While hectic preparations are underway to transform the Galle Face Centre Road into a parade platform to mark the nation’s 75th Independence anniversary in two weeks from now, equally hectic preparations seem to be underway on the political front to derail the upcoming Local Government Elections, for which nominations closed yesterday (21).
According to those in the know, the modus operandi for this particular manoeuvre appears to be a legal googly; seeking a determination on whether the controversial Regulation of Election Expenditure Act that is now in place should be applicable for the upcoming election, notwithstanding assurances to the contrary by the Minister of Justice and proclamation of the election date by the Election Commission.
Up until last Thursday (19) when the bill was passed in Parliament, the stock excuse that was peddled by the regime to consider a postponement of the poll was the expenditure that was to be incurred in that regard. But with the passage of the bill, the very next thing that followed was the appointment of two more cabinet ministers – no more talk of additional expenses or adding to the burden on the taxpayer.
While the Local Government Polls has been estimated to cost Rs. 10 billion, it is interesting to note that the cost of maintaining 30 cabinet ministers and 40 state ministers was estimated at Rs. 2.6 billion in 2021 when inflation was still under 10% and petrol was Rs. 170 a litre at the pump. Given the near-threefold increase in prices since then, with inflation still six times that, it is fair to estimate that the actual cost of maintaining so many ministers is now three times the cost as in 2021.
Add to that the cost of maintaining past presidents and their spouses for life. The last President more or less abandoned office, only to resign later and yet, according to reports, he enjoys all benefits accorded to past presidents, including luxury housing, over a dozen vehicles, a security contingent, etc. The President before him was recently convicted by the Supreme Court of negligence of duty that cost 270 lives. Yet, he too is enjoying a luxury life at State expense while his ‘friends’ are coughing up the fine.
Given that the entire burden of paying this heavy maintenance bill has been thrust on the ordinary people through an unconscionable tax hike in the middle of a severe and destructive recession to boot, there has been no corresponding increase in the KPIs of ministers and state ministers. Therefore the public should, at the very least, be entitled to choose whom they want to run the affairs of Government – in this instance Local Authorities – which are maintained exclusively through their largesse. It is interesting that while the Treasury moans about the lack of money for this, that, and everything else, it seemingly has plenty to maintain an ever-increasing contingent of ministerial parasites.
At a time when the country’s leadership should be setting the example for austerity, given the dire circumstances the nation finds itself in – for no fault of the people but that of the political leadership – more ministerial appointments that entail all the lavish benefits already provided to 70 plus individuals is not only in bad taste, but is also pushing the boundaries of patience and endurance of a seething public. A taste of what is in the pipeline was evident in the results of a Cooperative Society election in the volatile Puttalam District last week, where a gung-ho hotshot politician of the ruling party was summarily thrown out of office by the people through the ballot.
It is therefore significant that the two parties that pose the biggest challenge to the ruling cabal, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya of Sajith Premadasa and National People’s Power party of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, are both on record that should they be elected at a future poll, their respective cabinets will be restricted to 25 ministers with no other ‘ministerial’ categories. Even these 25 will have to rough it out with a significant pruning of the lavish facilities currently being provided, we are told.
While one should not go ga-ga over the new Regulation of Election Expenditure Act, the passage of which took place in the absence of 92 of the 225 elected Members of Parliament, it is a start in getting things going in the right direction. Nevertheless, it falls far short of the watertight regulations one would have expected in the face of the mass outcry for such reform.
For instance, even though the act states that a candidate shall not incur expenditure in excess of a specified amount in respect of a particular election – be it Local, Provincial, General, or Presidential – there is adequate room for manipulation, where it is also provided in the act that should a candidate spend in excess, he or she should prove that such expenditure was incurred without consent or connivance.
Needless to say, such a burden of proof should prove to be child’s play to the great majority of those in the fray, given the expertise they have acquired in the art of dodging the law over the years. Therefore, the burden of cleaning the Augean stables has once again fallen on the weary shoulders of a people worn down by corruption for way too long. When corruption reigns supreme at the very top of Government, such as when potential political dissidents are enticed with ministerial portfolios, what follows is a bureaucracy that – on cue – follows the same procedure. That is why no public official is ever really punished even when found guilty of an offence, as the ‘punishment’ usually turns out to be a transfer to a different station where the individual repeats the same offence in a more foolproof manner.
When a country becomes bankrupt, the first step on the road to recovery is austerity. It is not a new concept or one that has the option of being traded for something else – it is austerity from top to bottom or bust. How Greece managed to turn things around is a case in point. The top must walk the talk rather than resort to cosmetic measures such as trimming State expenditure by 5% if a real impact is to be felt. Unfortunately, we do not see such predisposition on the part of the current leadership.
On the same day that bankrupt Sri Lanka appointed two more cabinet ministers by splitting portfolios already held by others, the young, energetic, and trailblazing Prime Minister of New Zealand, who for the most part became a poster child for what a modern leader should be, announced her resignation from office just six years into a job she took on at 37 years and deemed done at 42, having been a MP for a total of 15 years.
In her resignation speech, she adduced the reason for her decision to not having enough in the tank to go for another term, having presided over a national disaster, a terror attack, a health emergency, and an economic issue – all of which she handled deftly – and is now handing over the reins to someone “who can do better”. Needless to say, the ultimate beneficiary will be her country. It is due to leaders of this ilk that there is such a thing as a first world and a third world.
Our present set of so-called leaders – each of whom count multiple decades of job experience and having faced 10 times the challenges faced by Jacinda Ardern – apparently still have enough in their tanks to keep going. If nothing else, the state of this nation speaks volumes as to why we are where we are.