Features
The history of the 1962 oil takeover by the Sirima B government
by Charitha. P. de Silva
(This piece has been excerpted from business leader Charitha. P. de Silva’s Memoirs published in 2018 in the context of the impending Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm deal which is today a hotly discussed topic. De Silva who retired as Chairman of Aitken Spence in a professional accountant who began his post qualification working life at Caltex, one of the three multinational oil giants running the petroleum import and distribution business in then Ceylon nationalized in 1962 by the Sirima Bandaranaike government.)
To get back to my Caltex days: danger was looming for us in the form of the powerful Leftist group in Mrs Bandaranaike’s cabinet. Minister T.B. Ilangeratne and two leftist officials, Sam Silva (Civil Servant) and G.V.S. de Silva (brilliant economist and a former classmate of mine at Royal) had convinced Mrs B that it was very much in the interests of the country to nationalise the Oil Industry that was run by three foreign oil companies, Shell, Esso and Caltex.
GVS and Co. had been publishing articles showing how much foreign exchange would be saved if Sri Lanka imported crude from sources such as Russia and refined it herself. I saw very clearly that the writing was on the wall, and tried to persuade my Managing Director, Harry Bernard, to allow me to refute some of the fallacious arguments that GVS and Co were putting forward.
Bernard was a very cautious, mild man and was loath to write anything that might antagonize the government. In this frustrating situation our Intelligence man, Douglas Kelly (former senior policeman) informed us on a Monday that a gazette was already printed to take over the Caltex Oil Installation at Bloemendhal on the Friday!
I walked into Bernard’s room and asked him “Harry, can I write something now?” Deeply depressed he told me to go ahead and write whatever I wanted. I immediately sat down and wrote a strong article refuting many of the claims made by GVS. I pointed out, among other things, that in trying to save about Rs 14 million per annum by expropriating Oil company assets and nationalizing the Oil Industry the Government was running the risk of enraging America thereby jeopardizing a Rs 140 million tea market to the US. I also pointed out that the oil companies were giving the consumers of the country a very good service through their competition and concentration on quality and service. All this would be lost when a Government monopoly took over.
Bernard read the article, blanched, and asked me to go across to Shell (they were on the first floor of the Chartered Bank building, and we were on the third) and show it to Blarney, the boss of Shell, the leader of the oil oligopoly with 60% of the market. As the article would be under Bernard’s name Harry was understandably nervous.
I walked across to Blarney’s office and showed him the article. He read it with close attention. At one point a smile stole across his face. Mrs B had gone to great pains to point out that it was not her intention to get rid of the Oil Companies from the local scene. All she wanted to do was to bring down the cost of imports by taking advantage of an attractive offer made by Russia.
She could not understand why we could not reduce the cost of our imports. She did not realize that the market in the entire Indian subcontinent would be affected if the price to Sri Lanka was reduced; and our imports were miniscule comapared to India’s and Pakistan’s who would all be compelled to fall in line. In the body of my article I had written “For Mrs B to say that it was not her intention to get rid of the oil companies but only to reduce the cost of oil imports is like cutting a ladder from under a man’s feet and claiming that the intention is not to bring him down but to collect some firewood!”
Blarney totally approved of the article (he must have been relieved that it was to be signed by Bernard and not himself) and urged me to walk 50 yards down the street to the office of Mason, the MD of Esso, and show it to him. I did so, and found to my delight that Mason was so thrilled with it that he provided me with an office and stationery, and insisted that I write an article for him too!
I did so, and thus it came about that both articles appeared on the centre page of the Ceylon Daily News (CDN) on Wednesday, Cabinet day. For information on what happened thereafter I am indebted to my cousin Percy Peiris, who was Cabinet Secretary at the time and told me the story some years after he had retired by which time the question of the confidentiality of cabinet discussions was no longer important.
Mrs B had stormed into the Cabinet Office waving the CDN in her hand. She had screamed at Ilangeratne “TB, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to bring our Government down? This whole plan of taking over the Caltex Terminal is Phillip’s idea (Phillip being her political enemy, Phillip Gunawardena, who was a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist). GVS de Silva and Sam Silva are his men. Get rid of them within a month. And stop the takeover of the Caltex plant.”
History will record that the gazette was canceled and Caltex was saved for the nonce. From this extraordinary experience I learnt a lesson that I never forgot. It is vital that when an injustice or wrong is threatened, good men must stand up and fight against it, as Burke pointed out in the 18th Century. Also, the one thing that Governments fear is the written word -particularly in their own newspaper!
There is a curious footnote to this affair. GVS who was one of the key thinkers behind the Nationalization visited me in my home down Maya Avenue during the early days when the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) was being set up. He was a mild, innocuous looking, extremely clever individual who evidently had a high regard for his one-time classmate. He told me that the oil companies were doomed, and he offered me the top financial job at the CPC (when I was only a Deputy Chief Accountant at Caltex).
When I explained to him that I was by temperament a private-sector man who would never fit into the public sector he told me very earnestly, that in five years’ time there would be no private sector left in the country as every key industry would be in the hands of the Government. I remember telling him how much I appreciated his offer (I really did) but I would regretfully resign myself to my fate.
It was therefore ironic that as a direct result of my two articles he himself lost his job at the CPC. Fate works in strange ways. I wonder whether he ever realized that it was I who had written the articles that had cost him his job. No one in the private sector, and certainly none of my colleagues, were aware of it. I kept it a close secret as I had no desire to let down my Managing Director, Harry Bernard (under whose name my article was written) who was a charming man.
My next memorable experience at Caltex was after Government passed legislation to take over the assets of the oil companies. The thinkers behind the legislation drafted the law so that the companies would get very little compensation. They stipulated that compensation would be the purchase price of the assets less depreciation. They knew that the Terminal installations and service stations were well over ten years old and would have been written off in the books of account.
At Caltex I had been placed in charge of the compensation claim because the Chief Accountant, a charming Englishman called Geoffrey Gardiner was far more interested in producing plays at the Lionel Wendt (he was a producer and actor) than getting involved in the nitty-gritty of the Compensation Claim. A brilliant American called Jim Wollahan (California-Texas Oil Corporation) came down to Colombo, sized up the situation, and sat down with me to figure out our strategy.
Our first move was to visit our lawyers, Messrs Julius & Creasy, whose head was a very clever lawyer called Byrnell. Byrnell studied the relevant section together with us and told us regretfully that there was no way we could expect market value for our assets because the legislation was shrewdly drafted to prevent it. It would be “purchase price less depreciation” even though they had as a sop to international opinion added a proviso that “if purchase price was not determinable” it would be market value. They knew full well that oil company accounting would be so meticulous that every purchase would be correctly recorded.
Wollahan and I returned crestfallen and deeply disappointed to my office and thrashed the matter out from every angle. After a couple of hours of the most intensive devil’s advocacy on the part of both of us, Wollahan suddenly cried out “Chari, it will be market value!”. His point was that we did not know the purchase price of our installations and service stations. We had not purchased them from anyone. We had built them. It was a brilliant concept that was later confirmed as legally sound by H.V. Perera QC, the last word on law in Sri Lanka.
I was entrusted the task of writing the Memorandum on “Why Purchase Price was not determinable”. Once the basis of compensation became market value, we included Goodwill in our Claim because Market Value was the price that a willing buyer (say Phillips Petroleum) would pay a willing seller, and that would certainly include Goodwill.
I was put in charge of preparing our Compensation Claim (Gardiner was delighted to be relieved of that responsibility) and did so with the help of my able assistant Bertie Casie Chetty. It ended up literally with millions of dollars more than the leftists behind the legislation had ever anticipated.
This experience taught me one of the most valuable lessons of my life. Never since that day did I accept unquestioningly the opinion of a lawyer on a matter that had business or moral implications. I tended from that day onward to make all business decisions myself and use lawyers for their expertise to prepare the legal documentation. I had always had a legal bent, and from then onward gave it full reign. The culmination of this attitude was when I sued Aitken Spence & Co Ltd in 2007 (16 years after my retirement) on the grounds of Oppression. But that is another story. (I won that case; pp. 123 to 127).
During the compilation of the Compensation Claim, in 1962, Mike Thornton of Aitken Spence sent for me. This was the second time I was interviewed by Aitken Spence for a job. The first time was when R.P. Gaddum offered me the job of accountant shortly after I had passed out as a Chartered Accountant in 1955. Thornton offered me the job of Chief Accountant.
I told him that unfortunately I was heavily involved in the Compensation Claim for Caltex and could not let them down. We parted and he wrote me a charming letter. After this experience I got Bertie Casie Chetty to sign all the documents that would be used in the case.
Meanwhile Jim Wollahan, who had developed a huge regard for me, offered me employment as an expatriate. I declined it for a number of reasons. Firstly I had no great desire to live the life of a nomad abroad, traveling from one country to another. Secondly, I knew that it was quite likely that I would be posted to some Asian country like India or Malaysia. My colleagues in those countries, who would be as well qualified as I was, would be earning much less than I did (being an expatriate). In those circumstances it was unlikely that they would cooperate whole heartedly with me, or view me with great affection.
Around 1962 the government finally took over the assets of the oil companies. The employees were offered handsome severance packages and the staff at Caltex dwindled to a skeleton. At this point, I received my third offer to join Aitken Spence where Jack Reeves had taken over from Mike Thornton, and Ron Law the Chief Accountant had given notice of resignation. I evaluated the two choices before me: either become an expatriate with Caltex or the Chief Accountant of Aitken Spence.
I had already foreseen the problems I would be faced with as an expatriate. In any case three unsolicited offers from the same company within ten years seemed too much like Fate. I therefore accepted Aitken Spence’s offer after informing Harry Bernard and Geof Gardiner of my decision. They were sad about it but very understanding. They were also generous, because despite the fact that I was employed by Aitken Spence the day after I left Caltex they paid me the full Compensation Package!
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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