“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors” – Plato

An unpleasant outcome of the current economic crisis which the political leadership is refusing to admit or accept is the fact that a huge chunk of the middle class of this country has fallen into poverty – poverty not only in financial resources, but also in health and education as a result of paucity in financial and other resources. Needless to say, it is a growing crisis that will lead to a gamut of new sub-crises, potentially affecting a large segment of the population, essentially arising out of neglected health and lack of education of the youth to face an increasingly-challenging world.

A recent survey carried out by the Medical Research Institute (MRI) has thrown up some shocking statistics that should, under normal circumstances, ring alarm bells in the corridors of power. But going by what is taking place in those very corridors these days and the sheer lack of empathy towards those marginalised by the economic crisis, it is only a matter of time before things come to a head.

The MRI research survey has found that household food security has become a critical issue for a majority of households in the country that are struggling to make ends meet. According to the survey, 93% of households have reduced their expenditure on essential things such as health and education, simply to put food on the table.

While the political leadership is carrying on regardless – with a group still clamouring for ministerial positions, others gallivanting around the world, and still others being provided alternate luxury housing simply because the allocated housing is too noisy – according to the MRI survey, a staggering 64% of households have already spent their savings on food while 49% have resorted to pawning their valuables and 34% have borrowed money from friends and relatives just so that they can feed themselves at least once or twice a day.

It must be noted that most households that are finding the going getting tougher by the day are not those that can be classified as poor by any means. They are the middle class who, up until the crisis, managed to consume three meals a day, look after their healthcare needs, educate their children, and still had something left to save for a rainy day. As indicated by the MRI survey, most of those savings are now gone and coping methods being resorted to include begging and ‘risky income-generating activities’. While the ordinary people have to work harder than they ever have, some doing two or three jobs just to make ends meet, the political class continues to be insulated from such travails and continue its merry ways, corruption included.

It is not only the economic crisis itself that has led to reduced incomes and job cuts that are affecting households; what appears to be emptying the pockets of the middle class seems to be the current taxation policy, which is not only taxing their incomes at a low threshold, but also taxing them every time they consume a product or service and even taxing the things they own for which taxes have already been paid with the income that has already been taxed. This cascade of taxes, while arguably necessary in the current context, could at least be made more middle-class friendly simply by increasing the exempt threshold to Rs. 200,000 per month from the current Rs. 100,000, which in the present high inflationary context is peanuts.

It appears that the leadership has insulated itself from the harsh economic reality being faced by the great majority of households simply by taking refuge in ‘economic indicators’ that are not quite reflective of the ground situation. This is because the metrics of choice to justify ‘stability’ these days seem to be decreasing inflation and exchange rate, which incidentally has been described by Bloomberg as a temporary occurrence.

In the normal scheme of things, desperate situations call for desperate measures, but it appears that Sri Lanka’s politicians – the very people responsible for the economic crisis – have completely insulated themselves from the growing desperation all around them. It is only the ordinary people who appear to be desperately fighting for survival and somehow finding the means to pay taxes, so that politicians – even the ones that failed the nation and fled the country – can live in luxury at taxpayers’ expense.

While there have been comprehensive tax reforms and upward revision of utility charges that have resulted in strangulating an already-heavily-burdened people, why is it that none of the multitude of lavish perks allocated to politicians have been scrapped or at least cut down to show some sort of solidarity with the people? Why is it that the people have to continue to suffer their indulgence? Is some sort of equilibrium too much to ask? It would not be a bad idea to not just cut down on privileges but also power itself, by paving the way for consulting the people through the electoral process.

If the name of the game is austerity and the regime is serious about cutting down waste and rebuilding, it is incumbent upon the leadership to lead the way by example. It should keep in mind that beneath the veneer of normalcy that pervades the country these days is a simmering hotbed of frustration and despair born out of the struggle to simply make ends meet.

With poverty affecting nearly half of the country’s population, it is worrisome that the issue is not being given the attention it deserves. It does not take rocket science to predict that taking the prevailing calm for granted, or worse, believing that things are okay for the great majority of people, could be political suicide. At the end of the day it is important that the people who are going through immense economic hardship see and feel that their leadership is at least empathetic to their suffering. 

Given the rapidly-growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots, to borrow from the political jargon of a former President, the political class may find it increasingly challenging to stay aloof on the issue of growing poverty, due to the speed and extent to which it is spreading. To all those who wish to see, there is every indication of a budding social crisis warranting urgent measures to at least mitigate its impact. Therefore it is about time that the leadership focused on issues such as stunted growth of kids and widespread malnutrition among kids and adults alike and kids who are forced to abandon education in favour of jobs to support the household economy.

While taking comfort in numbers in a shrinking economy is self-defeatist, there is no escaping the fact that the country is on the cusp of a huge socioeconomic as well as industrial crisis, with no new industries being set up and the existing ones either scaling down or shutting down. Adding to this is the brain drain of professionals and uncontained corruption that continues to bleed the country dry.