Letters
View(s):Election violations: Is anyone really interested in stopping them?
With the announcement of every Presidential, Parliamentary or Local Government election the run-up to the poll is full of violations of election laws. The elections chief only sermonises. When the laws are blatantly violated, when his own officers are obstructed and threatened with death he is reluctant to put his foot down and deal with the incident effectively. If the offender belongs to the ruling party whilst the Elections Commissioner glosses over the offences, the police too invariably remain inactive.
But understandably, the people as well as the media have now realised that these officials although they bear loud sounding designations are honest, educated men and women who have chosen state service as a career. This is their bread and butter. They cannot afford to lose their jobs by antagonizing the incumbents in power or those aspiring to enter the portals of power.
Today anyone realizes that those who have unbridled power will never allow the emergence of a level playing field. Deaf to the referee’s whistle and foul tackling with impurity it is unimaginable they will surrender their present ability to shift the goal posts.
As reported prominently in a state owned newspaper on the front page of August 13, the Polls Chief has listed many ‘dos’ and ‘donts’.
Using propaganda material on vehicles which the candidates do not travel in, canvassing using loud speakers, painting party symbols and preference numbers on road surfaces, announcing through public address systems fitted on vehicles and conducting processions and rallies without permission are violations of election laws the Commissioner has stated.
The display of banners, advertisement notices, stickers, cutouts, hoardings, flags and pennants outside approved election offices has been prohibited.
The question that simple, law abiding citizens keep on asking is, why can’t there be effective laws and punitive justice to curb these illegal activities?
Why has the Elections Commissioner not recommended the enaction of laws for:
eg. a) Confiscation of vehicles using propaganda material on vehicles in which candidates do not travel
b) Confiscation of loudspeakers used for canvassing / addressing people as announcements.
c) Prohibiting the printing / making of posters, cut outs, hoardings etc,,
d) Nullify the nominations of candidates who do not declare their assets.
These declarations should be gazetted for the information of the public.
However, what baffles me most perhaps out of my ignorance of the present laws governing elections, the legal rights of unsuccessful candidates and ordinary voters is why there are no election petitions today !
Prior to the promulgation of the 1978 constitution creating the Executive Presidency election petitions, unseating of members and by-elections were refreshing features that kept our Democracy vibrant, alive and kicking. Election petitions were the surest deterrents to the violation of election laws, bribery and even treating, merely distributing some food to voters, not dansalas serving chicken buriyani and even ethanol arrack. Powerful political heavyweights from the State Council days have been unseated by election petitions that proved corrupt practices and violation of election offences. And today gathering evidence of election offences has become a simple task. What with electronic devices, photography, videography etc being freely available.
But alas the democracy that we knew and grew up under does not exist anymore. Legislators who have not heard of Westminster or do not observe elementary standards of Parliamentary behaviour would certainly not have read or even heard of authors like Appadorai, Dicey, Jennings or Wade and Phillips. Today the legislature, executive and the judiciary, the three mighty pillars of democracy that provide the checks and balances that ensure the smooth functioning of the democratic state have merged into just one ‘executive pillar.’ Let’s hope that the distant rumblings against the Executive Presidency will soon turn to welcome showers.
Edward Gunawardena
Battaramulla
Get facts straight before advocating changes in National Anthem
It was a great philosopher in the West who said, “ I will never agree with your views, but I will die for your right to express those views’. This letter is somewhat critical of some of the contents of the article by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya appearing in the Sunday Times of August 10.
Referring to the July ‘83 incidents he states that it was the blackest day of Sri Lanka history. He has totally ignored, the cause of the July 83 incidents. For his information, 13 soldiers travelling in a vehicle, not on any combat duty whatsoever, but on a peaceful journey, were brutally murdered and when their bodies were brought to Colombo, the rioting started. One need not be a lawyer to say that if there is no action, there would not be a reaction thus, any comprehensive analysis of the July 83 incidents, should deal with the reasons that led to such incidents.
Even in law, while a pre-planned murder is sentenced to death, a much more lenient sentence is given in instances where it is proved that the murder was committed under sudden and grave provocation. Did any human rights agency, N.G.O. etc., visit the families of these 13 innocent soldiers, and give them some sort of financial assistance etc., in view of the loss of their breadwinners? Every Tom, Dick and Harry who rushes to the press in July each year, never cares to touch on this very sensitive angle. The policy of harping on the reaction and totally ignoring the action has been done even in the recent Beruwela incidents in June this year.
Moreover what happened in July 1983, fades into total insignificance, when compared with what happened thereafter up to May, 2009. It was the blackest period of Sri Lanka history. The tremendous restraint and patience shown by the majority community, in the midst of such grave and sudden provocations is unprecedented in the history of the entire world, and the community should be commended without reservation. The details of those atrocities, even if described, briefly, will occupy more than one full page of this newspaper.
Moreover Mr. Warnakulasuriya has further stated in his article that, “the Government could at least have taken two or three lines of the national anthem translated into Tamil and incorporated into the national anthem.”
With a Tamil population over 60 million in India, the national anthem of India is sung only in Hindi, the sole official language of India, according to the Indian Constitution. If high ranking politicians of the calibre of Jayalalitha etc., in Tamil Nadu are not interested in getting “two or three lines of the national anthem translated into Tamil and incorporated into the national anthem” in India, it defies imagination as to why people Mr. Warnakulasuriya and Vasudeva Nanayakkara etc., are advocating such a change in Sri Lanka.
In conclusion, Mr. Warnaku-lasuriya is kindly requested to study in detail, the book written by Rev. Ellawala Medhananda Thera titled “Our Heritage in the North and the East” and the book written by late Cyril Mathew, titled “Sihaluni Budusasuna Beraganivu” and forward his observations on the injustices suffered by the majority community, referred to therein.
D. Siriratha
Ambalangoda
De-silting – development or disaster?
Reference Eng. Anton Nanayakkara’s letter, the Sunday Times Plus August 10, I am thankful to him, as other readers too would be, for sharing his research analysis on the economic benefits of de-silting irrigation tanks on a scientific basis. Having retired from the ID more than 20 years before his research presentation in 1997, I am not aware if the Government agencies engaged in de-silting viz, the ID, Department of Agrarian Services and now the District and Divisional Secretariats have made or are making use of his findings and recommendations. If not, at least now Eng. Nanayakkara’s knowledge and expertise should be availed of. It would without doubt benefit the farming community and the tax payer.
The tanks he has referred to, except Kekanadura, are situated in densely populated urban areas of Ja-Ela, Ragama and Thalangama. Many of the fields under these tanks have been utilised for building purposes, as flood detention areas etc. Even the catchment areas are cleared and used for housing and other developments such as, highways/expressways and townships.
It would be useful to know whether any evaluations have been carried out, subsequent to the de-silting, ascertained in real terms, if the anticipated benefits in different aspects referred to by him, have actually occurred. Such evaluations too have to be done scientifically by knowledgeable, independent persons. These studies are essential to assess more accurately economic and financial validity of projects before public funds are expended.
I recall that an evaluation of the Gal Oya Valley Development Project, the very first multipurpose scheme undertaken by the ID after independence, was carried out in the 1960s by a Committee chaired by B. H. Palmer, Fellow of the Cambridge University (who authored geography text books used by us in school) and included a retired Auditor General amongst others. The Secretary of that Committee was Mr Tissa Devendra, a well-respected member of the Ceylon Administrative Service.
The findings of the said committee were published as a Sessional Paper and were no doubt used to plan and execute later projects.
Since public funds are used even for the smallest project detailed evaluation of the actual effectiveness of work carried out is necessary. The expenditure of public funds that do not benefit those intended (and the tax payer) is criminal especially if the objective is to defraud.
In the early 1970s I was detailed by the Ministry of Irrigation to a team that studied “Failed Projects” initiated by the Ministry of Planning of which Prof. H A De S Gunasekera was the Permanent Secretary. One of the projects studied was Kantale Sugar where a very large capacity factory installed, was a dead loss as the required extent of cane could not be cultivated because irrigation facilities were not provided from the Kantale Tank. Some other projects were: the fish canning factory at Pesalai near Mannar which had to be abandoned as the particular variety of fish required for canning could not be caught in sufficient quantity; the plywood factory at Kosgama which too had to be shut down due to want of timber; the ADB funded lift irrigation project at Rajangane, Elahera and other places, to cultivate subsidiary food crops which failed due to lack of extension services and farmer education.
Many of these projects had been undertaken on political considerations by the powers that were, rather than on proper scientific feasibility studies. Losses were aggravated due to mismanagement and corruption.
In the mid-1980s I was associated with the Kotmale and Victoria Reservoir Projects under the Mahaweli Ganga Development Programme. As an engineer attached to the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau which functioned as a co-consultant to the Mahaweli Development Board, I recall a World Bank review report which stated, inter alia, that nearly thirty (30) per cent of the funds provided was wasted.
Today, most major projects are funded by commercial loans running into millions of dollars obtained from foreign banks. If such projects are ill conceived for political purposes, then the financial losses will be tragic for our people. A reason often given by politicians is that the said investments are for the benefit of “future generations”! It would be better if we are told which generation, the next or the one after or the third, also if such benefits are clearly set out in the cost/benefit analyses and feasibility reports approved by Parliament. One of the main purposes of my letter in the Sunday Times Plus of August 3, 2014, was to draw attention to the possibility of fraud, “and MADA WALIN GAHILLA” associated in the ID with de-silting. That was after seeing a single instance on TV news. In this regard a news report on page A6 of the Daily Mirror headlined “RS 1.1 BILLION WASTED ON IMPROPER DESILTING: UNP” was a shock. In the said report a MP from the NCP has charged that this sum of money was allocated to de-silt 314 tanks in 2013 as disclosed in Parliament. Further, that all the said tanks that were de-silted have dried up completely. Also, that a further Rs 420 million is being paid to contractors to dig wells in the dried up tank bed at Rs 1,400,000/- per well which would be of no use when the rains that have now commenced fill the tanks.
If de-silting has been or is going on in other drought stricken districts as well, the scale of corruption and fraud for which it was known, could be very, very large.
The news report does not state what agency or agencies are responsible for these contracts. Whatever the implementing agency may be, policy is the responsibility of the Minister for Irrigation and Water Resources. The ID which is under this Ministry has been in existence for one hundred and fifteen (115) years. It has a wealth of information regarding all related aspects as well as, disasters such as, droughts and floods which occur cyclically. The dry and arid zones of our country receive the bulk of rainfall from a single monsoon viz, the North East Monsoon (NEM) from mid-September through to January, a period of three and a half (3½) months or so. The rest of the year is mainly dry except for occasional showers due to atmospheric disturbances.That is why our forefathers led by wise kings created the irrigation system of old. Even the colonising nations from Europe especially the British admired this system and did much towards its restoration.
It is therefore very sad to see the fertility of our land being ruined by destruction of forests and denudation of catchment areas. Powerful people, particularly politicians or their supporters are often responsible as they can influence the law enforcement agencies. The poor peasant who has little say is the long time sufferer.
Is it not time for all those who truly love this motherland of ours to take stock and make necessary changes wisely, without violence and death and sorrow.
Nissanka de Silva
Retired Irrigation Engineer