
Most critics of EAB are agreeable in principle to the need for power sector reforms; the Ceylon Electricity Board should be given a radical shake-up, and transformed into a modern organisation capable of providing a better service at a lower cost. They only asked the government to tread cautiously, consulting all stakeholders and taking action to ensure that the country’s interests prevailed over everything else. But the government was in a mighty hurry to steamroller the Bill through Parliament, making the Opposition ask whether it was doing so at the behest of some external forces involved in controversial power generation deals here.
What is passed by the current Parliament can be either amended or abolished by a future parliament in a constitutionally prescribed manner. But that does not mean that a government is free to pass bad laws, making the country enter into long-term agreements with powerful nations and their investors. It looks as if the SLPP-UNP regime did not care two hoots about the consequences of its actions.
Thursday 6th June, 2024
The outcome of India’s parliamentary election (2024) has led to a ‘perspective ambiguity’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost no time in declaring victory for the BJP-led NDA alliance, which secured 293 seats in the 543-member Parliament, but he must be a worried man. The BJP is short of 32 seats to form a government under its own steam; it has lost 63 seats or about 20% of its parliamentary strength. It had 303 seats in the previous Parliament, and that number has dropped to 240.
Modi has become the second Indian Prime Minister to win a third term. The first PM to do so was Jawaharlal Nehru. But Nehru won an outright majority in Parliament in 1962; Modi has had to depend on smaller parties in his alliance to retain his hold on power. Modi must be reeling from a sharp drop in his victory margin in his own constituency, Varanasi; it has decreased to 152,000 from 480,000 in 2019 whereas Modi’s bete noire, Rahul Gandhi, won Raebareli by a staggering 390,000 votes.
Modi, who reigned supreme with 303 seats in the previous Parliament, is now dependent on parties such as Nitish Kumar’s JD-U and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP to form a government. He has had to lead an alliance of strange bedfellows. Both Kumar and Naidu were bitter critics of Modi. Kumar helped form the oppositional alliance, the INDIA bloc, before switching his allegiance to PM Modi. Naidu also closed ranks with the BJP in the run-up to the election. These politicians have been described as extremely ambitious and highly unpredictable, and whether Modi will be able to manage them and consolidate his grip on the NDA alliance remains to be seen. They will demand plum ministerial posts in return for their support. The TDP is said to be eyeing Transport and Health portfolios! That is the name of the game in coalition politics, where it is not uncommon for the tail to wag the dog, so to speak. These two political leaders are however not the only problem Modi will have to contend with. The next five years will feel like an eternity for PM Modi.
Nothing would have been more shocking for the BJP than its defeat in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad constituency, where the Ram Mandir has been built. Modi may have thought he would be able to win the Lok Sabha election hands down after the consecration of that temple, which became a centrepiece of the BJP’s election campaign. The BJP lost that seat to the Samajwadi Party! Modi must be disappointed that the Ram Mandir hype failed to trigger a massive wave of support for his party. This particular defeat signifies a massive setback for the BJP’s ethno-religious agenda.
Modi’s divisive election campaign failed to yield the desired result. The BJP’s failure to secure an outright majority could be attributed to a host of factors, some of them being the suppression of the Opposition, the arrogance of power, chronic unemployment, and the rising cost of living. The BJP also did not care to reimage itself in a positive light to attract the youth.
Modi will hereafter see the Congress-led INDIA bloc with 223 seats, in his rearview mirror. The Congress (99 seats) and its allies have eaten into the BJP support base considerably, but they have a long way to go before being able to capture power.
The bumpy ride ahead for the BJP-led coalition government to be formed may improve the INDIA bloc’s chances of bettering their electoral performance and turning the tables on the BJP and its allies in time to come. Modi will have a lot to worry about in his third term.
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