Govt. courting trouble

Wednesday 15th March, 2023

Warring trade unions are girding up their loins for a showdown with the government, which is determined to crush today’s strike. What we are witnessing is a game of chicken, and the odds are that the ongoing workers’ struggle against tax increases and the proposed divestiture programme, etc., will not be over anytime soon. The protesting unions have threatened to intensify their industrial action, depending on the outcome of today’s strike. Port workers who have resorted to a ca’canny are planning a crippling strike, which the country needs like a hole in the head. The government is issuing threats in a bid to scare the strikers into submission instead of getting the resentful unionists around the table and trying to arrive at a negotiated settlement.

The government has apparently duped itself into thinking that the trade unionists on the warpath are without much popular support and therefore their strikes will fizzle out. But public anger is manifestly welling up, and the irate people are left with no alternative but to throw in their lot with the protesting unions to settle scores with the government, which the Opposition has failed to countervail effectively.

The Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe regime has, in a desperate bid to cling on to power, resorted to a deplorable course of action, which has caused a severe erosion of public trust in almost all vital organs of the state, and, above all, the democratic process, which is the be-all and end-all of the existence of a civilised society. The postponement of the local government (LG) elections has led to an unprecedented rise in anti-politics, which is manifest in the people’s spiky irreverence for politicians and political institutions. The youth have become disillusioned with the parliamentary process, and their resentment finds expression in mass protests and popular uprisings. This is the worst that could happen to a democratic society.

The Election Commission (EC) has lost its raison d’etre for all practical purposes. It cannot hold elections! The Executive President has usurped its powers. It proposes and the President disposes. The people, in whom sovereignty is said to reside, cannot ever so much as exercise their franchise!

The government has made no bones about the fact that it will not abide by the Supreme Court (SC) interim order that public officials refrain from blocking budgetary allocations for the EC. It has gone so far as to claim that the SC order amounts to an attempt to interfere with the duties and functions of the legislature and is violative of parliamentary powers and privileges! The SC has rightly ordered some state officials not to meddle with the release of budget provisions, and why the government considers it an instance of judiciary interference with the legislature defies comprehension.

The EC has asked for funds from the Finance Ministry, which has not complied with its request for obvious reasons. The latter repeats the same lame excuse—lack of funds. This back-and-forth between the two institutions reminds us of the golden oldie, ‘There’s a hole in the bucket’.

The postponement of the LG polls has become internationalised! Popular elections are the lifeblood of democracy, and doomed is a society where the people are denied their right to elect their representatives. Why the democratic world is concerned about what is happening here is understandable. US Ambassador in Colombo, Julie Chung, has said the LG elections should be held. The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, too, has urged the Sri Lankan government to conduct the mini polls without further delay.

Claiming that an electoral contest at this juncture will adversely affect the nascent economic recovery process, the government has branded the campaigners for LG polls as enemies of the country. Does it think Ambassador Chung is also trying to sabotage its efforts to revive the economy?

Will Ambassador Chung care to tell us what the US intends to do in case the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe government refuses to heed its call for conducting the mini polls? In the early noughties, the US was instrumental in making the provision of aid to Sri Lanka conditional on the progress to be made in negotiations with the LTTE! Will it and its western allies consider adopting such tough measures to ensure that the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe government respects the electoral process and holds the much-delayed LG polls? Or, is it that Washington is pursuing an ulterior motive by bringing pressure to bear on Colombo to respect the people’s franchise? Is it capitalising on the beleaguered government’s predicament to compass its geopolitical ends such as having SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) inked so that the US boots could be stationed here?