Sri Lanka’s Tragedy: Billions Wasted On Extravaganza & White Elephants!
Lukman Harees
Democratic elections alone do not remedy the crisis of confidence in government. Moreover, there is no viable justification for a democratic system in which public participation is limited to voting. ~ Beth Simone Noveck
What is happening around in political circles seems disastrous to Sri Lanka’s well-being and progress. With unbridled public Tamashas, corruption deals and extravaganzas around, causing severe drain on the tax payers’ money without any consideration for public good or morality, Sri Lanka appears to be sliding down towards a point of no return. Public feelings and views about their representatives are not charitable to say the least of social media is anything to go by; however not much public activism is visible to stem the rot.
The previous government was accused of many wrongs- unwanted airport, harbour, stadium etc mortgaging the country on a deadly debt trap, virtually making it a client state of China! There were many Tamashas then, which were common place and took place without any fear or sanctions. However, despite a change of government, these public money wasting antics continue regardless at all levels in many forms – super expensive vehicles, extravagant overseas travel, unwanted office spaces, an oversized Cabinet/overextended political structures ,an unproductive public administration and even the craze to purchase ultra-comfortable furniture items and toilet modernization, when the average Citizen Silva and his family are forced to live below the poverty line and follow extreme austerity measures. Even the PET scan machine for the Cancer hospital was funded by public contributions. To add insult to injury, it has been height of haughtiness that even some Councillors have lost track of who they are- by asking the staff to ‘Sir’ them or asking the schools in their area to hang their photographs or even racially abusing a Muslim constituent as it happened recently for example. This make us wonder whether Sri Lanka is losing the plot and time has come to rethink of the rationale behind the very public democratic institutions which we have created to take it forward. The country is crying out for an Imran Khan or a Mahathir (not pseudo Yahapalanists) to kick-start the process of driving some sense into the system of governance which is corrupt to the core and regularly abused for reasons of political expediency.
Whether Parliament, provincial councils or local government bodies, the system is today reeked of corruption, mismanagement and lack of efficiency and focus, bureaucratic red tape and uncertainty over who is responsible for what — a dispute between the central government and the provincial councils with regard to devolved or un-devolved powers. The unbelievable disclosures for example about the Western Provincial Council administration allegedly blowing a whopping sum to purchase super luxury chairs at the rate of Rs. 650,000 each (Well! The CM corrected the figure; it was 640,000!) would have sent shocking waves across the nation while the Colombo Mayor allocated a crazy amount of money to modernize the bathroom in her official residence. When public conveniences and public amenities within the city were in extremely unhygienic conditions and when more than one half of Colombo’s population are in slums and shanties, a waste of taxpayer’s money for such purposes is a crime as every right-thinking person would agree. In 2009, The Council has, reportedly allocated Rs. 30 mn for a mega junket a tour of China. If this is the situation in Colombo, the capital city, it is needless to talk of other provinces.
It was in February this year that local government elections were concluded and councillors were elected in unwieldy numbers adding yet an unbearable burden on the State coffers, raising vital questions about the wisdom behind the new system of election. Then again, a further round of elections is coming soon to elect councillors to another public representative body below Parliament- the Provincial Council (PC) – described as a white elephant by opponents of the system from the very inception. Many an academic has expressed the view that the PC system has not served the purpose for which it was established, for a number of reasons. They were initially intended to devolve power to the North and East, but ironically, the system was extended to the South as well. The Provincial Councils, which the people never asked for, have nevertheless become part and parcel of the country’s Constitution today. It is pertinent to talk of PCs in more length as the PC elections are drawing near to be conducted based on a new system of election adding more burden.
As S L Gunasekera once said, ‘The 13th Amendment to the Constitution (forced down our throats by the Indian Government] was an unmitigated disaster which resulted in the creation of `White Elephants’ called `Provincial Councils’ and a proliferation of political functionaries in the form of Provincial Ministers, Members of Provincial Councils and their hangers on’ which drained the public purse of colossal amounts of funds which ought to have been used for the benefit of the People and not for the benefit of such functionaries’.
The whole PC system in addition to the legislature and the extended LG assemblies have lost most credibility and Public feel that only politicians are benefitting from the system, enjoying luxury perks and privileges while the whole exercise being a drain on public resources. Recent editorial in the ‘Island’ screamed; ‘creation of this monster that has only benefitted the political class with very little evidence of the devolution that was the raison d’etre for setting them up to be seen. Instead we have seen the multiplication of elected, paid political offices, replete with lavish perquisites, providing a new avenue for politicians to do very nicely for themselves and also aspire for Parliament as the next step up the ladder. The Editorial ended thus; ‘The politicians burdened the country in February with twice as many local councilors as we did before; at what cost and to what purpose? Now the debate is whether the PC elections will be under the new law or the old one. The people do not care just as much as they don’t care whether we have PCs or not’.
According to our Constitution there are specific responsibilities and duties allocated to Municipal Councillors, Provincial Councillors and Pradaysheeya Sabha Members. The Councillors from the day they are appointed, however wait for the monies from the central government to start spending it. Most of it is misappropriated. All that the PC system has achieved is to further politicise our society and give to political parties and their ‘leaders’ more opportunities of advancing the fortunes of their otherwise unemployable kith and kin, supporters, hangers on, sycophants at the expense of the long suffering public.
