As predicted, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, using the first constitutionally provided opportunity, proceeded to dissolve Parliament last Monday (2), paving the way for a general election on 25 April. Nominations for the poll will be accepted from 12 to 19 March which has resulted in a mad scramble among would-be contestants to secure nominations from their respective parties, numbering a record-breaking 150 or so, according to the Election Commission. For a country of 21 million, we have already set a record and become a joke for having a Parliament of 225 representatives. Now to add to that, the list of registered political parties has grown to a mind-boggling 150, making this country a laughing stock. While there is absolutely no need for such a large number of parties based on ethnic, religious, political, and every other division possible, the actual reason for forming these parties is well known. There is no business like politics in this part of the world where paupers become billionaires overnight and uneducated, jobless village bums become powerful politicians lording over all they survey. This is because there is no minimum qualification, or for that matter any criteria, apart from being a citizen to contest an election and become a lawmaker. As a result, it is invariably the lawbreakers who become lawmakers who then proceed to do what they do best. Fortunately for the country and unfortunately for 60-odd first-time parliamentarians of the last Parliament, they will not be eligible for lifetime pensions due to the early dissolution of Parliament, preventing them from completing five years, which would serve the exchequer well. Nevertheless, the two main parties, the United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) along with their respective offspring, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) are gearing up to go their own ways with splits and further fragmentation of these parties as the order of the day. It seems that the ambition for power and wealth supersedes all else, resulting in division upon division and the creation of even more parties. Be that as it may, the people have now been presented one more opportunity to get rid of the undesirables and elect educated, untainted people of standing to represent them in Parliament and lift this country out of a rut. In a scenario of never-ending elections, it's once again the season when friends become foes and foes become friends. One man who ideally should be in retirement, having secured a grand retirement package just last November but clamouring for a comeback, is former President Maithripala Sirisena. It is only fair that if he wants to make a comeback, he should give up his retirement benefits and start off with a clean slate like everyone else. That however is not likely to happen. Sirisena, in his inimitable style, is once again hogging the headlines for all the wrong reasons. His latest outburst which warranted front-page coverage was a gem. He described himself as an eagle that studies his prey from a distance and swoops in for the kill just at the right time. By any chance, if he was referring to November 2014 when he clinched the nomination of common candidate, then he could not be further from the truth. Eagles don't depend on other birds to provide its food; it hunts for itself. Sirisena depended entirely on the UNP and its allied parties to win the 2015 presidential election and not much later, bit the hand that fed him – very un-eagle like. This is probably what prompted Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to retort that the people suffered because the leader thought he was an eagle when in fact he was a scavenging crow feeding off others. For the UNP however, Sirisena did the perfect eagle job, taking away the position that was theirs for the taking at the very last minute. However, Sirisena may have made a monumental miscalculation in trying to repeat an eagle job on the SLPP, which is way more familiar with the big bird's hunting skills than Sirisena and his SLFP could ever be. Just days after his pronouncement, SLPP loyalist Prasanna Ranatunga sprang into action openly stating that no one should support Sirisena or any one of his nominees. Mind you, this was just days after the SLFP and SLPP sealed a pact to form the Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandanaya (SLFPA) and contest under one ticket. With the latest developments, it now appears that the so-called agreement is not worth the paper it's written on. To make matters worse, senior SLFP leaders on Friday had called on Sirisena not to contest altogether, rendering his comeback plans redundant unless through the back door. The former President, who is not a stranger to controversy, made matters worse by reverting to the eagle story once again during a political meeting in his home base of Polonnaruwa. Sirisena succeeded in taking the ridiculous to the sublime by claiming that he will not let anyone lay eggs in his nest. What he inferred was that the Chinese-gifted National Nephrology Hospital in Polonnaruwa was a personal gift to him and therefore, he should have the right to appoint people to govern it. He had thundered that he will not let the Government appoint persons to run the facility. This is akin to J.R. Jayewardene claiming that the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital was a personal gift to him from Japan and he should have lifetime rights to govern it notwithstanding change of governments. Using the same logic, what about the other gifts the country has received like the Rupavahini Corporation, Mahaweli dams like Victoria, Kotmale, the Supreme Court Complex, Nelum Pokuna, etc.? Is Sirisena inferring that the respective presidents at the time they were gifted should get lifetime rights to select who runs them? This is the type of convoluted logic that resulted in derailing the Yahapalana project from the very start and climaxed with the illegal sacking of a government that led to notorious security lapses resulting in the Easter bombings. This and many other failings can be placed at Sirisena's altar, but that does not mean it absolves the other party in government from collective responsibility. All that is now water under the bridge. Beginning next Thursday, the following seven days will herald the first and most important step in electing the next Parliament when nominations of candidates is accepted by the Election Commission. If not, the smaller, insignificant parties, at least the five main parties that constitute the 150 or so in the fray, have a sacred obligation to ensure that only individuals with a proven track record and adequate intellectual capacity should be nominated to contest. Uneducated, unqualified, political opportunists with criminal records should find no place on nomination lists. It is the only way that 70 years of stagnation can be reversed. Thereafter, rest assured, the people will do the needful on 25 April 2020.