Tuesday 25th August, 2026

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is scheduled to address a series of rallies across the country as part of a JVP/NPP reorganisation drive, according to media reports. A recent public opinion survey has indicated a sharp drop in the government’s approval rating, and this may have prompted the JVP/NPP to launch a grassroots campaign. The President’s nationwide speaking or barnstorming tour, on the cards, can be seen as an indication of the government limbering up for a possible referendum on the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. It can also be a show of strength.

Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has dared Opposition politicians to take to the streets if they are capable of mobilising people against the government. We are reminded of the rhetoric of the big guns of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government following the 2010 general election. Prudence demands that a government take anti-incumbency sentiments into account and refrain from provoking its opponents into flexing their muscles. Street protests tend to snowball.

During successive governments, we have editorially highlighted the misuse of public funds by politicians, especially the Presidents, the Prime Ministers, Ministers and the Opposition Leaders, for their political campaigns. Some Presidents launched their re-election campaigns immediately after the commencement of their first term, dressing up their political campaigns as official events.

Presidential and prime ministerial travel costs the state coffers dear; it involves extraordinary security measures, which require the deployment of hundreds of police and armed forces personnel and scores of vehicles. All ministers rush wherever the President goes. They too travel with their security contingents at the expense of the public. The same applies to the Opposition Leader’s travel, albeit to a lesser degree.

The JVP raked President Mahinda Rajapaksa over the coals for traversing the length and breadth of the country either in his presidential limousine with a huge security convoy in tow or by helicopter to do political work. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, an Opposition MP at the time, demanded to know why Rajapaksa used two choppers, cynically asking whether the latter could change helicopters in midair in case of an emergency. His criticism of Rajapaksa struck a responsive chord with the public.

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested and remanded over allegations that he misused state funds to cover travel and security expenses for what the CID has described as a private visit to the UK while in office. One wonders why the issue of the Presidents, the Prime Ministers and others using colossal amounts of state funds to cover their travel and security expenses during their political campaigns has gone unaddressed.

The JVP-NPP government was expected to curtail VIP travel. In the run-up to the 2024 general election, senior JVP/NPP politicians made a solemn pledge that under a JVP-NPP government, their MPs and ministers would travel in buses and trains as the ordinary public did, and auction the vehicles used by politicians during previous governments. But they are now moving about in luxury vehicles. Are they living by the Machiavellian axiom that promises need not be kept when circumstances change?

Some Presidents, Prime Ministers and Ministers have tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the public by paying for fuel used for their official vehicles during election campaigns, but fuel accounts for only a fraction of the costs borne by the public.

It is unbecoming of the self-proclaimed Marxist leaders who denounced the previous Presidents and Prime Ministers for using insanely expensive vehicles purchased with state funds to maintain the status quo. In 2018, Dissanayake made a hue and cry in Parliament about two bulletproof vehicles bought for the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s use, at a staggering cost of Rs. 300 million each. He condemned that kind of expenditure as an utter waste of state funds. Now, “the 600-million-rupee question” is where those vehicles are. Are the incumbent government leaders using them?

One may recall that before the 2024 elections, the JVP/NPP leaders had the public believe that they would practise austerity a la Jose Mujica, who was the President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. Known as the world’s poorest President, Mujica, refused to move into the President’s House, and lived on a farm with his wife; his most notable asset was a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle. He donated his presidential salary and waited in queues with ordinary people in government hospitals, where he received treatment. He died last year. Sadly, as we argued in a previous comment, the only similarity one sees between the policies of the Mujica administration and those of the JVP-led NPP government is their lax attitude towards cannabis, of all things. Mujica legalised the recreational use of cannabis, and the JVP/NPP leaders have permitted the cultivation of cannabis for export.

It is high time the practice of political leaders using state funds for their political campaigns under one pretext or another was brought to an end. Let that be part of the “system change” the incumbent government promised.

Monday 24th August, 2026

There is no end in sight to chronic delays that characterise Sri Lanka’s state universities. The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) has warned that university admissions based on the 2025 GCE A/L results could be delayed by one to two years until the enrollment of two previous batches.

State universities in this country are bursting at the seams and facing severe resource constraints. In 2025, FUTA has pointed out that the annual student intake had steeply increased from around 25,000 in 2015/2016 to about 45,000, causing a severe strain on the entire university system. According to media reports quoting FUTA, state universities are operating with only about 6,800 permanent academics though there is a requirement of 12,000–13,000. FUTA has stated that PhD holders are unwilling to work for current salaries, which are heavily taxed. Universities are among the state institutions worst affected by the human capital flight.

Successive governments have sought political solutions to serious structural problems affecting the state university system. Students in other Asian countries typically complete their first university degrees before they turn 21–24 years, but Sri Lankan students, particularly those in the state university system, often graduate in their mid-20s, with 24–26 years being a commonly observed range, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) data. The late entry of Sri Lankan graduates into the workforce has economic, political and social consequences, and, above all, the delayed graduation places Sri Lankan graduates at a disadvantage in the global job market. This sorry state of affairs is basically due to cumulative institutional delays involving, among other things, the GCE A/L examination, university admissions, disruptions caused by strikes, irregular academic calendars, a shortage of academic and non-academic staff, student protests and university closures.

The JVP, which engineered university closures to further its political interests, is now in power, but other problems remain. The JVP-led NPP, which secured the support of university teachers and undergraduates, among others, to capture power, was expected to address university issues on a priority basis, but its approach appears to be no different from that of its predecessors.

FUTA has said it submitted a set of proposals for resolving the university crisis to the government about one and a half years ago, but no action has been taken yet. Warning that it will be compelled to resort to trade union action unless the government addresses the issues affecting universities, FUTA has demanded to know whether the state universities are being neglected as part of a secret plan to promote private higher educational institutions. Many affluent parents send their children overseas for higher education. Ordinary youth are left with no alternative but to wait for years to gain university admission.

Now that the incumbent government has undertaken to go so far as to amend the Constitution to extend the retirement ages of judges, claiming that experienced judicial officers have to be retained to clear a massive case backlog, the question is why it has not adopted the same method to resolving the shortage of university teachers. There are provisions allowing exceptional post-retirement contractual re-employment of university teachers where there is a critical shortage of senior academic expertise. This, we believe, should be the rule rather than the exception.

The government claims that the Treasury is overflowing with funds, and therefore increasing investment in developing universities cannot be a problem. There is certainly a way to resolve the university crisis, but whether there is a will on the part of the political authority to do so is doubtful. Universities are the brain trusts of a nation, as is obvious, and the state is duty bound to provide them with all necessary resources.

Let the government be urged to get the protesting university dons and other stakeholders around the table and discuss how to resolve the university crisis.

The 22nd Constitutional Amendment (22A) Bill is now before the Supreme Court (SC). Dozens of petitions have been filed against it. The SC is facing a formidable challenge; it has to examine all these petitions and convey its determination to the Speaker of Parliament within three weeks. Having undertaken to raise the retirement ages of the serving judges, the government has placed the SC in an unenviable position. Invoking the fundamental principle of natural justice, nemo judex in causa sua, the opponents of 22A have argued that no person should be a judge in his or her own cause, and therefore the controversial Bill should be put to a referendum.

Why the government has chosen to raise the retirement ages of judges as a national priority defies comprehension. There are many other burning issues, and what should figure high on the government’s list of priorities is how to resolve them expeditiously. It has to build its foreign currency reserves at least up to USD 14 billion within the next two years. Foreign investment is coming in dribs and drabs. Global oil prices are rising. People are demanding economic relief. But the government is busy with 22A, which is widely viewed as an attempt to enable the Executive to exercise control over the Judiciary.

The Opposition has demanded that all available SC judges hear the petitions against 22A. The government has left four vacancies in the SC unfilled while claiming to be on a mission to retain experienced judges to clear a massive case backlog. The Court of Appeal (CA) is also functioning with four judges short of its full complement. Most other petitioners are sure to demand a full bench of the SC. They have a right to make such a demand, and this is not the first time a full bench has been asked for.

22A is bound to attract much more international attention in the coming days than previous Bills as it has drawn severe criticism from prominent international legal associations as well as local organisations representing legal professionals, religious leaders and civil society. The UN, the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association, the International Association of Judges and LAWASIA are among the influential global associations that have taken exception to 22A. Zimbabwe, which raised the retirement ages of sitting judges, about five years ago, amidst opposition from global organisations, incurred much international opprobrium.

Propaganda campaigns in support of and against 22A are gathering momentum and getting down and dirty, with those who are leading them resorting to personal attacks. Social media is full of scurrilous content, and troll armies are dragging reputations of political leaders and even some judicial officers through the mud.

There are also serious allegations that could undermine the credibility of the judiciary. Some of them have been taken up in Parliament. An Opposition MP has raised questions about a judicial officer’s birth certificate, claiming that it is a forged document. The most effective way to prevent such allegations from damaging the credibility of the judiciary is to investigate them. If such claims are allowed to go unchallenged, they tend to gain credibility and eventually become campaign slogans, much to the detriment of the judiciary.

The credibility of the Executive and the Legislature has suffered severe blows during the last several decades, so much so that there has been a campaign for the abolition of the Executive Presidency, and in 2022, angry mobs tried to march on Parliament. Only the judiciary has been able to retain its credibility.

It is hoped that the government’s efforts to consolidate its hold on power at the expense of the credibilility of the judiciary and other democratic institutions will not reach fruition. Let the proponents of 22A and their opponents be urged to act with restraint, exercising utmost caution, without causing an affront to the diginity of the judiciary.