Waste in Parliament canteen

I see that an MP has drawn attention to the exorbitant cost of the heavily subsidized meals to members and their guests in the MP’s Restaurant. Mr. Speaker has promised to order a plausible calculation to be made. This is no less than what the public deserves, at a time when every belt has to be tightened. Our citizens would find it easier to bear the burdens that are sure to manifest before long, if they are sure that their elected representatives set an example.

About two years ago, during the initial enthusiasm that followed the passage of the RTI (Right to Information) Act, I submitted to the Competent Authority in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (M.P.A), a request for information on some 26 matters, all of which concerned the ridiculous pampering of MPs in the matter of financial cost. I was provided answers to just four questions, and a promise to provide four more (which they did not, up to date) and said that the others were not within their purview (but failing to tell me within whose purview they did). So, readers may understand why I cannot share the exhilaration of many who consider the RTI Act as a signal achievement by the “Yahapalana” dispensation.

I feel that I am not being unethical by disclosing my abject disappointment. In fact, I was so incensed at not being given access to what I believed to be not “privileged” information or a threat to national security, that I did inform the grudging provider that I would consider it my right to go public.

I would be stretching the indulgence of Mr. Editor too much, if I were to reproduce the long list of questions! In my fury at this dodging of what I considered was quite legitimate, in the spirit of the RTI Act, I tore up (Deleted) all of the correspondence to this episode. Even in the skeletal information released (in the matters of fuel and Medical claims) two things were clear :- (i) There was a strange consistency in the number of members seeking reimbursement of medical and fuel costs and medical claims (ii) the amounts repeated in many millions per month.

A disappointed citizen.

Dr. UPATISSA PETHIYAGODA