Guru-gola way of doing it

Monday 31st May, 2021

The Covid-19 vaccination drive has got off to a bumpy start thanks to dirty politics; it has been politicised to such an extent that the SLPP politicians reportedly issue ‘chits’ to their supporters to receive the jab on priority basis, and publicly berate the health workers who are not willing to do their bidding, as was seen in a Colombo suburb, the other day. Moratuwa Mayor Samanlal Fernando went ballistic when a female medical officer refused to carry out the vaccination programme according to his whims and fancies. Undesirables in the garb of government politicians always want first dibs on everything given to them and their family members and cronies at the expense of the taxpaying public.

The brave police personnel who swoop on ordinary people for violating the health regulations and haul them up before courts, in double quick time, just looked on while the Moratuwa Mayor was hindering the vaccination programme. No action has been taken against them, but a constable has reportedly got into trouble for preventing the spouse of a superior officer from jogging in violation of the Covid-19 protocol, in Colombo!

The gutsy lady doc who stood her ground at the Moratuwa vaccination centre and told the barking Mayor where to get off deserves public plaudits. ‘And even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer.’

It became too embarrassing for the government to defend the Moratuwa Mayor, who was arrested after his surrender to the police and remanded. A person who obstructed a group of Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) at Atolugama, last year, was sentenced to six years in jail, and it will be interesting to see what will or will not happen to the Moratuwa Mayor, who disrupted a vaccination programme. People without political connections are denied bail for such offences. The Atolugama man spat at the PHIs, and the Moratuwa man spewed out venom.

The blame for the ruling party politicians’ aggressive behaviour should be apportioned to their political masters. It is popularly said in this country that when a guru micturates while walking, his goloyas (pupils) do so while running. This is exactly what we are witnessing today. Ministers set a bad example by launching into tirades against state officials, who have the courage to tell them what they do not want to hear, and lesser politicians emulate them. How Minister Sanath Nishantha threw conniptions when a female Forest Officer, named Devani Jayathilaka, opposed a cretinous proposal to clear a mangrove forest for the construction of a playground in Negombo, last year, is a case in point. One may also recall that under the previous Rajapaksa government, Minister Mervyn Silva, who was on slipper-licking terms with the ruling family, tied a state official to a tree during a dengue prevention programme as ‘punishment’ for arriving late at a meeting; he also stormed media institutions and got away with his crimes including cheque kiting. It is this culture of impunity that emboldens government politicians to ride roughshod over state officials in public and do as they please.

Why should politicians other than the ministers in charge of health and pandemic control be allowed to visit the vaccination centres on the pretext of inspecting them or meddle with Covid-19 programmes? These are tasks that should be left entirely to health experts. There are some self-important political potentates who consider themselves more knowledgeable than doctors; they include Gamini Lokuge (MBBS–Piliyandala?) and Mayor Fernando (MBBS–Moratuwa?) They must be prevented from interfering in the work of doctors and other officials on pandemic control duties.

How the present-day rulers handpick the worst political dregs to head local government institutions is truly amazing; there are of course decent local council chiefs and members, but they are the exception that proves the rule. They also have a history of giving free rein to these notorious characters. Under the previous Rajapaksa government, the then Hambantota Mayor Eraj Fernando ran, brandishing a small firearm, behind a group of Opposition MPs, who visited the Hambantota Port. His bosses claimed he had been carrying a toy pistol! Tangalle Pradeshiya Saba (PS) Chairman Sampath Vidanapathirana together with his gang killed a British national, and raped the victim’s fiancée at a tourist hotel in Tangalle on Christmas Day in 2011. But for diplomatic pressure the UK brought to bear on Colombo, the perpetrators would have got away with those crimes. Vidanapathirana and three others were sentenced to jail, and the Attorney General filed an appeal seeking the death sentence for them. Kahawatte PS Chairman Vajira D. Silva along with SLPP MP Premalal Jayasekera was sentenced to death for murdering a UNP supporter in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election. The late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha, who led the yahapalana movement, and was instrumental in engineering the 2015 regime change, revealed at a public meeting that a UPFA PS Chairman in the South had raped hundreds of women and even celebrated those crimes. He demanded justice for the victims, but the rapist as well as the trigger-happy Hambantota Mayor later joined the yahapalana camp!

Going by the menacing behaviour of many ruling party politicians, we believe that the current leaders should have had their ministers, MPs and local government members inoculated against rabies a long time ago. Now, it is too late; many of them are already infected and pose a serious threat to society. The least the government can do by way of remedial action is to keep these dangerous elements on a tight leash.