Editorial
SLMC and PUCSL
The government has not done itself or the people it is expected to serve any credit by its recent sacking of five respected professionals from the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) and the hasty and ill-thought decision to abolish the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). SLMC Chairman, Prof. Harendra de Silva, went public with his intention of challenging the legal validity of his sacking and we report today that he has already filed action in the Court of Appeal. The other four ‘victims’ of what is widely believed to be high-handed act of Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi will most likely do the same. The decision of the court is eagerly awaited by both the medical profession which is regulated by the Council and the general public. The Dean of the Colombo Medical Faculty has been named the Chairman of the SLMC in place of Prof. de Silva but the Health Minister, statutorily empowered to name five members to the SLMC, has not yet filled the other vacancies.
Respected professionals like Prof. Lalitha Mendis and Prof. Colvin Gunaratne, both of whom chaired the SLMC in the past, have condemned the sackings allegedly done at the behest of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA). Prof. Mendis did not name the GMOA in a letter she wrote to the press, restricting herself to mentioning “a prominent trade union.” She revealed that there had been some recent complaints against the SLMC by this union and the minister had appointed a five-member committee to probe them. Three of the members of this committee “were directly linked to this trade union,” she said. It is supposed that the sacking was on the basis of the committee report which is not yet in the public domain. This so-called inquiry committee was a fact finding body and the persons investigated had not been given a chance to defend themselves, Prof. Mendis added.
Although the GMOA was not named the ‘nigger in the woodpile’ (if we may be permitted to use an expression that is no longer politic), it chose to wear the hat with a brief but delayed statement issued on Thursday reiterating its support for the minister’s action. It claimed that it came to know what was really going on in the SLMC since four of its office bearers (leaders) were elected to that body. One of these have since resigned citing personal reasons. If something wrong was happening in the SLMC, it stands to reason that the whole body, rather than the five members nominated by former Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, should have been found culpable. The GMOA did not hide its political allegiance in the run-up to the last election. Its animosity towards the previous minister, and vice versa, was no secret. But that does not mean that Senaratne’s nominees to the SLMC should be summarily dismissed. This had not happened with previous changes of ministers. Those appointed served out their terms and were replaced by the new minister’s nominees.
Most government doctors, comprising the vast majority of practicing members of the medical profession in Sri Lanka, belong to the GMOA. Thus it is not surprising that GMOA leaders running for election to the SLMC are elected. But once there, they should well know that their allegiance should be to the Council required and empowered to regulate the medical profession, maintain standards, enforce discipline etc., rather than to the union they belong to. There have been conflicts in the past between the SLMC and the GMOA on matters relating to the registration of foreign medical graduates among others. The GMOA does not favour the registration of doctors educated abroad, even though they have graduated from SLMC-recognized foreign universities, unless they also hold pre-entry qualifications required to enter medical school here. There was a case last year where a graduate of the Odessa National Medical University in the Ukraine went to court challenging SLMC refusal to permit her to sit for the Examination for the Registration to Practice Medicine (ERPM) on a matter related to her ‘A’ level performance. In this case, the Supreme Court ordered the SLMC to register foreign medical graduates from universities recognized by it who have passed the required SLMC examinations.
To get to the other subject addressed by this comment, it seems that the government is revisiting its sudden decision to dismantle the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). This is all to the good. The PUCSL is concerned among other matters on protecting consumer interests in areas such as electricity, water and petroleum that are state monopolies. Recently Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, the Secretary to the President, wrote to to the Secretary to the Treasury directing him to take measures to close PUCSL. This was attributed to the need for creating an “efficient work environment” for implementing a lagging power generation plan. The public is naturally concerned about the removal of a watchdog body that had prevented the increasing of the electricity tariff since 2014. The members of the PUCSL have tendered their resignations at the request of the Secretary to the Treasury but the body continues exist without the commissioners.
It is no secret that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is a hotbed of corruption and allegations relating to power projects, power purchase agreements etc. have been flying for a long time. All this must necessarily affect what the people pay for their electricity. There has been resistance to the scuttling of PUCSL not only from members of the opposition but also from ministers of the government with Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila on record saying that the abolition is not yet on the agenda. Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara has also slammed these moves pointing out that PUCSL was under the purview of the prime minister and had nothing to do with the president. While Jayasundera has said that certain provisions of the PUCSL Act could be incorporated into the Consumer Affairs Authority law and the CEB Act “in due course,” the glaring question is why he had ordered the dismantling of the organization before necessary changes elsewhere are made.
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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