By Maheesha Mudugamuwa Serious questions have been raised over the misuse of privileges enjoyed by parliamentarians, ministers, deputy ministers, state ministers, and officials of successive governments. The wastage of billions of rupees on the purchase of vehicles for government officials and public representatives is now in the limelight with the recent revelation of astonishing expenditures made by the previous Government to purchase new vehicles for ministries. Chief Government Whip and Minister of Roads and Highways and Ports and Shipping Johnston Fernando told Parliament on 7 February that since 8 January 2015, the Government had spent Rs. 2.8 billion on the purchase of vehicles. While tabling the relevant information, Fernando stated that a total of Rs. 2.8 billion was spent on vehicles by the Government of Good Governance, where Rs. 1.6 billion was spent on vehicles for Cabinet ministers, Rs. 652 million on vehicles for state ministers, and Rs. 567 million on vehicles for deputy ministers. The purchase of vehicles worth millions of rupees by government officials and public representatives is not a new issue in Sri Lanka as a similar allegation had been levelled against the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government from 2005 to 2015, where the last Government soon after coming into power revealed the astonishing number of vehicles owned and used by the Presidential Secretariat. Four times more When contacted by The Sunday Morning, former Finance Minister (2015/16) United National Party MP Ravi Karunanayake said the amount the Rajapaksa Government had spent on vehicles from 2005 to 2015 was four times more than what the last Government spent. “What do you expect; a minister to work from a rented vehicle or whatever?” he questioned, explaining that the purchases made by the last Government was only for ministries which had the necessity. The vehicles had been purchased by ministries which needed vehicles, and every five years the Treasury allocates funds to ministries for the purchase of vehicles, Karunanayake said. “It was all ministries which required (vehicles), but it is only based on necessity. Whenever there were vehicles that were used for only two to three years, they were not given new vehicles,” he added. Highlighting the fact that all the ministries had paid government taxes for each vehicle purchased, Karunanayake said: “Unlike the Rajapaksa Government, during the previous Government, all the ministries had paid government taxes. Those vehicles were not duty-free. The earlier ministries purchased duty-free vehicles. But we have changed it and as a result, the State collected revenue through taxes. “The necessary funds were allocated by the Treasury as ministries need vehicles every five years.” Comparing the funds allocated by the last Government with the Rajapaksa Government, Karunanayake said: “It was four times more than what the previous Government spent.” No PFC approval The Sunday Morning then contacted Deputy Speaker of Parliament J.M. Ananda Kumarasiri to see whether the necessary funds had been approved by Parliament for the purchase of vehicles for ministries. “Usually, there are supplementary estimates that come to Parliament and those supplementary estimates, before being approved, are sent to the Public Finance Committee (PFC). The PFC sometimes does not approve those supplementary estimates. But it is up to the government to decide what they will do,” he explained. As the Deputy Speaker highlighted, the currently debated purchases had been done in 2015 and 2016, when there was no PFC. “That would have been a reason as to why there was no proper monitoring,” he stressed. According to Kumarasiri, the Government should monitor how many years the existing vehicle has been used and whether there was any availability whenever there was a request to purchase a new vehicle. There should be a criterion for vehicle purchases where when each ministry buys a vehicle, they have to use it for at least 5-10 years and only then should they be allowed to buy a new vehicle for that particular ministry, he added. Abuse of privileges Speaking about the privileges enjoyed by government officials, former Non-Cabinet Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution Dr. Harsha de Silva told The Sunday Morning that even though there were privileges given to ministers, it was up to them to determine to what extent they are going to use those privileges. “A minister needs a vehicle or two. There is no doubt about that. But the question is do they need brand-new luxury vehicles. That’s a personal decision,” he explained. Dr. de Silva also said: “During Rajapaksa’s time and during our time, people have spent lots of money on vehicles. Some people cannot go for anything less than a Mercedes C300 or a BMW 7 series and sometimes these people have never owned cars in their lives. When people have never seen vehicles, they have the urge to buy the biggest car. This is a personal choice. While the privilege is there, you need to figure out how much of it you are going to use. “I had two cars that I got. One car was imported by a private secretary to a minister. I gave it back to the Foreign Ministry because I said I cannot afford this car. It had low-profile tyres. The tyre was about Rs. 200,000. I just couldn’t bring myself to use that,” he noted. Highlighting the misuse of privileges other than vehicles, MP Dr. de Silva said: “When you hold office, there are ministers who cannot go around the city without a large number of security guards. I have one security officer, because of the office I hold. Why do you need more than that? “Some MPs have guns. Why don’t the authorities check and see how many people don’t have guns? I don’t have a gun. Why do you need a gun? All these things are there. Do you take a house because that privilege is there? The medical bills are paid by Parliament. Just the vehicle issue has come to light now,” he stressed. “When you use public money, you can’t just waste public money. That etiquette has to come from within you. Nobody can do it by regulation,” Dr. de Silva said. Meanwhile, State Minister of Industries Dayasiri Jayasekara, who was also a cabinet minister of the previous Government, said that he had declined getting a vehicle for his ministry when he was the Minister of Sports. “I declined it. In my ministry, there were some vehicles which are somewhat old, but I thought I can use them. Normally, after 10 years, the new Government would come in and they would want some new vehicles and that’s how they got new vehicles. We didn’t want to buy vehicles with money from the Treasury,” he added. Need for new regulations State Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Welfare Anura Priyadharshana Yapa however suggested that there should be one particular vehicle model for ministers to avoid the misuse of funds. “When someone uses a vehicle for five years, mostly the government vehicles, they run long mileages and then get completely used. Buying a new vehicle if there’s a necessity is alright but if you buy unnecessarily, there is an issue. My simple solution is that there should be one particular model of vehicle for ministers; some kind of comfortable vehicle because they have to go around the country. So that will be perfectly alright,” he added. State Minister Yapa also highlighted the high taxes charged on vehicles imported to the country and said: “We charge more taxes than the actual price of the vehicle. If you have a 3,000/4,000 cc engine vehicle which costs Rs. 10 million, you will have to spend another Rs. 50 million as government taxes. We are a country that charges the highest amount of taxes for vehicles. Now it has become government revenue. Taxes are quite unreasonable in this country. A normal person can’t buy a vehicle. Because the government couldn’t raise its income, they have created a situation where they charge taxes for vehicles. “One can say an MP shouldn’t be given anything at all. In that case, he must be from a wealthy class and an ordinary person cannot be a representative for the people. He can’t do any other job; most of the people have to leave their professions or their businesses. People who are robbing the Government are different, but the majority is not doing that,” he noted. “I don’t see any rationale in speaking about these privileges that MPs get which can be decided by Parliament. He (a minister) has to work for the people, go around the country, look after his family, and everything has to be done by him,” Yapa added. Current Govt. not to purchase new vehicles Government Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said it was mentioned in the presidential manifesto that at least for the first three years, until the economy returns back to normal, they would not have any extra expenditures, which also includes the purchase of new vehicles. “The vehicles that are already there can be used unless it is absolutely necessary or if there is a situation where there is a requirement for bullet-proof vehicles. Under normal circumstances we will utilise whatever is there,” he added.