Thursday 19th January, 2023

The prospect of having to face an election always fills an unpopular regime with horror and has a sobering effect on self-important politicians intoxicated with power. The SLPP-UNP government has awakened to the fact that many people are starving, and something needs to be done urgently to help them. It has decided to provide 10 kilos of rice each, free of charge, to two million families per month for a period of two months. Technically, the proposed handout amounts to an election bribe in all but name, for the Cabinet decision thereon came after the Election Commission (EC) had initiated the process of conducting the local government (LG) elections. But only those with a callous disregard for the suffering of the poor will be able to bring themselves to oppose the distribution of free rice irrespective of the government’s ulterior motive.

Sri Lankan politicians have mastered the art of bribing voters with public funds. Never do they care to improve the people’s lot because poverty helps perpetuate the dependency culture, which promotes clientelist politics, where people exercise their franchise in return for personal favours and benefits funded by the general taxpayer, and not for the public good.

The amount of rice to be given to the needy free of charge is hardly sufficient for them to dull the pangs of hunger, and, most of all, they will get it only for a short period of time. But it is better than nothing. How does the government expect the poor to survive thereafter? More importantly, man does not live by rice alone, so to speak. The poor have other needs to satisfy. Electricity and water tariffs have gone through the roof and so is the price of everything else. Schooling is fast becoming a luxury that only the rich could afford, given the soaring prices of stationery, shoes, etc., and the escalating cost of transport. Supplementary tuition, which has become an integral part of the country’s education system, also costs every family with school-age children a tidy sum every month. One can only hope that there will not be an increase in the number of school dropouts among the poor.

The need for rationalising welfare expenditure cannot be overstated. One main cause of the current economic crisis was the politically-motivated cash handouts amounting to Rs. 5,000 each distributed as pandemic relief ahead of the 2020 general election. A great deal of money had to be printed to fund the project. Besides, taxes were slashed for political reasons; the government revenue dropped sharply and the cash handouts aggravated the economic crisis.

The UNP and the SLPP leaders are back to their old ways. They seem to think old tricks such as the distribution of handouts will help them regain lost ground on the political front. They are only hoping against hope.

****

The plot thickens

Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Authorities Neil Bandara Hapuhinna finds himself up the creek without a paddle, having overstepped his bureaucratic limits and sought to interfere in the affairs of the Election Commission (EC).

On 10 January, Hapuhinne, in his wisdom, chose to write to all District Secretaries informing them that the Cabinet wanted them to stop accepting deposits for the local government (LG) polls until further notice. But for the timely action taken by the EC to counter Hapuhinne’s move, the District Secretaries would have been confused and perhaps the process of conducting the LG polls would have been disrupted. Hapuhinne later withdrew his letter, claiming that he had only conveyed a Cabinet decision to the District Secretaries. The EC has given him just a slap on the wrist.

No less a person than Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament, on Wednesday, that the Cabinet had taken no decision to interfere in the work of the EC. If so, why did Hapuhinne write the letter at issue? Who asked him to do so? These questions must not go unanswered, given the severity of his high-handed action. Former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris has warned Hapuhinne that the latter has committed an offence punishable by three years in jail.

Hapuhinne, in his letter dated 10 January, refers to what he calls the Cabinet Secretary’s correspondence––No 23/misc (001)––and specifically states that the Cabinet, which met on 09 January asked him to direct the District Secretaries to stop accepting deposits for the LG polls. What Hapuhinne has done is far too serious for him to go unpunished. That the letter at issue was withdrawn immediately cannot be cited in extenuation of his offence.

JVP leader and NPP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake, speaking in Parliament, on Wednesday, accused President Ranil Wickremesinghe and UNP MP Wajira Abeywardena of having got Hapuhinne to issue the letter in question. The EC should launch a fresh probe into Hapuhinne’s letter in the light of the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament.

The Cabinet Secretary should be asked whether there was any correspondence between him and Hapuhinne on the matter at hand. If his answer is in the affirmative, then the EC will have to summon him as well, and call for an explanation. If his answer is in the negative, then stern action will have to be taken against Hapuhinne for falsifying information to override the EC and mislead the District Secretaries. It behoves the EC to get to the bottom of it, and Parliament, too, should do likewise.