The vast majority of the unbiased and impartial community in the country is eagerly looking forward to the promised formation of the all-party Government. Yet, as typical of Sri Lankan politicians, big or small, they have not realised the grim reality of the crisis the country is currently in.
For the past many weeks, since the appointment of the new President, all of them have been arguing, for and against, about forming an all-party Government. They do not seem to realise that time is running out.
Now that the heat of the “Aragalaya” has passed away lamely and unceremoniously, all politicians, both ruling and Opposition, seem to be taking an extremely mediocre interest in the country’s burning issues, including the shortage of foreign exchange.
Government factions
The pro-Government politicians seem to be relaxed and slowly returning to their habitual practise of making customary arbitrary, imprudent, and senseless public statements, quite contrary to the gruesome experiences most of them have recently been subjected to. Let alone the anti-Government factions, some recent statements of a few pro-Government parliamentary members have angered neutral citizens who were not supportive of violence released by politically instigated factions in demonstrations and protests.
As a top priority, the Government must take immediate action to prohibit such statements if they want to continue peacefully. These provocative accounts by widely unpopular politicians of the previous Government will most likely be extremely damaging to the concept of all-party governance or any other form of consensus.
When considering the contradictions surfacing day after day, it is difficult to make any current prediction about concrete political stability, even though such an environment is needed. Everyone including the general public, social activists, academics, and religious leaders is repeatedly asking for political reforms. Yet, the politicians who are responsible for making it happen are pulling in different directions whenever there is a proposal for new changes.
Whether the public approves or not, only politicians can change the political system through a democratic process through Parliament. In a democracy, there are no shortcuts or alternatives to making changes. However, regrettably, all political parties want any reform to be done on their own agenda. Thus far, the country has not witnessed even a single mutual agreement, let alone all party consensus and consent on any common reform.
However, the 22nd Amendment presented by the Justice Minister recently seems to be reducing certain powers vested in the executive presidency that are likely to be reduced. The incumbent President seems to have understood the necessity of limiting executive powers and given his full consent to the new amendment.
As predicted, the cost of living has sky-rocketed during the past few months, inflicting enormous hardships on the general public. Fuel shortages, spiking prices of essential food items, electricity rate increases, and public transport fare increases have imposed a heavy burden on the already suffering nation.
Nevertheless, instead of finding solutions to the issues collectively, some political parties, specifically the Jathika Jana Balawegaya and the Frontline Socialist Party (FLSP), are still trying to organise protest campaigns and strikes to further aggravate the already deteriorated national economy. However, this time around, the public response to such calls was visibly minimal and the decrease in the number of participants was evident.
President Ranil Wicremesinghe challenged the opposing parties to lay out their plans for reviving the economy without the assistance of the IMF, World Bank, and other international institutions, and he was heard loud and clear by all. Regrettably, instead of making any positive proposal or action plan, some dubious political factions are unjustifiably asking for an immediate election, which could cost well over eleven billion rupees.
The general public is not concerned about the policy statements presented by the President or parliamentarians in debates on policy decisions. They want to reduce their unbearable burden and, quite naturally, look to policymakers to make that happen.
The reason for the distinctive slowdown of the public outcry is that they have been temporarily relieved of the burden of fuel, LP gas, and chemical fertiliser to a certain extent. This relief is not by any means satisfactory, but it has somewhat reduced the inconvenience that existed for months. However, the President and the Government must find better and more stable solutions as soon as possible, before another storm appears.
Governor
There was a recent post that went viral on social media as a statement made by the incumbent governor of the Central Bank stating that the country needs to reconsider the concept of a welfare Government that promotes more poverty in the long run. The post further describes that consecutive Governments promoted this concept of governance for political gains.
Although the authenticity of the post or the statement was not verified, the contents were accepted and hailed by the vast majority of people in the country. This is exactly what the country needs if it needs to prosper.
Obviously, however, justifiably needy people in the country need help from the Government, although a strict monitoring mechanism is a necessity for such a program. The practice in Sri Lanka is so weak that there is evidence that the two allowances of Rs. 5000/-were slyly offered to many affluent people. Such practices must be stopped, and politicians, Government officers, and the general public must be equally conscious and responsible.
There are about 400 State-owned enterprises, of which most are engaged in commercial operations. It is no secret that most of these institutions are run by politicians through various ministries. Habitually, SOEs were filled with people based on political recommendations.
As a practice, most politicians promise jobs during an election campaign, and the easiest way to accomplish such promises is through SOEs. Successive leaders in the country have not attempted to stop this malpractice over the past several decades.
A vast majority of SOEs are operated with funds from the treasury that are collected from all types of taxpayers in the country. Let alone privatising, any attempt by any Government in the past to restructure was defeated by the trade unions. Even occasional attempts, time and again, made genuinely by Ministers, were crushed by the trade unionists through protests and strikes.
Loss-making SOEs
At this crucial point, the citizenry expects the President and his Government to make a conscious effort to restructure or completely privatise all loss-making SOEs.
While every private sector employee contributes to the national economy, the employees in the loss-making industries contribute to an increase in the poverty of the country by receiving salaries and many other perks. The entire citizenry is aware that the key reasons for losses in SOEs are political manipulation, mismanagement, and wastage.
In an interview with “The Economist,” President Wickremesinghe recently made an extremely important comment on trade unions. He stated that he would overlook any resistance by the trade unions and that he would only answer to the general public.
In recent times, no leader has been bold enough to send such a message to trade unions that are always threatening Governments on even simple matters. The entire country, except the unionists themselves, will be behind the President if he carries out the promises.
The most important thing now is to find ways and means to come out of the ongoing financial crisis, at least as it was before. The best contribution that can be made to the crisis lies with the vibrant private sector in the country. Unfortunately, due to the current issues, predominantly the shortage of fuel and other difficulties that arise from such a shortage,
Currently, not only small and medium-sized businesses are facing numerous issues, but also the employees of such organisations are facing the threat of job loss. Hence, the utmost priority of the incumbent Government is to initiate programs to assist the Sri Lankan MSME sector, which has the highest employment in Sri Lanka, to recover and put them back on their feet.