Editorial

The funny side of the fuel price hike

Published

4 years ago

2021/06/20

The post-announcement drama that followed the fuel price increase announcement would have been funny but for its ripple effect on the poor and not-so-poor. The rich and the well-to-do are one cup of tea; and the rest of the population another. The three-wheeler operator, whether he hires his own vehicle or that belonging to a mudalali, can and will increase his rate, but at the price of the number of hires he gets per day. A bus fare increase must follow, although how high that would be has not yet been worked out or announced. The haulage cost of essentials must rise and this will have a pervasive effect across the gamut of goods and services; and they will all come home to roost on the consumer. No wonder then that what many economists call a long delayed but essential measure has kicked up as much dust as it has and the government is already bleeding.

That’s one side of the coin. The other was the stunning statement of SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, harshly condemning the price increase and demanding the resignation of Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila. Journalists cutting their teeth in the trade (they prefer it to be called a profession) are taught that in writing a news story, unlike in sex, the climax comes first. Kariyawasam’s statement was near enough to Gammanpila’s announcement for the script to conform to the pyramidal structure of a news story. There the least important or interesting material or information comes at the tail with the juicy stuff at the top. That makes it easier for the sub-editor to trim the ‘copy’ to fit into the available space; or for that matter for the reader not to wade through a long article. Kariyawasam, who is often presented in the media as an attorney-at-law, cannot be so naive as to believe that Gammanpila announced his own decision a few days ago. Obviously something this important has to have the concurrence of the president, prime minister and the hierarchy of the government. In this instance it was approved by the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the Cost of Living, headed by the president and including the prime minister.

But Kariyawasam ignored all that and demanded Gammanpila’s resignation. The latter who seized the opportunity to earn himself some brownie points said he volunteered to be the bearer of the bad news to spare the president and prime minister of the resulting flak. He also had the temerity to ask “Who is Sagara Kariyawasam?” JVP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, gave him the answer. “He is the person who signed your nomination papers,” he replied. All that apart, Kariyawasam like Gammanpila, would not have fired the missile (or missive), ironically bearing the PM’s photograph on the letterhead, on his own volition. He was obviously instructed to do what he did by somebody powerful – very powerful. It has been widely suggested that this was dual citizen Basil Rajapaksa now sojourning in the USA, his first (or second?) home. He’s been away now for several weeks and no date of return has yet been mentioned although as head of a very powerful Task Force, his presence in the country is important.

There have been some feeble responses to this allegation. One of these was the assertion that if Basil, a powerful member of the Royal Family, wished to make his point, he could easily have spoken to either of his brothers, the president or the prime minister or even nephew, Namal. Instead why did he choose Kariyawasam to fire off a controversial statement if he indeed did so? The latter, of course, has a National List seat in Parliament together with a lifetime pension (for himself and his widow), courtesy of the taxpayer. For this he has to thank a powerful patron. This, some have it, is Basil Rajapaksa. But that, of course, remains an unproven and probably never to be proven allegation. It was Basil after all, who created the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP), aka Pohottuwa, which leads the ruling coalition. Thus, apart from his position as an immediate family member of the leaders of the ‘Double Paksa’ government, as our regular columnist, Kumar David, delights in calling the ruling Establishment, he is much more. He created the party that won the last election and is its National Organizer. His influence then on cabinet making and National List choices would have been pervasive.

It is also pertinent to ask why the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) chose to bring a vote of no confidence against Gammanpila rather than against the government. The Sajith Premadasa party, obviously knows as well as everyone else that the fuel price increase was a government decision rather than one unilaterally made by the energy minister. Why then is it training its guns at the loquacious Gammanpila rather than the government itself? We are told that it’s all a matter of strategy debated in the inner councils of the major opposition party. The thinking is that if a no confidence motion was moved against the government, all its components will unitedly fight it. But if it is aimed at Gammanpila, there will be those deeply embarrassed about the price increases and its effect on their constituents who may be tempted to break ranks. Sagara Kariyawasam, for instance, will find it difficult to express confidence in Gammanpila. But he has an easy way out. He can be absent at voting time like so many have done before. Hopefully, Ranil Wickremesinghe would have taken his National List seat before the forthcoming debate. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

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Editorial

‘Swindlers List’

Published

21 hours ago

2024/12/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

Thursday 26th December, 2024

Power not only corrupts but also makes the wielders thereof cherish the delusion that popular mandates are cartes blanches for them to do as they please and be above the law. This fact has been borne out by the despicable manner in which the President’s Fund has been misused, if not abused, under successive governments.

Thankfully, the President’s Fund is now under the microscope, and numerous questionable fund allocations have already come to light. It has been revealed that the Executive Presidents during previous dispensations arbitrarily allocated money from the President’s Fund to their kith and kin at the expense of the needy on the waiting list.

The JVP-led NPP government has released a list of politicians who have obtained money from the President’s Fund over the years in violation of the terms and conditions governing the provision of relief therefrom. All of them have obtained huge sums of money by leveraging their political connections, and those shameless characters include a tainted politician who fell off an upper-floor balcony of a hotel down under, over a decade ago, while trying to enter an adjoining room a la Spider-Man; he eventually got entangled in a web of lies of his own making.

Embroiled in an academic credentials scandal and unable to make good on its election promises and solve burning issues such as the shortages of rice and coconut and the soaring prices of essentials, the NPP government is all out to divert attention from its failure by carrying out propaganda attacks on the Opposition, which is on the offensive. However, the release of the Swindlers List, as it were, and the police probe into the misuse of the President Fund are most welcome. This has been an unintended benefit of the ongoing propaganda battle between the government and the Opposition.

As for financial assistance from the President’s Fund for patients, one of the conditions stipulated by law is that the family of the patient seeking relief is without adequate financial resources to meet the cost of surgery/treatment. It has also been specified that the monthly income of the family including the patient, spouse and unmarried children should not exceed Rs. 200,000, and a Divisional Secretary should recommend that the person concerned is eligible for financial assistance.

The President’s Fund relief scheme for patients was launched to provide financial assistance to low-income individuals who lack the means to bear the costs of medical treatment or surgery. It is therefore wrong for the President and/or the governing board of the Presidential Fund to grant funds to those who have the wherewithal to afford treatment or surgery either in this country or overseas.

Obviously, politicians who spend colossal amounts of money on their election campaigns and live the high life, residing in palatial houses, moving about in super-luxury vehicles, and travelling the world, are not eligible for financial assistance from the President’s Fund.

The CID is reported to have been called in to investigate the misuse/abuse of the President’s Fund. One cannot but agree with the incumbent government on this score although it is driven by an ulterior motive. One can only hope that the ongoing investigation will reach a successful conclusion, and legal action will be instituted against all those who are responsible for the misappropriation of state funds.

The Swindlers List submitted by the NPP government to Parliament is incomplete; it contains only the names of Opposition politicians. The public has a right to know how all Presidents have misused/abused the President’s Fund since 1978. Are there any individuals connected to the JVP or the NPP among those who have received financial assistance from the President Fund fraudulently, as claimed by Opposition MP Dayasiri Jayasekera, one of those exposed by the government?

Let Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa be urged to make public a complete list of beneficiaries of assistance from the President’s Fund instead of releasing names selectively to settle political scores. The NPP government, which is full of self-righteous members, should be able to do so if it has nothing to hide. It is hoped that the Opposition MPs who have not abused their political connections to obtain assistance from the President’s Fund will crank up pressure on the government to do so.

Editorial

Of that half-open can of worms

Published

2 days ago

2024/12/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

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.

Editorial

Grim Reaper in overdrive

Published

3 days ago

2024/12/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

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.