Election Bribes, Budget Reversals & Trade Unions
By Rajeewa Jayaweera –December 20, 2015
Rajeewa Jayaweera
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe managed to avert a major strike action, almost a general strike by several Trade Unions at the last minute by agreeing to reverse some budget proposals. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration deserves a Pass mark for averting a strike by a large number of Public and Private sector employees at this juncture, and an A* for getting itself into a situation which could have brought about a virtual general strike, after being in office for less than four months. Never before has a government faced the threat of being derailed after being in office for such a short period.
Election bribes offered in the run up to the Presidential elections included Health Care and Education allocations to be raised to 3% and 6% of GDPrespectively which is to be applauded. Other key concessions promised were a monthly salary increase of Rs 10,000 for 1.3 mil Government Servants, a monthly increase of Rs 1,000 for over half a million Pensioners, a 200% increase in Samurdhi payments, a Rs 20,000 payment to pregnant mothers, 50% waiver on agricultural loans up to Rs 100,000, reduction of prices of in Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene, Gas and 13 food items, guaranteed price levels for Paddy, Potatoes, Tea Green Leaf, Rubber, Fresh Milk and concessions for city dwellers requiring relocation. Missing from the equation was the manner in which all these goodies were to be financed.
Now that both Presidential and Parliamentary elections are over, the 100 day Program which lasted 221 days is history, and most of promised election bribes granted, it is payback time. It is time to balance the books. President Rajapaksa’s offer of an electoral bribe of a salary hike of Rs 5,000 to every Public Servant was downright irresponsible. The promise to double the electoral bribe to Rs 10,000 by his opponent was doubly irresponsible. The key objective of both candidates was retention of the Presidency by one and ascendency to the Presidency by the other. Neither cared a tuppence for the additional burden to the Treasury or how required funds, to make good the promise would be found. The lack of foresight, vision and clarity of the manner in which the electoral bribe was announced and introduced caused Public Servants to demand it now be added to their basic pay. Agreeing to this demand will result in the actual increase amounting to more than Rs 10,000 besides salary anomalies amongst some categories requiring further increases when addressing the issue. The increase of the Emission Tax which is payable annually from Rs 1,100 by 450% to Rs 5,000 makes one wonder about the sanity of those who prepared the budget. Did they honestly consider how they propose to sell such an increase to the public? Firstly, an annual increase in tax / levy of Rs 3,900 on vehicle owners applied across the board for small, medium and large vehicles alike, affecting a large percentage of the public was a non-starter. Secondly, a government needs to carefully evaluate their ability to implement budgetary proposals. Caving in when faced with opposition weakens the government’s hand, besides sending all the wrong signals. The signs are that this administration would not resort to the methods practiced by the Rajapaksa administration to stifle public opposition. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe accommodating the demands of Unions could be interpreted as a sign of weakness and encourage strike action for unjustifiable reasons in the future.
