Cars, cars, cars
Editorial-November 6, 2013, 7:16 pm
An eye-catching picture we published yesterday of a fleet of sleek cars imported for next week’s CHOGM must have made the ruling party politicians who apparently have all the luck, grin smacking their lips while the taxpayers were grimacing and gnashing their teeth.
The government has sought to defend the purchase of so many luxury cars on the grounds that the heads of state attending the summit cannot travel in ordinary vehicles. It would have sounded more convincing if it had said that not even the UPFA Pradeshiya Sabha members would condescend to go by basic cars. However, one wonders why the government did not ask the members of its jumbo Cabinet to make available some of their vehicles for the use of visiting dignitaries. Super luxury cars they have at their disposal, thanks to taxpayers, are enough for all the heads of state in the world—not just fifty odd Commonwealth leaders.
People are blissfully unaware of what they are in for after the summit. When the Commonwealth circus is over and the guests have left, Budget 2014 will be presented to Parliament with the bill for the event delivered to them. Those who secured CHOGM contracts will laugh all the way to the bank. Patriotic masses will have to tighten their belts while shouting, ‘Jayawewa!’ and paying through the nose. Patriotism is not cheap in this country!
CHOGM cars are likely to be problematic for the government. Not that it is worried about loan repayment which could conveniently be palmed off to the public who are gluttons for punishment. It will have a mad scramble for those vehicles to contend with if the beneficiaries have not yet been named.
A government politician has recently said the cars will be auctioned. That’ll be the day! A similar promise was made way back in 1994. The SLFP-led People’s alliance, condemning the then UNP government’s profligacy and corruption, vowed to seize all the luxury vehicles UNPers had been using and sell them at the Galle Face Green so that funds could be raised for public welfare. But, the promised auction never came to pass.
If CHOGM cars are neither given away to UPFA politicians nor sold to others, the Opposition should be careful. Speculation is rife that five elections have been lined up for one and a half years beginning next January. This is certainly bad news for the crisis-ridden Opposition, especially the UNP struggling to put a debilitating internal battle behind it. Mercedes has an appeal which not even religious dignitaries could resist easily. Now that some of the UPFA allies have struck a discordant note on the new casino laws etc, and ruffled the feathers of the powers that be, the government might need some more crossovers to retain its two-thirds majority in the House. The flashy cars with an inviting look about them may come in handy where luring MPs who do not scruple to switch allegiance is concerned.
We have a suggestion. Of late the First Lady has been walking quite a lot to raise funds for many a worthy cause, the latest being a campaign to purchase a scanner for a hospital. The JVP is shouting from the rooftops that the government is wasting public money on vehicles for Commonwealth leaders who will be here only for two days while charity walks are being staged to buy life-saving equipment for state-run hospitals. The government may not give two hoots about what our Rathu Sahodarayas say, but it should at least think of the First Lady who is exerting herself so much. How many walks she will have to take part in before enough funds are raised for the much-needed scanner etc is anybody’s guess. So, to relieve her of that burden the government should consider selling the CHOGM vehicles after the summit and utilise the proceeds to acquire that machine and develop hospitals.
