Beggars’ quarrel

Friday 28th April, 2023

Ruling party MPs and their Opposition counterparts never see eye to eye on anything other than ways and means of feathering their nests. The national interest does not figure, at all, in their scheme of things. So, it is only natural that they are clashing over the IMF bailout, which is to be put to the vote in Parliament.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking in Parliament, on Wednesday, urged all the MPs to sink their political differences and support the IMF deal, and vowed to grasp the nettle in doing what needs to be done to sort out the economy. It is heartening that he has chosen to act decisively, and one fervently hopes that he will succeed in his endeavour. Populism has been the bane of Sri Lanka’s economy, and tough decisions have to be made regardless of their political fallout to usher in economic stability.

The government’s agreement with the IMF is now a fait accompli, and there is hardly anything that the Opposition could do to effect changes thereto. Arguments for and against the IMF bailout are not based on the merits or demerits thereof. The government MPs are blindly supporting it, and the views of its critics are coloured by their political prejudices. The MPs of both sides of the House act out of expediency and not principle.

There is no way any member of the current Parliament could absolve herself or himself of the blame for the present economic crisis, which has come about due to reckless borrowing, corruption, waste and, above all, the mismanagement of the national economy over the decades. The political parties they represent have either misruled the country or supported corrupt, failed regimes. So, the onus is on these worthies to stop fighting and make a concerted effort to clean up the current economic mess they themselves have created.

The MPs’ right to support or oppose the IMF agreement or anything else for that matter cannot be questioned. But they should not lose sight of the fact that beggars are no choosers. Never do bailouts for bankrupt countries come without constricting conditions. It behoves those who oppose the IMF conditions for assistance to reveal how else they would have sought to tackle the economic crisis. Mere rhetoric will not do.

Wimal vs. Julie

US Ambassador in Colombo, Julie Chung, has sought to rubbish former Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s claim that the US and India were behind the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, last year, and she on behalf of Washington urged Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene to take over the government, at the height of Aragalaya, albeit in vain. Weerawansa’s conspiracy theory has gone viral on the Internet.

Ambassador Chung, however, has not named Weerawansa in her response; issuing a twitter message, she has only said, “I am disappointed that an MP has made baseless allegations and spread outright lies in a book that should be labeled “fiction.” We thought she would issue a detailed response, given the severity of the allegations Weerawansa has levelled against her.

One should not be so naïve as to believe that Weerawansa’s claim at issue is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What politicians say should be taken cum grano salis, as is public knowledge, for they are very economical with the truth, which they also stretch as if to the manner born, when they have to safeguard their interests, and the same is true of diplomats who, after all, are said to ‘lie overseas for their countries’.

Thus, it may not be advisable to draw any conclusions solely based on what Weerawansa or Ambassador Chung has said; their claims should be checked against information to be elicited from other sources if doubts anent the alleged conspiracy are to be allayed, if at all. This, we believe, is a task for Parliament, which orders probes at the drop of a hat. When an MP says that a foreign envoy approached the Speaker, and pressured him to take over as the Acting President during a popular uprising, Parliament should hold an investigation and get at the truth.

Weerawansa named names when he claimed that last year the US and India brought pressure to bear on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to sack Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe before quitting. Gamini Senarath, Secretary to the President, according to Weerawansa, sent two letters to President Rajapaksa, who was in the Maldives, for his signature; one was his resignation letter and the other was to announce the removal of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, but Gotabaya resigned without removing the PM. It will be interesting to know what Gotabaya, Speaker Abeyewardena and Senarath have to say about Weerawansa’s allegations.