What a farce?

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

In a five-star hotel, on 3rd December, was held a ceremony to felicitate a lawyer who has completed 50 years of service but this was a celebration with a difference; it was to felicitate a non-practicing lawyer! According to his own recollections, he may have practiced law for around five years but some others in the profession doubt this, claiming that he may have practiced law, at most, for two years. Even if you take his word, how can one claim the glory of half a century when one had got out at one tenth of that! Perhaps, it is because the changed profession has similarities to the original; both involving the act of twisting facts to suit the purpose! It is only in the ‘land-like-no-other’ this sort of farcical felicitations can take place. In fact, this is one of many and Sri Lanka is fast becoming the land of the farces!

Would this farce have taken place if not for the fact that the person concerned is the President of Sri Lanka; non-elected at that! Perhaps, that was even a bigger farce. Genuine protests by the suffering masses were exploited by scheming politicians as well as other interested parties leading to our ‘big brothers’ stepping in for a regime change. They were successful in getting rid of a President elected by a clear mandate to be replaced by a person whom the voters did not deem fit even to occupy a seat in the parliament. I am yet to find a country where the parliament elected a president who had to enter the parliament via a concessionary route after having being rejected by the voter!

According to a news report, at the largely attended felicitation ceremony for President Ranil Wickremesinghe completing 50 years as a lawyer, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Chairman and Managing Director Ronald Perera PC presented the President with a Mont Blanc fountain pen with the initials “RW” engraved on it when the President responded quickly saying “now I have a nice pen to sign Detention Orders.” No doubt the SLIC defrayed the cost of the powerful pen, may be the whole event!

Mr Perera has also stated: “I remember him giving a long explanation to a journalist about King Manawamma. I think he has good reason to compare himself to King Manawamma, who had to wait for more than twenty-five years before he finally became King, after overcoming several conspiracies. King Manavamma went on to rule for thirty-four years.”

My knowledge of our ancient kings being limited only to the well-known ones, I was forced to search for details and this is what the website ‘Britannica.com’ states in reference to the Anuradhapura period: “From the 7th century there was an increase in the involvement of south Indian powers in the island’s politics and in the presence of Tamil mercenaries in and around the capital. Manavamma, a Sinhalese royal fugitive, was placed on the throne in 684 with the support of the Pallava rulers of south India.”

Manavamma is credited for having founded the second Lambakanna dynasty, which reigned in Anuradhapura for about 400 years and according to Wikipedia: “As a king, Manavamma ended the 50 year long civil strife in the country. This period was somewhat like The War of the Roses in England due to the fact that it was fought between the Lambakarna and Moiriyan dynasties. Manawamma was also the first king who took name Sena (Become head of army by consent and become true essence of power of army) in his monarchy name.”

Whether and in what ways Ranil will live up to Manavamma is yet to be seen but what is intriguing is that he seems hasty in resolving every issue other than what troubles the masses the most; economic woes making it difficult for most families to get at least one square meal a day!

Reading two extremely interesting articles, “Repatriation of export earnings” by Neville Ladduwahetty (The island, 12 December) and “Shocking claim in House” by Shamindra Ferdinando (The Island, 14 December) I began wondering whether chasing after the IMF, which seems never ending, is yet another farce.

After a detailed analysis Neville comes to this conclusion; “The material in the article is based on the findings of a think-tank based in Washington D.C., named Global Financial Integrity. According to them, USD 36.833 billion are stashed away in foreign accounts by Sri Lankan exporters, over a period of nine (09) years, before the Foreign Exchange Act was revised and a new Act certified, in July 2017, wherein the powers of the Governor of the Central Bank are said to have been reduced”. If a strategy is developed for these funds to be repatriated, we may not have to go behind the IMF for 2.9 billion dollars!

Shamindra’s following statement is even more revealing: “The developing crisis should be examined, taking into consideration how successive governments obtained assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 16 previous occasions. In other words, Sri Lanka had continuously experienced balance of payments problems, during the war, and thereafter. The IMF ‘interventions’ had been almost routine and never really attracted public attention, or never being an issue at an election. In fact, IMF ‘interventions’ and the Yahapalana administration securing USD 12.5 bn in International Sovereign Bonds (ISBs), within four years (2015-2019), and nothing to show in terms of successful development projects, when compared with Mahinda Rajapaksa taking USD 3 bn (2007-2014) with many a feather in his cap. The UNP owed an explanation why such a huge amount in ISBs was taken. Perhaps the Yahapalana Finance Minister, Ravi Karunanayake (2015-2017), and State Minister, Eran Wickremaratne, MP, or Dr. de Silva, can explain the circumstances leading to the procurement of such a massive amount of ISBs, during that time, and nothing tangible to show in return, unlike the Rajapaksas, who carried out many development projects, while prosecuting a crippling war to a successful conclusion against the contrary advice of so-called experts.”

Shamindra too points out that most of the problems has arisen by the dilution of the Exchange Control Act in 2017 by the Yahapalana regime. Though Sirisena was the president, as he was clueless, Ranil should take responsibility for this and concentrate his energies on reversing these which ruined our economy, instead of aggrandising himself with pseudo-felicitations!

Who is out to destroy our Motherland? Who is trying to make it the land of farces?