Black-boarded Govt. forced to eat chalk

An unprecedented criss-crossing over admissions to Grade One of schools created chaos not in the classrooms but in parliament with Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe warning that the writing was on the blackboard for free education. Mr. Wickremesinghe, a former education minister, was joined by other party members and JVP fronliners in launching a frontal attack on the recent Supreme Court guidelines for Grade One admissions. They all charged that children of richer families would get preference in admission to national schools and it would spell doom for C.W.W. Kannangara’s free education policies which had carried Sri Lanka to the highest literary levels in the world.

Mr. Wickremesinghe pointed out that some 1.5 million of Sri Lankans who were working abroad and contributing the most today to a tottering economy would be among the main victims of the new guidelines as their children would not be admitted to popular national schools. The UNP, the JVP and other parties insisted that instead of the Supreme Court guidelines, the government should go ahead with admissions on the basis of the earlier 2006 circular.

UNP frontliner Vajira Abeyawardena said that allowing the Supreme Court and the Presidential Secretariat to work out the basis of school admissions amounted to an undermining of parliament’s powers relating to such policy matters. Education Minister Susil Premajayantha appeared to be in a muddle of muddles with the latest guidelines adding not clarity but making the blackboard bleaker.

The Education Minister said that he had not been given a chance to submit proposals. Under pressure and attacks from all sides, he promised that the 2006 circular would be implemented with amendments but he was not clear on what would happen or not happen to the Supreme Court guidelines. In the chaos within the chaos, and the confusion within the confusion, the only clear factor appeared to be that applications for new admissions would be received from Wednesday but what happens after that and who gets into which school are far from being chalked out.

Another controversial issue last week was a huge land deal involving former Plantations Minister Lakshman Kiriella. He was accused by JVP member Dimuthu Bandara Tennakoon of selling a 28-acre land in Hantane to a property development company which was cutting trees and constructing roads to put blocks of bare land on sale. Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka was asked to produce a report after looking into this matter.

The next day, Minister Ranawaka read out the report, which mentioned that an environment assessment report had been obtained but complaints from Central Environmental Authority officials and residents had been received.

A tensed Mr. Kiriella said the land was owned by his wife and his wife’s brother following a court ruling. He tried his best to ease the tension by reading a sannasa (a letter) by king Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe in 1761 mentioning that his ancestors had received 10,000 acres of land from the king. Mr. Kiriella apparently wanted to show that he inherited large areas of land by birth. But later he mentioned that the land was obtained under the Land Reforms Council.

Another disclosure saw Science and Technology Minsiter Tissa Vitarana virtually holding his head in shock or shame or both. The JVP alleged that a vehicle had been loaned to the ministry for use by the minister and the deputy for an annual rent of Rs. Rs.1.8 million annually and a monthly fuel allowance of Rs. 65,000.

A JVP MP charged that the Monterro jeep had been loaned from an address which he alleged was the address of the deputy minister himself. An embarrassed Minister Tissa Vitarana said he would look into the matter but the Government’s Chief Whip denied the allegation. Whatever the charge or discharge, the issue underlined by the JVP members was that 50 percent salary cut voluntarily offered by government ministers and deputy ministers was more like an undercut.

Firing back on behalf of the government was Public Administration Minister Karu Jayasuriya, who was the former UNP deputy leader. He claimed that businessman Charles Gnanakoon, who was a suspect of the killing of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, had agreed to pay one million US dollars for an MP who crossed over to the opposition.

On Thursday the government moved its monthly motion of the extension of emergency on the basis that some 60 troops and 41 civilians were killed last month in the continuing war and violence. The JVP was among the parties that voted for the emergency but warned it would switch its stand if the government continued to unleash violence against civilians.

JVP frontliner Vijith Herath referred to the police tear gas attacks on protesting university students. Amidst loud applause, Mr. Herath roared that if any one believed the JVP was still supporting the government, it was a myth and the party would take tough action if state terror was let loose on students or the working class. A lot of attention was focused on CWC members with questions as to whether they were here, there or nowhere.

On Thursday, August 2, CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman and four other members resigned from their cabinet and non-cabinet posts. But amidst contradictions over whether Thondaman would roll down from the mountain or whether Rajapaksa would go to the mountain, the CWC decided to sit in the middle.

During parliament sessions CWC members were seated in the last benches on the Govt’s side, and voted in favour of the extension. CWC members occupied backbenches of the government side but said they would support the government in progressive moves.

On Friday following a speech given by UNP MP John Amaretunge, UNP’s Ravi Karunanayake spoke on alleged malpractice in the award of a mega tender for the Colombo South Port Development Project.

He said that at a crucial time when a privatised container terminal was handling most of the containers and the Sethusamudram project posed a major threat to Colombo’s longstanding role as one of the main ports in Asia, huge corruption appeared to be paving the way for the Colombo South terminal project to be handed over to those who were demanding the highest prices for it.

“We have a 17% growth in the region. For the first time last month the port of Colombo recorded a 1% negative growth. Almost 3.5 million containers are going through the port and that the JCT is losing its share to SLJT, a private consortium within the port, handling 50% of containers. The govt of Sri Lanka is the main shareholder of JCT,” he said.

Mr. Karunanayake charged that the technical evaluation committee, consisting of Sri Lankans of “Chinese origins” had rejected the best offer from India and recommended a company with Chinese connection. This reflected that there was corruption in the bidding process, he said.

“Almost 80% of the container traffic is from India. Sri Lanka should have considered the Indian offer. The only disadvantage that seems to be is that the bidder is too big to be handled. We can see that the best is being rejected,” he said. Mr. Karunanayake claimed that the Chinese company was not qualified to handle the contract as it was facing a severe financial crisis. He said the company’s asset value which stood at 3084 million dollars in 2001 had plummeted to 473 million in 2005. By the time they finish the breakwater project, the company would be facing bankruptcy, he said.