Monday 23rd February, 2026

The JVP-NPP government is in overdrive trying to defend the indefensible. Its MPs and propagandists are all out to mislead the public into believing that the procurement of coal from a new company for the Norochcholai power plant has been free from malpractice. Theirs is a Sisyphean task. The Opposition has produced a recent report issued by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to support its argument that the last eight shiploads of coal were low quality and have caused huge losses to the state coffers.

The government has trotted out an absurd excuse for procuring low-grade coal; it says the coal supplier has been fined for the substandard coal stocks. The errant company has thus been allowed to continue to supply low-quality coal, which cannot be sold to any other country, and make huge profits even after paying fines so that its owners and the corrupt Sri Lankan politicians who manipulated the tender process in favour of it can laugh all the way to the bank. What the government politicians and their propaganda hitmen conceal from the public is that coal with a calorific value below the permissible floor must be rejected outright, and it is illegal for such low quality coal to be procured under any circumstances. Otherwise, all low-quality, unsaleable coal in the world will be dumped here, and the supplier will not mind paying fines because it can still make profits.

SLPP MP D.V. Chanaka has told Parliament that only 107 metric tons of coal are usually required per hour to generate 300 megawatts of electricity, but now as many as 120 metric tons of newly imported coal have to be burnt to produce the same amount of power. Thus, about 13 extra metric tonnes of coal are required per hour due to the scam, according to Chanaka, who has said tests have revealed that the calorific value of newly imported coal shipments ranged from 5,600 and 5,800 kilocalories per kilogram (kcal/kg) although under the coal tender guidelines, the minimum required calorific value is 5,900 kcal/kg. Now, the CEB will have to use more coal to produce the required amount of power or burn diesel to meet the shortfall. Either way, the CEB will suffer massive losses, which will be conveniently passed on to the public. It has already asked for a 13.56% power tariff hike.

There is a prima facie case of fraudulent procurement of coal, which must not go uninvestigated. Former Ministers have been incarcerated for less serious offences, such as obtaining fuel allowances fraudulently and politcally motivated distribution of carrom boards, etc., ahead of a presidential election. Another former minister and his sons are being held on remand for misusing a state-owned truck among other things. So, there is no way the JVP-NPP government, which pontificates to others about the virtues of good governance and claims to be on a crusade against corruption, can refuse to institute legal action against those responsible for the mega coal scam.

Meanwhile, the Opposition should seriously consider sacking its advisors and strategists. Surprisingly, it has not moved a vote of no confidence against Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody, giving the government a choice between throwing him to the wolves and defending him. The JVP/NPP is very likely to make the same mistake as its immediate predecessor, the SLPP-UNP regime, which defended the then Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella when a motion of no faith was moved against him over the procurement of fake immunoglobulin, etc. In doing so, that administration demonstrated that it had no qualms about defending the corrupt, and incurred much public wrath, which found expression in a massive protest vote against it. The SJB-led Opposition can use a no-confidence vote to expose the self-righteous JVP-NPP government for shielding the corrupt. The coal scam is a sitter, so to speak. Will the Opposition drop it?

A shortage of cooking gas has affected several areas, where there are long lines of people near gas sales points. These scenes evoke one’s dreadful memories of winding queues for essential commodities in 2022. The two situations however do not bear comparison in that the country had no forex for petroleum imports in 2022 whereas there is no such problem at present; the gas shortage is mainly due to supply mismanagement.

The LP gas shortage has gladdened the hearts of the Opposition politicians immensely. They have got hold of something to beat the government with. They are making the most of the issue and urging the government to ensure an uninterrupted gas supply. Having failed to secure enough popular support to win elections, they are apparently deriving some perverse pleasure from the people’s predicament. In 2022, the then Opposition, including the JVP, used public resentment, which stemmed from shortages of essentials and long queues, to fuel their political projects and oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The JVP went on to garner favour with the irate public and capture state power.

The JVP-NPP government is taking great pains to deny the obvious. On Friday, the ruling party frontbenchers went ballistic in Parliament, berating the Opposition for making what they termed a false claim that there was a gas shortage. They are far removed from reality. If they care to look around, they will see long lines of people near gas sales points in some areas. They had better come to terms with reality and sort out the gas shortage, which shows signs of worsening.

The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has sought to make light of the gas shortage. It has been making political statements in defence of the government, instead of taking action to safeguard the interests of consumers. It has urged the public not to stock up on cooking gas. It has also claimed that the state-owned gas company, Litro, has had to meet a shortfall in the gas supply caused by the failure of Laugfs to cater to its consumers. The CAA needs to be told that there is no way the public can hoard cooking gas. They cannot store more LP gas than the cylinders in their possession can hold. It is next to impossible to purchase new cylinders to hoard gas. Litro also does not supply gas to Laugfs consumers using yellow cylinders, and therefore it does not have to release more gas into the market to meet a Laugfs gas supply shortfall.

The government insists that Litro has enough gas stocks. If so, why doesn’t it order Litro to increase the supply and end the gas shortage forthwith? The Opposition has said the gas shortage has come about as the government awarded the contract for supplying LP gas to a new company. One may recall that speaking in Parliament in December 2025, Opposition MP Chamara Sampath Dassanayake warned of a possible gas shortage in February. He said the government in its wisdom had contracted a new gas supplier who was not capable of ensuring a reliable supply. Former Minister Champika Ranawaka has said the government had to change the supplier in keeping with the conditions the US laid down for reducing the so-called Trump tariffs on Sri Lankan exports. The government has chosen to remain silent on these claims. An explanation is called for. If it is true that the new supplier is not equal to the task of ensuring a steady supply of LP gas, the government will have its work cut out to eliminate gas shortages and queues and prevent public anger from welling up.

People’s aversion to shortages of essentials and queues knows no bounds. It was one of the reasons for the crushing defeat the SLFP-led United Front government suffered in 1977. It also became the undoing of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency in 2022. Aragalaya, which developed into a massive protest campaign, started off as a series of agitations against fuel and milk food shortages, in urban areas. People did not have to take to the streets in 2022; they were already there waiting in winding queues. The situation is obviously not so bad at present, but anything is possible in politics. It is a big mistake for a government to take public resentment for granted.

Saturday 21st February, 2026

The JVP-NPP government has appointed another Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to study the electoral system under which the Provincial Council (PC) elections are to be conducted and submit proposals and recommendations to Parliament. It is bound to take a month of Sundays to complete that task. In fact, that is exactly what it is intended to do; the government wants the PC elections delayed further as it is not ready for an electoral contest.

Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne announced in the House that the PSC had been constituted under the chairmanship of Minister Vijitha Herath. Other members are Muneer Mulaffer, Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala, Arun Hemachandra, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Mano Ganesan, Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi, Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam, Samanmalee Gunasinghe, Darmapriya Wijesinghe, Chandana Sooriyaarachchi and Nizam Kariapper. The PSC is scheduled to commence deliberations shortly. Rasamanickam has already warned that the government is all out to postpone the PC polls further.

The JVP-NPP government, which came to power promising a new political culture, has demonstrated that it does not scruple to stoop to any level to safeguard its political interests. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, the JVP/NPP promised to hold the PC elections expeditiously if voted into power. The NPP election manifesto, A Thriving Nation: A beautiful Life, makes a solemn pledge to hold the PC polls within one year of the formation of an NPP government. “Provincial councils and local government elections, which are currently postponed indefinitely, will be held within a year to provide an opportunity for the people to join the governance” (p. 127). It is said that between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.

There is no argument about the need for electoral reforms. The Proportional Representation (PR) system has shortcomings, which need to be rectified. The new Mixed Proportional system, under which the local government (LG) elections are held, is seriously flawed. It has led to a two-fold increase in the number of local councillors. There are now more than 8,000 LG members. This increase may have served the interests of politicians and their parties but certainly not those of the public. Why should the people be made to pay through the nose to maintain more than 8,000 councillors when the LG bodies can manage with only half that number as they did in the past.

If the PC elections are also held under the Mixed Proportional system, the number of provincial councillors will double. Currently, about 450 PC members are elected. There is no gainsaying that the Mixed Proportional system has to be changed before being used at the provincial level. The implementation of the new electoral system requires the delimitation of electoral boundaries. Much has been discussed about the flaws in this system and the remedies to be adopted. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.

What the government should do now is to amend the PC Elections Act and hold the long overdue PC elections under the PR system soon while the PSC proceedings are continuing. Future PC elections can be held under a new electoral system. The Opposition has been clamouring for the PC polls, and therefore an amendment to the PC laws can be ratified unanimously. After the PCs are duly elected, the PSC on electoral reforms can take as long as it needs to reinvent the wheel.