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Quo vadis Sri Lanka? 

11 Dec 2021

The conclusion of the third reading of Budget 2022 last Friday (10) brought down the curtain to parliamentary proceedings for 2021. Our hard(ly)-working legislators now have a month-long break to enjoy the holiday season and contemplate the way forward, because reality is bound to bite them hard when they go before the people in the New Year. Budget 2022, for all intents and purposes, amounted to nothing more than a Santa’s wish list, with all of the proposed expenditure dependent on revenue collection. With no specific roadmap on how the administration plans to bridge the ballooning deficit, much of the proposed programmes are likely to be limited to paper. For the average citizen, this holiday season will be one to remember, not because their cup will be overflowing with good cheer, but because, for the first time, it might go empty. The cost of essential items has already hit the roof, and staples such as rice and vegetables are being sold at unheard of prices while imported items are in short supply. However, the biggest concern is that the worst is yet to come. The Finance Minister has done the wise thing and admitted that the economy is at a crossroads and that the days ahead will be anything but easy. At the same time, he is also adamant and insistent that the issues will be sorted out without recourse to external intervention, meaning International Monetary Fund (IMF) involvement will remain off the table. While the pandemic can be blamed for some of the economic woes engulfing the nation, the majority of the issues have no connection to the pandemic. The first is the loss of revenue as a result of the tax cuts announced two years ago, then the agriculture crisis created by the overnight ban on importation of fertiliser and weedicides, and then the artificial cap on the exchange rate that has all but dried up foreign remittances. Many moons ago, we highlighted in these very columns the danger of putting all the eggs in the tourism basket, and now, with the Omicron variant once again raising concerns of another global wave of the pandemic, tourism revival is likely to be further delayed. With the situation being delicate and the only lifeline being the export sector, the administration is not helping itself by the manner in which it is conducting itself. Last week, an Opposition MP was on the verge of being manhandled by government members within Parliament itself; that led to a three-day boycott of Parliament by the Opposition, citing a threat to personal safety. The Opposition also called for intervention by the Inter Parliamentary Union, among others, to intervene and ensure the safety of members. That elected members of Parliament having to plead for protection while being within the confines of Parliament itself, is a clear indication of the depths to which this once august house has fallen to. If things are bad within, it is no better beyond the shores of the Diyawanna. The trend of appointing controversial figures to key positions has only resulted in making a bad case, worse. For instance, the appointment of Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera to head the “one country, one law” Presidential Task Force (PTF) didn’t do the Government any favours, and now the appointment of former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, a character shrouded in controversy, as the Governor of the North Western Province, is likely to attract further unwanted controversy. For a nation that is critically dependent on export revenue and retention of the European Union’s (EU) Generalised Scheme of Preferences-Plus (GSP+), only time will tell the wisdom of making these choices at this juncture, when the GSP+ programme is in the final stages of its periodic review. In the past few days, several leaked recordings had surfaced, allegedly of Ven. Gnanasara Thera, berating fellow monks who, in his opinion, were not in line with his thinking. The monk is allegedly on record issuing multiple threats of bodily harm to other monks, yet there has been no sign of the long arm of the law even paying a cursory visit to the monk to obtain a statement. Contrast this with the Catholic clergy being summarily summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for simply demanding the expediting of the investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks. Therein lies the fate of the “one country, one law” misadventure. It is this culture of intolerance to alternate views that has now spread to even Parliament, with governing party members becoming increasingly violent and unreceptive to Opposition views. Much of the blame for the rapidly deteriorating discipline and decorum in the house will have to be borne by the Speaker, for allowing free reign to unruly members. Even as recently as a few weeks ago, the British Parliament Speaker Lindsay Hoyle had occasion to severely reprimand Prime Minister Boris Johnson for stepping out of line during a parliamentary debate. His exact words to Johnson were: “Prime Minister, I’m not going to be challenged. You may be the Prime Minister of this country, but in this House, I’m in charge. End of that.” What we have in this country is a clone of the British Westminster parliamentary system, where the speaker is the supreme authority in the House. It is a matter of regret, therefore, that the incumbent is either unfamiliar with or unwilling to exercise the enormous clout that the post has been bestowed with. It is indeed unfortunate that this country has not been able to produce anyone close to a Hoyle in the recent past. While we have to appreciate the fact that the current Speaker is a novice in the role, time and again, he reminds the nation that he is not inclined to acquire the skills set needed for it. The result is an increasingly vulgar, boisterous, and violent House that has little respect for norms and conventions, leave alone any respect for peers or the Chair, for that matter. In a way, it is reflective of the greater crisis that has beset this nation, where the lack of discipline lies at the root of the degeneration we see around us. If our leaders are serious about fixing this country, they should start by fixing the heart of the nation, its Parliament. If the respective party leaders can get their members to act with the respect and dignity their positions demand, then the rest of the country will ultimately fall in line. If our impressionable youths emulate the example set by their so-called leaders today, then there is no gainsaying in what awaits the nation tomorrow. It is a pathetic story that can only get worse if the people themselves don’t take corrective action and think twice about who should represent them in future, considering the reluctance on the part of those already appointed to reform themselves. An indifferent speaker is not helping the cause either, and the manner in which he allowed a ruling party member to humiliate a female member through sexual innuendo was only one such instance. The mild censure that ensued days later was only because the entire Opposition and the female members on both sides called for action in unison. Adversity can easily be turned into opportunity if acted upon quickly and decisively. This is what Pakistan’s Imran Khan did so masterfully by turning the tragedy of Priyantha Kumara’s gruesome murder into an opportunity to show the world that Pakistan has zero tolerance for such murderers. At the end of the day, what matters is action and not words. Our representatives, all 225 of them in Parliament, have the opportunity to reform themselves and set an example to the rest of the country. How they choose to go about it will inevitably seal our collective fate.

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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!


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