Editorial
Left vs. Right
It is becoming increasingly apparent by the day that the government is coming under mounting pressure to lock down the country and at least slow, if not halt, the roaring Covid pandemic gaining steam by the day. The daily statistics beamed into homes countrywide by the prime time news bulletins of the different television stations, publicize the growing number of infections and death. Each day’s numbers are higher than the previous day’s. The third line in the statistical tables, giving the number of recoveries so far, is intended to cast at least a single ray of sunshine into an ever-blackening picture. But given the current situation, even that hardly serves to dispel the gloom.
Word came on Friday afternoon after this (now revised) comment was written that the government, or really President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who took the last call, had finally caved into the strident demands dinning his ears these past several days. The ‘too little too late’ accusations will now follow as surely as night follows day. Even the ranks of Tuscany must, and do concede, that the president and his government were confronted with a ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t’ situation. There is no disputing that the logic presented by the best health professionals in the country pushing hard for a lock down is iron clad and rock solid. But the economic consequences of such a measure for the country as a whole and its very large daily wage earning population is equally terrible.
The Mahanayakes joined the chorus on Thursday demanding a week’s lock down. Others want a considerably longer period running for three weeks, a month or even more. Obviously any lock down for too short a period will be an absolute waste. It is better to bite the bullet and not lock down at all rather than engage in a less than useless exercise. Though Friday’s lock down announcement said it’ll run till the end of this month, whether it will be extended or ot will depend on how things pan out. The minor parties in the Pohottuwa coalition, 10 in all and mostly left inclined, also pushed for a lock down just before it was finally imposed. We all know that most of their leaders now in Parliament, would have not been electable had they not run under the Rajapaksa colours or secured themselves patronage appointments under the Pohottuwa National List. But they are not without influence within the government as the East Container Terminal episode amply demonstrates.
Along with their lock down demand now conceded, there is the concurrent pressure to support the least affluent segment of society including the daily wage earners, who live hand to mouth eking out their existence, in the best way possible with essential food packs, cash allowances and whatever if the country is closed. This was resorted to last time round with some measure of success but a larger measure of failure as has been the case in most (if not all) poor relief attempts including Janasaviya, Samurdhi and whatever, not excluding the various long established schemes of the Social Services Department and various local bodies. We believe that the Colombo Municipal Council continues to run its long established Charity Commissioner’s Department, and many of the other larger Municipalities would also be doing the same.
It is well known that that a large number of persons not qualified to receive Samurdhi and other benefits draw them while perhaps a larger number in desperate need of such support are left out in the cold. Time was when the Communist Party’s Aththa newspaper exposed the case of the parents of a Member of Parliament receiving Samurdhi. These schemes are highly politicized and politicians obtain benefits for their supporters in return for votes. The writer is personally aware of an instance where a domestic aide hailing from an estate in Badulla, working in a well-to-do Colombo home, insisted on going to her line room to cast her vote at an election. When the employer pointed out to her that she would have to bear a travel expense of at least a thousand rupees and an exhausting journey, she said she must vote or her family’s Samurdhi benefits will be at risk. This, unfortunately is the way the papadam crumbles.
There is no need to labour the fact that if, indeed, a lock down is imposed as it now has been, any relief scheme for those most in need will not work as it should. But there is no escaping the reality that something is better than nothing. A very large question mark also hangs over the government’s ability to properly fund such a scheme. Not doing so will obviously add to the discontent. A deserving person seeing his neighbour getting a benefit he does not will naturally seethe with resentment. There will be those who will urge the government to resort to the printing press to meet such emergency expenditure. Money printing has already reached record levels and its effects are all too evident.
It is clear that a Left vs Right contest has emerged in the lock down or not debate. The majority of Pohottuwa constituents who on Thursday urged the president to lock down are left inclined. So are many of the unions pushing for this measure. Much of the organized private sector tilts towards staying open both in their own interest and that of the national economy. Such interests supported Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the last presidential election. Many of their employees were on fully salary during the last lock down although some did suffer pay cuts. Public servants, a sizable segment of the work force, were on full pay and pensions were paid. All this reflected on the huge pressure exerted on the president and his government by the contending forces. We have now seen which way the tide eventually turned. Whatever happened, the country and its people will have to pay through their noses to survive Covid and support the unfortunate pinned with their backs against a wall.
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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