We are sitting on a ticking time bomb and are unable to act in unison as a country to overcome the present impasse. Simultaneously we are bogged down in differences of opinion about what the next step should be.
As former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pointed out there has to be anational consensus to face the drastic economic downturn we are encountering today.
There should be a concerted effort on the part of the government in this process. Consulting other political parties in the political mainstream is essential in this endeavour. Inviting opposition politicians for debates, verbal duals and mudslinging and apportioning blame on past deeds will not serve any purpose save for them being viewed as juvenile acts of political immaturity. They will merely make the electorate more disillusioned. The government should realise that it is hanging on the last straw viz-a-viz the patience of the people and the moment it breaks the camel’s back is not far off.
Hence the government should act prudently in this delicate situation not to rouse the emotionsof the people by acting contrary to its own assertions.
Nevertheless, the events that unfolded in the Kalpitiya area poses the question whether the government is playing with the fire or whether it is so insensitive to the predicament which the people have fallen into that it simply does not care.
These will be the questions that many people will pose while looking at the duplicity of the administrators who are ensconced in their comfort while the masses suffer. The double-tongued policies of the government were on display on Thursday when crowds, seething with resentment, witnessed the high–handedness of a prominent politician who was instrumental for holding a luxury vehicle and motor bicyclerally with a police escort in the Puttlam and Kalpitiya areas. Some of the vehicles had jet-skis attached while a fuel bowser preceded them to attend to their needs.
The rally, with its high–powered engine capacity vehicles paraded on the trunk roads, while the hoi polloi were sweating it out in long and winding queues for fuel and domestic gas.
A livid Buddhist monk, Ven. MigettuwatteSumiththa thero, waving a black flag stopped the convoy of luxury SUVs and motor bicyclesto inquire about the rationale behind their exercise but to no avail. The rally proceeded to its destination with the police escort.
A video of the rally and of Ven. MigettuwatteSumiththa thero’s intervention went viral on social media.
Factcheck, which has fast acquired a reputation for being the government’s mouthpiece to whitewash its acts, rushed to put the record straight. It said that the organisers of the rally, Spin Riders Club, were on a charity mission to handover school kits to children in Kalpitya. Elaborating further it emphasised that it had already given Rs 1.2 million worth of essentials to the Apeksha hospital in Maharagama and were on their way from Mirigama to Kalpitiyato distribute 108 school kits which were worth Rs 5000 each.
The incident came in the aftermath of PresidentGotabaya Rajapakse’s call to the people to adopt austerity measures to surmount the gruelingeconomic situation.
The people, whose tolerance limits have reached the zenith and are livid with what is being dished out to them, were left bewildered by the spectacle. It also created a wave of rampant protests in the countryside with unruly crowds trying to rough up the bikers following a minor skirmish on the road. Such is the current sentiment that a spark will be enough to create an incident that will have a snowball effect. The total cost of the school kits is less than Rs 600,000, and the cost of fuel for the number of vehicles far exceeded Rs 600,000. A sensible measure would have been to collect the moneyto purchase more school kits.
Reports indicate that the Ministry of Public Security, Law and Order has called for a report on the matter from the Inspector General of Police. However, public confidence in government department’s is at an all time low and if one example is to be cited it is the manner in which this very same Ministry of Public Security handled the incident involving State Minister Lohan Ratwatte. In September last year, Ratwatte broke into the Anuradhapura prison and threatened to kill prisoners who were being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Despite the prima facie evidence surrounding the case, it took the Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera several days after the incident to order the IGP to inquire into it. The outcome of this and several other inquiries into it, including that of retired High Court Judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardene appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapakse, are either still in limbo or have been kept from the public. Meanwhile Ratwatte, who was the State Minister for Prison Management and Prisoner Rehabilitation at the time of the incident, was made to resign from his post. Earlier this month, he was appointed the State Minister of Container Warehouse Facilities.
Any organizer, minister or politician should refrain from hurting the people’s emotions during these trying times when the rulers have driven the country from bad to worse. Some people sympathising with the so-called Spin Riders Club have raised questions about whether the people were scared to question how fuel was gathered for the buses that were used to attend the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) rally in Colombo. According to the organisers the majority of the buses were hired and the question did not arise. The organisersemphasised that it was a worthy cause to let the leaders know of the difficulties of the masses.
The President may not be aware of the unruly and highhanded acts of the many members involving the Spin Riders Club. Hence it is the responsibility of his media to keep him informed of such matters for him to act swiftly. The President, during his address to the nationlast week, pledged that he won’t hesitate to take tough decisions to put the country back on the right track. Here is one such incident where he can prove that he means what he says.
Looking at the suffering and hardship of the people languishing in the queues for essentials, it is hard to believe that the people will trust him or his political party the Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna (SLPP) anymore.
During the President’s address to the nation he was also quite emphatic in saying that the present crisis is no fault of his and that he came forward to contest the presidency upon invitation.
Is he therefore implying that the problem has come from the past? There is some truth in what he says. The volume of loans the country has obtained since 2005 is unsustainable. More than 50 percent of it has been commercial loans at non–concessionary rates. As a developing country, Sri Lanka has not been able to bear the brunt of the massive loans it obtained to build infrastructure, some of which have proven to be white elephants.
After reaching the middle-income threshold, Sri Lanka stood to lose benefits enjoyed by countries in the low-income bracket.
On top of that, financial mismanagement and unabated corruption from 2005 onwards resulted in the economic downturn.
The only solution in the modern world lies with international financial agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
When the yahapalana government was in the driving seat, the present government which was in the opposition crowed about its inability and created a propaganda blitz to rally the masses around them with the slogan, “only we have solutions for the economic ills the country is encountering today”. The corporate media acted hand in glove with the present government to bring the SLPP government to power.
When they were about to crash, the yahapalanaya government had already sought the assistance of the IMF to find solutions to the recurring issues in the country, crucial among them being the fuel prices. The Yahapalanaya had the foresight to envision the loomingeconomic crisis that they sought the assistance of the IMF.
The pricing formula on fuel introduced by the then government was a proposal put forward by the IMF. It was pragmatic and practicable as far as the people were concerned. Nevertheless,Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera was at the receiving end. The present-day financial pundits such as Bandula Gunawardene mocked him for introducing the formula. They contended that the mechanism was a forerunner to increase the prices and not to give the benefit of the fluctuations in the global market to the people at large. It is paradoxical the present government, on IMF directions, is now planning to re-introduce the Mangala formula for fuel pricing. It may also consider similar measureswith electricity prices after coupling it with the cost incurred to generate electricity.
The economic mess we are in today correlates with the imprudent decisions of the present government.
It also bore the hallmarks of mismanagement of state affairs in the past.
Granting tax concessions to big-time businesses soon after the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government assumed office undoubtedly backfired, with state coffers losing at least 800 billion rupees every year in tax revenue which impacted the economy. Immediately after this impulsivedecision, people with economic sense foresaw the imminent dangers to the economy. The dithering of the government weighing pros and cons caused inordinate delays in seeking the assistance of the IMF to restructure the economy. The obscured battle between two factions in the government whether to seek the help of the IMF further aggravated the issue, invariably putting the country in this predicament today. There is a list of economic misdemeanours documented by several independent experts who, from time to time, have issued warnings to the government.
Eventually, after a long-drawn delay, the cabinet has given its nod to the government to talk to the IMF. Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse and later the president, reportedly had fruitful talks with the IMF regional head last week.
The IMF has agreed to talk to the Sri Lankan government. Hence the advice by anybody to the government is to seize the opportunity and act with restraint. The president has to steer clear of controversies if he wants to prove himself as a good- leader. The ongoing indomitable battle between the finance ministerand the Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivaard Cabraal should end immediately as it comes at a cost to the country. The Governor must be asked to step down and replaced by an economist with finesse and practical knowledge and not from the government’s group of technocrats in the Viyathmaga.
The government may have to take some unpopular decisions if they go along with the IMF but it will be beneficial in the long run.
The President must decide whether it is country first or his party first. The choice is his. Nevertheless, he should remember the people have gone through enough and more hardships under the Rajapakse antics since 2005.
