Friday 27th December, 2024

A cascade of tectonic shifts triggered by the 2022 uprising or Aragalaya during the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government has reshaped Sri Lanka’s politics in such a way that more than 6,000 politicians have so far gone out of circulation, according to an election monitoring outfit. Executive Director of PAFFREL (People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections) Rohana Hettiarachchi has reportedly said those politicians were left with no alternative but to call it quits because they knew that they had absolutely no chance of re-election.

Among them are some prominent figures including political party leaders. This is not something the public bargained for. Those politicians were expected to remain active in politics until they went the way of all flesh. The news of their mass exit from politics must have gladdened many a heart, but the problem is that in this country the political flotsam and jetsam swept away by occasional giant waves like the one we witnessed last month are washed back ashore after drifting for years. There is also no guarantee that the newcomers to politics will be any better.

We have seen mountains in labour groan but deliver mice on several occasions during the past several decades. The current dispensation, which promised a revolutionary change in every sphere, has chosen to maintain the status quo; what we see on the economic front is a continuation of the policies and programmes of the previous regime to all intents and purposes. The JVP-led NPP made a solemn pledge to solve the problem of rice market manipulations, with a single stroke of the presidential pen.

But a cartel of millers continues to exploit farmers and consumers alike, and the government has opted for a shameful capitulation; it has restored to rice imports, which it vehemently condemned previous administrations for. The President’s pen has apparently run out of ink! There is hardly any difference between the new government’s foreign policy and that of the previous administration.

The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government was in the grip of a coterie of self-styled intellectuals, who banded together to form ‘Viyathmaga’, and grabbed key positions in the state sector following the SLPP’s electoral victories. They ruined that regime. The current administration is also swayed by a me-too version of ‘Viyathmaga’, and some of its members have been exposed for flaunting fake doctorates! Above all, it’s all hat and no cattle where the NPP’s promise ‘to catch thieves’ is concerned.

What has unfolded so far under the current administration is like a replay of the early stages of the Yahapalana and SLPP governments. It is hoped that the new leaders will care to bring about the revolutionary change they promised before the presidential and parliamentary polls so that their rule will not end up being something like a remake of an old movie or stage play with a new cast.

“Pity the land that needs a hero”, Brecht has famously said. Since Independence, Sri Lanka has been looking for heroes, fallen for the wiles of numerous bogus messiahs and seen many false dawns. Even a shaman succeeded in making a killing by selling an untested herby syrup, called Dhammika peniya, which was touted as a cure for Covid-19; he even duped some political leaders into swallowing it.

The news about the riddance of 6,000 politicians reminds us of an Aesopian fable, where a fox has one of its legs stuck in a rock crevice in a shallow stream. Having struggled to free itself but in vain, the poor creature is lying exhausted and covered with ticks when a small animal which happens to pass by offers to remove the ticks as it is not strong enough to do anything else.

The fox says the parasites had better be left untouched because they are already bloated and therefore cannot suck anymore blood, and if they are removed another colony of ticks will descend on it and bleed it dry.

Sri Lanka has been in the same predicament as the aforesaid fox all these years; successive governments have drained its Treasury dry with reckless spending and corruption. One can only hope that the new dispensation will be different. Hope is said to spring eternal.

Wednesday 25th December, 2024

The CID has once again proved its selective efficiency and adeptness at doing political work. No sooner had it received a complaint from Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara that someone had sought to discredit him by having the title, ‘Dr’, placed before his name on the parliamentary website than it launched an investigation, interrogated the parliament staff and recorded statements, but its probe has apparently come up against a brick wall.

Parliament workers have reportedly informed the CID that the titles given to the NPP MPs on the House website are based on information contained in a letter sent by the office of the Leader of the House, Bimal Ratnayake. What is described as an image of the letter in question is doing the rounds in the digital realm. The government has chosen to remain silent on the letter and the progress in the CID probe, which is bound to open a can of worms for it.

What will the CID do now? Will it grill the staff of the Leader of the House as well? It will be interesting to see what the government’s reaction is. Will the Justice Minister, who thinks there has been a sinister campaign against him, urge the CID to go the whole hog and get to the bottom of it?

Strangely, an official of the Parliament Communication Department apologised to Minister Nanayakkara for what he called an inadvertent data entry error which had led to the placement of ‘Dr’ before Nanayakkara’s name. He issued a statement to that effect when the Opposition raised questions about the academic credentials of the NPP MPs. He owes an explanation to the public.

Minister Nanayakkara, after lodging his complaint with the CID, told the media that he suspected that there was a conspiracy to tarnish his image. Implying the involvement of his political opponents in ‘the conspiracy’, he went on to claim that ‘the dog’ (read the previous dispensation) had been got rid of but there were some ‘fleas’ left, and they too would be dealt with appropriately. He also expressed concern about what he called a counterrevolution.

The Justice Minister has caused a great injustice to man’s best friend. The NPP won elections by condemning the members of the previous government as a bunch of crooks who deserved to be behind bars for their many crimes; they included a politician who lined his pockets at the expense of cancer patients. Now, the Justice Minister likens those characters to canines!

The mention of ‘counterrevolution’ must have sent a chill down the spines of those who are au fait with world history, especially the brutal manner in which some self-proclaimed socialist regimes dealt with ‘counterrevolutionaries’; they resorted to witch-hunts and kangaroo trials which led to the elimination of dissenters. This country is no stranger to savage political violence.

Going by the aforesaid leaked letter, a wag asks whether the office of the Leader of the House has become the cradle of the ‘counterrevolution’ and home to the ‘fleas’ that have left the ‘dog’ in flight.

It defies comprehension why Minister Nanayakkara made a beeline for the CID over the doctorate issue. He should have taken it up with the Speaker and the Secretary General of Parliament and asked for remedial action. That is the proper procedure. Unfortunately, aspersions are now being cast on certain parliament officials.

The NPP parliamentary group has some members who served in previous parliaments and therefore are familiar with parliamentary affairs, and it is incumbent upon them to guide their junior colleagues.

Tuesday 24th December, 2024

A sharp increase in fatal road accidents during the past few weeks has jolted the police into inspecting vehicles to check their roadworthiness. As many as 13 lives were lost in road mishaps on Saturday (21). It is believed that many such accidents occur due to the sheer number of unroadworthy vehicles on the road, posing safety risks to motorists, passengers and pedestrians alike. The police must step up inspections and prosecute the drivers and owners of unsafe vehicles.

In 2023, about 2,500 lives were lost in 2,200 road accidents in Sri Lanka, according to the police. Pedestrians accounted for the highest number of road traffic fatalities––more than 740.

Legal action must be instituted against those who issue bogus fitness certificates for unroadworthy vehicles, especially buses and trucks. If the existing laws do not provide for deterrent punishment for them, new ones will have to be introduced as a national priority.

A World Bank (WB) report, Delivering Road Safety in Sri Lanka Leadership Priorities and Initiatives to 2030, provides a number of valuable insights into the deterioration of road safety in Sri Lanka, and spells out what needs to be done to remedy the situation. The following, inter alia, have been identified as the causative factors: an increase in the number of vehicles, poor road maintenance, improper road expansion, less scrutiny in issuing driving licences, ineffectiveness of the authorities in penalising road traffic offences, and inefficiency of public transport system. Citing anecdotal evidence, the report points out that speeding, drunk driving, fatigue, tyre bursts, animal crossing and unprotected level crossings are some other causes of road accidents. The ever-increasing narcotic addiction among drivers of heavy vehicles has also become one of the main causes of road fatalities.

The aforesaid WB report informs us that Sri Lanka will need an additional investment of USD 2 billion to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.6 target of a 50% reduction in national road crash fatalities. Given Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, such a huge investment is not within the realm of possibility, but it is a goal that the country must work towards. There are several practicable measures that can be adopted to save lives in the meantime, vehicle inspections being one of them.

Thanks to stern police action, drunk driving menace is believed to have been brought down to a manageable level, but there has emerged another problem—narcotic addiction among bus and truck drivers.

Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association President Gemunu Wijeratne is on record as having said that 50% bus drivers and conductors are addicted to drugs countrywide. In 2021, then State Minister Dilum Amunugama revealed that 80% of the bus drivers in Colombo and its suburbs worked under the influence of narcotics. A pilot project conducted by the police last year helped nab about 100 drug addicts behind the wheel. Most of them were addicted to crystal methamphetamine popularly known as ICE. This points to the pressing need for random narcotic detection tests to be increased.

The least that can be done to reduce road accidents and save precious lives is to have the police step up operations to nab drug/alcohol addicts behind the wheel, rein in reckless drivers, find unroadworthy vehicles and bust rackets related to the issuance of driving licences and vehicle fitness certificates. That may be the way to make the Grim Reaper, currently in overdrive, downshift and slow down until a comprehensive road safety programme is launched with the participation of all stakeholders to achieve the SDGs.