The water grab

The Sunday papers last week gave a lot of play to Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s gripe that as many as 48 ministers and MPs (ex-MPs included) have not paid their water bills. Nanayakkara, a veteran leftist politician, today is no longer the firebrand he was in the glory days of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. He’s been compelled to compromise once-held values both as a cabinet minister and to make electoral alliances to help get himself elected to Parliament. Despite his age – he is now over 82-years old – he occasionally shows flashes of the old fire; one example being his recent statement on the unpaid water bills of ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, and threat to haul them before court. This undoubtedly resonated in a constituency of ordinary people who face peremptory disconnection by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) if they are running arrears of over Rs. 5,000 on their water bills.

The obvious question that arose in the minds of most on hearing the minister’s outburst was: Why doesn’t the NWSDB treat them on the same footing as every Silva, Perera, Sinniah or Mohamed and disconnect their supplies? At a meeting last week in his ministry, Vasu as he is best known in the country, said about Rs. 10 million accumulated water bill arrears were owed by various politicos on supplies to their official and private homes. The minister was quoted telling his officials to send off letters of demand to the offenders. But why? To our mind that is nothing but a further time wasting tactic. What happens if the demands are not met? Court action? We all know what that means. Protracted interminable proceedings. Meanwhile the culprits are enjoying their showers, flushing their toilets and eating home cooked meals with their taps still running despite the unpaid bills.

We reported that Water Board officials have attempted to get ministries to which some of these politicians are, or were, attached to pay up. They have been told that settling these bills was the obligation of the occupants of the premises supplied. Quite right. But if they don’t, pray why are supplies not promptly disconnected? That’s what is done to ordinary people. It’s another kettle of fish, it appears, for these extraordinary VIPs. Nanayakkara was quoted in our report last Sunday saying that red notices have been sent out and that he had personally asked some defaulting politicians to settle; but to no effect. He added that the names of the culprits would be known once action is filed this month. Also, he had asked officials to explore the possibility of having these dues deducted from the allowances and pensions of parliamentarians who owe the Water Board. We do not know whether this is possible or not without the prior agreement of the person from whom the deduction is to be made. Banks sometimes make such arrangements for loan installments to be deducted from borrowers’ salaries, but with their prior consent.

But a much bigger question looms. Have various ministries, departments and other government agencies been settling the water bills, or the much larger electricity bills, of politicians occupying government houses? These palatial residences built in prime locations mostly during the more spacious colonial period are outright luxuries, now as then, for anybody – be it bureaucrat or politico. They are much sought and demand far outstrips supply. Those allocated such residences are indeed privileged. If they, on top of that benefit, have their water and electricity bills, obviously a personal expense that must be paid ut of their own pockets, settled with taxpayer funds, that will be more than icing on the cake. Their bread is being buttered on both sides! The NWSDB exploring with ministries etc. on whether they can settle the bills strongly suggests that this may have been a past practice, perhaps still existing in some places. We don’t know, but the subject is well worth investigating.

Sometimes security considerations dictate that a VIP at risk be accommodated in official housing. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was so housed both as a minister and an opposition MP on a threat perception. So was Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali when he served as Minister of National Security at the height of the terrorist war. It would be unfair to have expected either Kadirgamar or Athulathmudali to pay for the electricity consumed by security floodlighting of such premises out of their private pockets. Those are charges that must lie on the state which is obliged to protect them. Unfortunately both these high profile ministers died at the hands of assassins – Kadirgamar while he was exercising in the swimming pool at his private residence and Athulathmudali at a political meeting. Kadirgamar was tightly protected at the time he was shot. Not so Athulathmudali about whose assassination there are still unanswered questions asked.

There is widespread public opinion in the country that elected office holders are a pampered lot, showered with benefits and privileges totally beyond the means of a hard-pressed economy like ours. Ordinary people struggling to barely survive view the political establishment as a greedy lot of fat cats extracting whatever they can from the public purse. The cars they ride, their foreign junkets, paid personal staff (including wives) enjoying all manner of perks are viewed with disdain. And now, Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s expose last week suggested that some of them are not paying for their water. There is also the suspicion that politicians may be passing their electricity bills to their ministries for settlement. The Auditor-General must immediately look into these matters.