Editorial
Tank farm deal and Newspeak
Monday 10th January, 2022
The government claims that its Trincomalee oil tank farm deal with India is a huge win for Sri Lanka. If so, the Indo-Lanka Accord (1987), which the Jayewardene government signed, should also be considered a victory for this country, mutatis mutandis. The present-day ‘patriotic’ leaders protested against the Indo-Lanka pact while they were in the Opposition, didn’t they?
In a desperate bid to neutralise the political fallout of the questionable tank farm deal, the government has, in a glossy booklet, titled, Regaining Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm––which reminds us of the disastrous Regaining Sri Lanka programme launched by the UNP-led UNF government (2001-2004)––made a comparison between the 2017 MoU (signed under the yahapalana administration) on the Trinco oil tank farm and the latest agreement. It is obvious that a full-dress agreement and an MoU are two different things, and the government propagandists have sought to compare apples with oranges. Nevertheless, according to the booklet, the benefits that are believed to have accrued to this country from its tank farm deal are as follows: Sri Lanka’s shares in the joint venture to be set up between the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) have increased from 50 to 51, and the number of Sri Lankan directors from three to four as opposed to LIOC’s three; all 99 tanks were to be leased to LIOC according to the 2017 MoU, but the new agreement will enable the CPC to have 24 tanks as opposed to IOC’s 14, and 61 to be vested in the Joint Venture; the number of tanks under Sri Lanka’s control has increased from zero to 85, and the tanks to be directly under Sri Lanka number 24.
The booklet also says the Joint Venture will be under the purview of the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) and subject to questioning by the MPs and the Minister; it will operate following the model of the CPC Storage Terminal Ltd., which is already in operation as a joint venture between the CPC and the LIOC.
Thus, the ‘patriots; who claimed that the LIOC was holding on to the Trinco oil tank farm ‘illegally’ have legalised its hold on Sri Lanka’s strategic asset! Why didn’t they declare what the LIOC had done null and void ab initio, and take over all 99 tanks.
The best analysis of the controversial tank farm agreement has been done by the Federation of National Organizations (FNO), which has, in a letter addressed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, demolished the government’s flawed arguments. The salient points in the FNO letter (in Sinhala), a copy of which was made available to us yesterday afternoon, are as follows: the lease period has been increased from 35 years to 50 years; disputes, if any, were to be settled in Sri Lanka previously, but the new agreement has provided for arbitration in Singapore; at present, India is using the oil tanks pending the signing of a lease agreement, but the government has undertaken to hand over to India strategically important 14 oil tanks and bunkering trade for 50 years; it was previously possible to revise the rental periodically, but the government has agreed to make available the storage facilities at the concessionary rate of USD 1,000 per tank, which was agreed upon about 20 years ago [under the UNP-led UNF government]; although the government says 61 tanks will be operated by the proposed joint venture, the new agreement provides for leasing those tanks as well to the LIOC; trade unions have pointed out that three tanks under the CPC will be allocated to Prima Company for water storage; a huge amount of funds will have to be spent on the rehabilitation of the other tanks; there is the likelihood of all tanks being placed under the LIOC ultimately, and the new agreement violates the Constitution of Sri Lanka because it stipulates that no one could engage in port-related commercial activities in Trincomalee without the consent of the LIOC.
The main thrust of the FNO’s argument is that the most important agreement on the tank farm deal has not been presented to the Cabinet for approval; it has gone the same way as the government’s secret agreement with the New Fortress Company. All vital information about the amount of funds the IOC will invest in the venture, and administrative powers, etc., is contained in the agreement which has not been submitted to the Cabinet. The fact that Sri Lanka will own 51% of shares of the proposed joint venture pertains only to the sharing of profits, and not the administrative powers the LIOC will hold therein. The FNO points out that Sri Lanka held 65% of the shares of SriLankan Airlines according to its agreement with Emirates, but the management of the national carrier was done by Emirates.
The FNO also maintains that the government has acted in violation of the people’s sovereignty by not presenting the most important agreement on the oil tanks farm deal to the Cabinet, and bypassed the Eastern Province Governor and had the Land Commissioner General sign the lease agreement instead, in violation of the people’s sovereignty.
Plausible liars in the government’s propaganda team will have a hard time trying to sell the tank farm deal to the Sri Lankan public. They ought to stop insulting Sri Lankans’ intelligence and admit that the government has mismanaged the economy to the point of being left with no alternative but to opt for the disastrous deal in return for economic assistance from India.
People are the best judges, and they will deliver their verdict on the tank farm deal if the government holds the local government elections without postponing them.
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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