Virus of impunity

Monday 11th January, 2021

The Opposition has called upon the government to stop bringing in tourists from Ukraine, where COVID-19 is raging. It does not have to go on protesting because Ukraine has gone into a 14-day nationwide lockdown, and there will not be any more tourists from that country at least for the next few weeks. But the government owes an explanation as to why this particular tourism promotion project was carried out behind the back of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), which claims to have been kept in the dark about the movements of the Ukrainian tourists here; it is alleged that health regulations in place to control the pandemic have not been strictly enforced in respect of them.

Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga, who is related to the ruling family, stands accused of having endangered the lives of Sri Lankans by bringing in Ukrainian tourists, but he has reportedly said he is proud of having helped reboot Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. The country desperately needs foreign exchange, and tens of thousands of people who have invested or employed in the tourism sector are in dire financial straits if not penury. Everything possible must be done to revive tourism, but bringing in several planeloads of tourists from pandemic-hit Eastern Europe in violation of the health guidelines is not the way to set about it.

Why should the SLTDA be maintained with public funds if promoting tourism is a task the government can manage with the help of a former ambassador?

The ongoing controversy over the Ukrainian tourists makes one wonder whether there is some truth in the allegation that someone connected to the government intervened to bring a group of garment workers from overseas in violation of the quarantine laws, triggering the second wave of COVID-19 here. There are three schools of thought as regards the origin of the current wave of COVID-19, which resulted from the Minuwangoda garment cluster. One is of the view that some workers brought from overseas caused an explosive spread of the disease, bring about the second wave of infections. It is also claimed in some quarters that there has been no second wave of the pandemic as such, and what we are experiencing is only an extension of the first wave, which got a turbo boost from numerous mass gatherings in the run-up to the last general election.

The government has claimed that some Ukrainians were responsible for the Minuwangoda cluster. Sate Minister of Primary Healthcare, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle herself has gone on record as saying the Minuwangoda cluster was caused by some members of a Ukrainian cabin crew, who stayed in a hotel at Seeduwa. But the government approved Weeratunga’s plan to bring Ukrainian tourists here!

Did the whims and fancies of a government crony endanger the entire country by triggering the second wave of infections? The police have frustrated the Attorney General’s efforts to have the Minuwangoda cluster probed and those responsible for it identified and prosecuted. Obviously, the government does not want the investigation to proceed lest it should open up a can of worms.

Ordinary people who do not wear face masks in public places are bundled into police vehicles in full view of television crews, and hauled up before courts. Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana, yesterday, warned of tougher action against the violators of the health regulations. There is no gainsaying that police have to get tough with such transgressors, given the rapid spread of the pandemic. But those who were instrumental in bringing in Ukrainian tourists without the knowledge of the SLTDA, and allowing them to move about freely have gone scot free. It was in early December that the Ukrainian government announced it would have to consider locking down the country if the pandemic situation took a turn for the worse. Towards the end of December, the Sri Lankan government decided to allow Ukrainian tourists to arrive here. It was fully aware of the health risks, but did not care. Was it swayed by nepotism?

The quarantine laws apply only to the ordinary people. So much for the government’s much-advertised pledge to restore the rule of law!