Queues, crooks and public

Wednesday 28th August, 2024

Politicians are usually held solely responsible for the unholy mess Sri Lanka finds itself in. Perhaps, it is not fair to single them out for reproof and condemnation; some public officials are equally blameworthy for the present shambles. The plight of those who apply for passports is a case in point. The government seems to have taken the long lines of people near the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) for granted. Otherwise, it cannot be explained why no action has so far been taken to eliminate inordinate delays in the process of issuing passports.

While expressing regret for the unpardonable delays at his institution, Director General of DIE Harsha Ilukpitiya has sought to shift part of the blame for this sorry state of affairs on to the public. Claiming that only 23 percent of the passports issued last year have so far been used for foreign travel, he has urged the public to refrain from obtaining passports unnecessarily. What he has said is tantamount to an indictment of the incumbent government and those who promote themselves as an alternative to it, for the implication of his claim is that the people are keeping the option of leaving the country open because they have lost faith in the current dispensation and its political rivals jockeying for power.

Ilukpitiya’s claim that most people have not used the recently-obtained passport to go overseas may be true, but it cannot be cited in extenuation of the failure of the DIE to procure blank passports in sufficient numbers to cater to the growing demand. It is not fair to expect the public to wait patiently until the commencement of the issuance of the so-called e-passports, which might even be pie in the sky.

People pay for their passports, and therefore it is incumbent upon the DIE to make them available. If its top brass cannot carry out their duties and functions properly, they must be replaced with capable officials to run this vital institution efficiently and serve the public to their satisfaction. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted for his failure to deliver, and the failed DIE officials must not be spared.

Perhaps, only well-heeled politicians and their progeny are not planning to leave this country. They are living the high life, which will make even the super-rich in the Global North turn green with envy. But others are troubled by a gnawing sense of uncertainty about their future; since the onset of the current economic crisis, many Sri Lankans have migrated in pursuit of a better future. Unsurprisingly, so many people are applying for passports with a view to making use of them in the future. It is up to them to decide what to do with their passports which they pay for.

The DIE has given the lie to the government’s boastful claim that it has done away with queues, which characterised the latter stages of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency. Hundreds of people are seen near the DIE, waiting in winding queues for days on end to obtain passports; they rough it in the streets for the night. How can the government expect the public to buy into its claim that there will be no queues for essentials in the future?

Show us a state institution where long queues are the norm and people have to jump through the hoops to have their needs met, and we will show you a corrupt outfit. Crooked officials cause inordinate delays and wear people down, eventually forcing them to grease palms to get things done. This is the name of the game where most state institutions are concerned.

Touts with links to some corrupt DIE officials are said to be having a field day. Will the government care to give the DIE a radical shake-up urgently, streamline the issuance of passports and prove that it is worth its salt, if at all?