by Vishvanath
The JVP-led NPP government has bowed to the inevitable. Speaker Asoka Ranwala resigned from his post on Friday amidst calls from the Opposition for the government to remove him for allegedly making a false claim that he had a doctorate. However, he insists that his academic qualifications are not fake although he is not in a position to prove them immediately. His claim can be considered a face-saving attempt. He knows that everybody will lose interest in his academic credentials with the passage of time when he sits in the parliament as an ordinary MP. The Opposition will turn to other targets in a bid to gain political mileage and whip up public opinion against the government.
Nobody cared two hoots about the doctorates which the members of previous governments flaunted. Even MP Mervyn Silva, who earned notoriety for his boorish and aggressive behaviour, called himself ‘Dr.’, during the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. MP Ranwala’s educational qualifications became an issue of public concern because the NPP used the doctorates of its candidates in the parliamentary election fray to make itself out to be a cut above the other political parties, and its leaders were critical of the semi-literate MPs who misbehaved in the parliament. The NPP presented itself to the public as a standard bearer for political reform and good governance, and obtained a huge mandate to bring about a ‘system change’. So, it is only natural that the NPP administration has come under much more public scrutiny than its predecessors.
In respect of MP Ranwala’s doctorate issue, the NPP government initially did as its predecessors had done in situations where their members came under attack from the Opposition; it sought to make light of the controversy, and some of its members even issued veiled threats to those who took on Ranwala. His critics were warned that they would have to face the consequences of their campaign against him.
Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa himself said the NPP did not take the controversy over Speaker Ranwala’s educational qualifications seriously. But the government subsequently woke up to the seriousness of the situation and realized that it would be counterproductive to go on defending Ranwala vis-à-vis the Opposition’s determined bid to move a no-faith motion against him. It made a virtue of necessity by asking him to step down and preempt the Opposition’s no-faith motion against him. The SJB was planning to hand over a no-confidence motion against Speaker Ranwala next Tuesday. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa was shown on television signing the motion.
The NPP has a two-thirds majority in the parliament, and the Opposition cannot secure the passage of a no-faith motion, or anything else for that matter, but shooting down a no-confidence motion in defence of Speaker Ranwala would have tarnished the government’s image irreparably; the NPP has condemned other political parties, especially the SLPP and the UNP, for defending their members who were in the wrong when no-faith motions were moved against them. Among them was Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the Speaker of the last parliament. The NPP MPs of the day, especially Anura Kumara Dissanayake, used to urge Speaker Abeywardene to maintain parliamentary standards. The SLPP-UNP government, under Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency, stooped so low as to defend the then Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella when the Opposition moved a motion of no confidence against him for the fraudulent procurement of substandard medication drugs and equipment on his watch. The NPP tore that administration to shreds for defending the likes of Rambukwella, who was prosecuted subsequently. President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s humiliating defeat in the last presidential election, and the UNP’s inability to contest last month’s general election under its own steam can be attributed to, among other things, the despicable manner in which tainted politicians were defended during the SLPP-UNP government.
Morality and ethics constituted a main plank of the NPP’s political platform, and the incumbent government came to power condemning all other parties for immoral and unethical practices and promising to usher in good governance. So, the NPP government would have forfeited its moral right to be critical of its political opponents if it had gone on defending Speaker Ranwala while protests against him were gathering momentum; it was left with no alternative but to ask him to step down.
However, Speaker Ranwala’s resignation is not likely to bring the NPP government’s problems to an end at least in the short-term. Some more NPP MPs are said to have inflated their academic qualifications to gain political mileage. The Opposition is all out to find out whether all the NPP MPs who use the title ‘Dr’ have doctorates or medical degrees. The SJB, the UNP, the SLPP, etc., have got something to hold on to besides the escalating prices of rice and coconuts and the NPP’s unfulfilled election promise.
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara has blamed the parliamentary staff for using the courtesy title, ‘Dr’, for him and they have apologized to him for doing so. Parliament’s Legislative Services Director and Acting Communication Director Jayalath Perera, issuing a statement on Minister Nanayakkara’s courtesy title said on Friday, “I would like to emphasise the following points in relation to reports published in the media regarding the title ‘Dr.’ mentioned before the name of Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara, in the directory of Members of Parliament on the Parliament website.
“It is important to note that Harshana Nanayakkara has not indicated holding a doctoral degree in the information provided to Parliament. The appearance of “Dr.” before the Minister’s name was a result of an error in entering the relevant data.”
The resignation of Speaker Ranwala has no doubt considerably dented the credentials of the NPP leaders who moralize and claim to be privy to the affairs of other political parties. They should have put their own house in order before finding fault with others. There is no way they can convince the public that they were not aware that Ranwala could not prove his academic qualifications.
However, if they get their act together on the propaganda front, they might be able gain some political mileage from Ranwala’s resignation. They can tell the public that everyone in the NPP has to adhere to accountability, which Sri Lankan politics is devoid of, and the fate that has befallen Ranwala is proof of their commitment to high moral and ethical standards. In fact, President Dissanayake said ahead of the announcement of Speaker Ranwala’s resignation on Friday that his government would take action against any wrongdoer regardless of his or her position. There is however no guarantee that the public will buy into such claims readily. There’s the rub.
