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Those acquainted with our post-independence history would know well enough that Sri Lankan politics is sinking deeper into a morass of its own creation and the morality early politicians brought to political conduct has all but vanished. We are now rotten to the core.

The country is saddled with a corrupt, uneducated and morally eviscerated class that has struck Faustian bargains to continue to exercise power. Thankfully, not all are the same. Still it is a haven for charlatans and frauds.

Those of us, who have been for decades on the sidelines of politics watching with increasing concern the decline and the current masquerade, wonder what went wrong. How did politics, a respected vocation then, become aggrandising vacation now?

Flying economy class: Imran said he would not attend the UN General Assembly in New York this year and avoid foreign travel for three months. Pic courtesy zemtv.com

It would seem that for many who cannot find a respectable job, cheating the people and ruining the nation is profitable enough ‘profession’ to amass wealth for generations so that their uneducated or uneducable progeny can flaunt wealth and power before a disgusted public.

It would be educative thus to watch the political developments in neighbouring Pakistan under a new government.

Will the new Imran Khan coalition go the same way as several other governments in Asia including our own or will the cricketing hero-turned-politician be able perform creditably in the political field as he did in the cricket field.

It will be a useful lesson for the Sri Lankan people, especially those who have robbed the nation in the name of representing the people, to see how the Imran Khan government has fared in the few weeks it has been in office and view it against the performance of our own leaders since they sold their bogus brand of yahapalanaya.

Since coming to power Imran — as he is popularly known — has addressed the nation and, at the time of writing, held two federal cabinet meetings that have been reported. Imran made some promises to the nation while addressing the people and at the cabinet meetings.

Statistically, Pakistan has an area of around 796,000 square kilometres. Its population is around 193 million. Currently it has 16 federal ministers.

Compare that to Sri Lanka with a land area a little over 65,000 square kilometres and a cabinet of heaven only knows how many ministers and state and deputy ministers for 21.2 million population. Any wonder then why the state coffers are emptying fast.

Among the decisions taken by the Imran Khan government in the last few weeks  are the following, unlike President Sirisena’s 100- day programme which he now claims he did not know who wrote it and is ignorant of some of its contents.

• Officials to be named and shamed
• Ban on first class travel for top officials, including Prime Minister and President 
• Ban on business class travel for all government officials 
• Ban on meals during official meetings 
• Ban on purchase of cars 
• Ban on recruitment of drivers 
• Collect and auction all SUV’s being misused in government departments 
• Government vehicles in shopping malls and outside schools and at residences to be photographed and reported for seizure 
• Identify and name and shame those illegally using vehicles and staff at residences 
• Ban on government functions in 4/5 Star hotels
• Cancellation of all contractual re-employments over the age of 60 
• Minimum use of stationery in office 
• Limited use of air-conditioners in office; ACs will be switched on only after 11am and at 26 degree Celsius 
• Minimum use of lighting fixers during office hours 

Some of this might be considered irrelevant or unimportant to us. But vital if the bureaucracy and other services are to be tamed and disciplined to halt waste and abuse like misuse of government vehicles for domestic duties.

It might be recalled that during the 2015 election campaigns how much noise was made by the yahapalanites about the waste of public funds and the enormous fiscal deficit they would be burdened with when in office.

While castigating the Rajapaksa government for the misuse and abuse of state funds and creating a huge fiscal deficit, one of the first things that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe did was to propose a Rs 100,000 monthly allowance for MPs to run their offices and also allow them to import duty free vehicles.

The argument adduced to defend such profligacy was that MPs needed good vehicles to carry out their official duties. It seemed a strange argument stoutly defended by the cabinet spokesman.

At the same time the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government did not ban MPs from flogging their permits in the open market which several of them did. What conclusions could be drawn from such money consuming politics? Either the vehicles were unnecessary to perform official duties or the MPs were not attending to the official work they should perform as the people’s representatives.

Not to be outdone the UNP’s new Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake took after her party leader spending public money on upgrading her official residence including renovating her bathrooms.

Poor Rosy lamented in defence that the toilets had not been used for years which leaves some unanswered questions. But then with claims that an unnamed private firm had been contracted to clean her residence at an annual cost of  some 8.5 million rupees she probably thought she should share the taxpayers’ money instead of clearing the garbage every week as happens by fits and starts now, the gracious mayor added an extra Rs. 25,000 to councillor’s pay.

With space rather short this Sunday we would have to return to the subject of decisions taken by the Imran Khan government and our own worthy lot.  But one cannot stop without a reference to Prime Minister Imran abandoning the prime minister’s luxurious official residence employing a staff of 542 persons and moving to a 3-bed roomed residence with just two domestic aides.

I remember Sirisena promising before assuming the presidency that he would govern the country from his residence in Polonnaruwa like King Parakramabahu though Sirisena is hardly likely to gain the appellation “the Great” unless another word is added to it.

Imran said he would not attend the UN General Assembly in New York this year and avoid foreign travel for three months.

There is an institution called the President’s Media Division (PMD) which is as useful as that appendage called the appendix. The PMD should make a collection of the actions taken by PM Imran and hand it over to the president, hopefully not in Urdu, drawing particular attention to Imran’s self-imposed curb on foreign travel. If and when Imran steps outside Pakistan it will not be utilising every invitation he gets or manages to cadge to travel abroad with family in tow at the country’s expense.

Somebody should tell President Sirisena about it and he should tell the people what benefit accrued to the country from his frequent traveller’s programme except for shopping opportunities for friends and relatives.

May they thrive and prosper like the people of Sri Lanka.