Columns

• Optimism that Covid-19 could be controlled soon to lift the curfew and set the scene for May 30 elections
•  Ranil holds one-on-one talks with PM to discuss reconvening of Parliament; but several ruling party leaders oppose it

Efforts by a section of the opposition to re-convene Parliament amidst the globally spreading Covid-19 pandemic proved futile this week.

The move was raised at an all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees last Monday. It came four hours after a prolonged curfew was lifted on Monday, forcing people to flood the streets for food stocks and other essentials.

That unexpected turnout went against the government’s resolve for social distancing and delivered a strong message that was cause for concern — people in principal towns were short of food. This was particularly in the Western Province where long queues formed outside supermarkets and grocery shops. Police ensured a three feet gap between customers in the queues. Supermarkets let in twenty at a time. Queues remained even after the curfew was re-imposed at 2 p.m. Others queued up outside pharmacies carrying prescriptions to buy medicines. That there was desperation in these queues was clearly evident. Customers at the front of the queue prevented outsiders from entering. Police had to intervene on occasions to keep off queue breakers.

At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered an unexpected national crisis in Sri Lanka, criticism over one lapse or the other is very easy and could be expected. However, this is an issue that is vital to the survival of the community. “We want to save the people from the coronavirus, but we do not want them to die of starvation,” said one of the leaders of the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP) led Sri Lanka Nidhas Podujana Sandanaya (SLNPS), Even if it has not come to such frightening levels, the stark reality is not all people are stocked with food items and many cannot buy them, even if they had money, whilst others did not have money to buy basic necessities.

Exacerbating the situation are ghouls who are exploiting this misery. A web-based company charged over Rs 5,500 for a kilo of small prawns delivered to the doorstep of a customer. In Dehiwala, on Friday, lorries parked in by-lanes sold coconuts at Rs 150 each. A reputed supermarket chain with a handful of outlets took orders on the telephone but told customers delivery would be after April 4. Ironic enough, this outlet had glowing mention in an official government press release, as one among others, which would carry out door to door supplies immediately.

In Nugegoda, a vendor unloaded a lorry full of vegetables at his outlet to deliver on orders on the telephone. It is located barely a kilometre away from President Rajapaksa’s private residence. The man who displays his portrait at the outlet is a staunch backer of him. Police ordered him to re-load the vegetables and shut down his outlet. Police in different parts of the country appear to have given their own interpretations to what the government wanted carried out. Another instance is in Kantalai (Trincomalee district) where crowds thronged streets. There was a lorry loaded with eggs. They were selling them at ten rupees each. Crowds formed a queue standing one metre away from one another.

When the sale was on, a Police officer turned up at the scene. He ordered that the sale be stopped. He asked the vendor to bring the lorry and the eggs to the police station. He alleged later that some of the stocks were taken by those in the station. Other boxes containing the eggs had been distributed among businesses in the area. Thereafter, the vendor could sell the remaining eggs from outside the police station premises. There again, some 15 minutes later, another police officer turned up and ordered the vendor to stop selling eggs.  He had to leave.

On Friday afternoon, grocery outlets and pharmacies which were open were ordered by the Police to immediately shut down. Only the state retailer and wholesaler, Osu Sala at Eye Hospital Junction will now remain open. The closure is on the grounds that there were persons violating the curfew by using medical prescriptions as a pass. There appears to be ad hocism in some of the measures the government is adopting. To say the least, the availability of medicinal drugs, and food, should have been an integral part of an overall strategy. On that hinges not only public welfare, but also public support and appreciation for the government’s battle against Covid-19. This should have been high priority since denying access to drugs places the lives of patients at a serious risk.

The Police policy contradictions are highlighted by the remarks of Deputy Inspector General K. Kadupitiya, who is in charge of the Western Province Southern Range. He said, “The instructions to those transporting vegetables and other vendors were that to ensure that arrangements are made to take the vegetables from house to house and sell them. We had done this in order to prevent the crowds gathering at one place.” However, he added, “In some instances we had to prevent people selling vegetables and rice in lorries or in shops as it would had drawn crowds during the curfew.”

Of course, one must be mindful of the good work most in the Police are doing. The lapses in some areas only show an acute lack of coordination and the inability to appreciate the cooperation the people are extending to them. In the process, they are doing great damage to the efforts by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to prevent Covid-19 from spreading. The laudable steps he had taken together with the military and medical teams have left Sri Lanka as one of the countries with a low rate of positive cases and only one death so far. He has been regularly briefed on the guidelines set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The figure of those who tested positive for Covid-19 stood at 106 yesterday. Many inmates released from quarantine centres whom I spoke with were high praise for the Army officers and men who cared for them. One of them, a returnee from abroad, said he fell at the feet of a doctor as well as an Army officer to say how grateful he is. “They treated me as if I was a member of their own family,” he said.

Issues arising from shortcomings during the curfew, albeit all other measures adopted by the government, would have echoed in the chamber if Parliament was re-convened. However, SLPNS leaders were not in favour of such a move for many reasons. They seemed convinced that it was nothing less than a political exercise of the opposition and was not prompted by the need to play a role in the campaign against Covid-19. This was after opposition plans to defeat a supplementary estimate (to make outstanding payments to contractors). The government was forced to withdraw from the move and expedite its efforts towards holding elections. Covid-19 has put paid to it so far.

Opposition efforts to re-convene Parliament came from different quarters in different ways. The first was when United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe walked in for a one-on-one meeting with Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa, just before the meeting of political party representatives who gathered at Temple Trees last Monday. There he urged legislation be enacted on an emergency basis to cope with the situation in Sri Lanka. Quite clearly, the passage of such legislation would have necessitated the re-summoning of Parliament. Firstly, a Bill would have to be presented and later debated. Thereafter, the Speaker would have to sign his assent to make it law. Though urgent, the process would still be time consuming and would distract other efforts of the government, its leaders felt.

Yesterday’s picture of Special Envoy Basil Rajapaksa who heads the 40-member Covid-19 Presidential Task Force discussing with team members urgent measures required to ease the difficulties the people are facing.

In fact, even before the meeting of political party representatives, Wickremesinghe tried to lever a re-convening of Parliament with a statement issued on the day a countrywide curfew was declared. In a media statement (issued only in Sinhala), he said the previous government led by him had not passed a budget for 2020. He said that they had passed only a Vote on Account which would last till April 30. Hence, Wickremesinghe argued that that the present government did not “have the legal right to allocate funds for any purpose.” Such passage of funds therefore would have to be passed by Parliament.

An angry Premier Rajapaksa hit back at Wickremesinghe describing his statement as an “attempt to sabotage the work of the government and the anti-coronavirus campaign in the midst of the most serious epidemic that this country has ever faced.”  Premier Rajapaksa defended his government’s use of funds citing constitutional provisions. “Despite such conspiracies against the nation by opportunistic elements,” he said, “medical professionals, nurses and other hospital staff, and all those engaged in the provision of essential services have been working day and night to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.”

At the meeting of political party representatives, the issue was pointedly raised by Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem. That drew strong responses from Minister Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila. Both emphasised that the task at hand was to put an immediate halt to the spread of Covid-19. Together, they strongly objected to the re-convening of Parliament for another reason. That would not only entail the summoning of MPs but also staff and re-activation of other services. That again would lead to the convergence of more and more people and would defeat the objective of both the government and the WHO that there should be social distancing by people remaining indoors. A noticeable feature was the fact that Wickremesinghe and now his archrival, Sajith Premadasa, did not speak with each other.

SLPNS leaders including legal experts later mulled over the suggestions made to Premier Rajapaksa by UNP leader Wickremesinghe. It was pointed out that new laws were not required to deal with the current situation. They opined that one piece of legislation – the Disaster Management Act – alone was enough to cope with the situation. The wide provisions in that law would confer enough powers to cope with the situation.

The Constitution (Article 70 (7) ) empowers the President to reconvene Parliament “if at any time after the dissolution of Parliament, the President is satisfied that an emergency has arisen of such a nature that an earlier meeting of Parliament is necessary, he may by Proclamation summon Parliament which has been dissolved to meet on a date not less than three days from the date of such proclamation and such Parliament shall stand dissolved upon the termination of the emergency or the conclusion of the general election, whichever is earlier.”

Other than that, Premier Rajapaksa and other SLPNS leaders were pleased with the contributions made by Wickremesinghe. “He was positive and appreciated the situation. He made some valuable suggestions,” said an SLPNS leader. Premadasa too raised a few questions. Vijitha Herath, who represented the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) declared his party’s support to the government’s campaign against the coronavirus.

With matters that transpired at the meeting and thereafter at their own discussions, it was decided to immediately adopt a four-pronged strategy. The plan has been placed in the hands of Basil Rajapaksa, General Secretary of the SLPNS. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has designated him as Special Envoy to the President. The Gazette issued on Thursday said:  PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE THE Appointment of a Presidential Task Force in terms of powers vested in HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT by Article 33 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to direct, coordinate and monitor the delivery of continuous services for the sustenance of overall community life, including the supply of food provisions produced in rural areas and producers direct to consumers giving priority to the Districts of Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha, Puttlam, Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu which have greater vulnerability in the eradication of coronavirus in Sri Lanka. To : 1. Basil Rajapaksa Esquire President’s Special Envoy.”

This is the first time Basil Rajapaksa has been given the title of Special Envoy, usually one that is used in the conduct of diplomacy. Of course, in that capacity he is armed to represent the President on foreign assignments as well.  Twelve different tasks have been placed as his responsibility. They are:

1.   Provide facilities required by farmers for farming activities for the production of paddy, cereals, vegetables, fruit, fish, meat, milk, eggs, plantation products such as tea, cinnamon and pepper.

2.   Organise and operate Lanka Sathosa, cooperative networks, Cargills, Keells, Arpico and Laughs retail networks to supply agricultural products direct to customers.

3.   Operate the distribution mechanism to supply farm products received at Economic Centres to customers in those areas as well as in towns at household level.

4.   Coordinate with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Sri Lanka Customs, corporate Banking Sector and other Government regulatory agencies and take necessary action to facilitate the import of essential foods and drugs as well as the export of tea, sanitary clothing etc.

5.   Provide fuel, security, banking assistance for transport of rice, coconuts, tea, animal feed, domestically produced sanitary clothing and food.

6.   Provide health and sanitation facilities to drivers and assistants of vehicles such as lorries, three-wheelers, buses and motorcycles transporting essential services and goods to customers and keep selected fuel stations of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation open during curfew hours to supply them with fuel.

7.   Direct and provide facilities to Agriculture Department, Agrarian Services Department, Samurdhi Authority, Cooperative Farmer Societies, Farmer Organisations, and private seed production organisations to supply seed, seedlings, fertilizer and machinery for farming activities.

8.   Direct officials engaged in rural projects to encourage seed farms, popularise organic fertilizer use and encourage production of home crops, and as far as possible, popularise home gardens as a supply for self-consumption.

9.   Direct and take measures to provide required loan facilities to farmers via Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, Regional Development Banks and Samurdhi Bank branches.

10. Implement appropriate measures for waste disposal in rural and urban areas and maintain continuous electricity and water supply services.

11. Take steps to focus special attention on women, low-income families and persons directly at risk when undertaking above measures.

12. All bank branches to remain open for a minimum of 04 hours a day utilising minimum staff to provide essential banking services to customers.

A forty-member Presidential Task Force has been placed under Basil Rajapaksa’s charge. They are:

Roshan Mahesh James Gunathilaka Governor, Western Province, A.J.M. Muzzammil Governor, North Western Province, P.S.M. Charles, Governor, Northern Province, Gamini Sedara Senarath, Secretary to the Prime Minister, S.R. Attygalle, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Economy and Policy Development, Wasantha Perera, Secretary, Ministry of Power & Energy. S. Hettiarachchi, Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils & Local Government, H.K.D.W.M.N.B. Hapuhinna,l Secretary, Ministry of Mahaweli, Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development,  Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrema, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Water Supply and Housing Facilities,  Major General (Retd.) Kamal Gunarathna, Secretary, Ministry of Defence,  G.K.S.L. Rajadasa, Secretary, Ministry of Internal Trade, Food Security and Consumer Welfare, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff / Commander of the Army,  Vice Admiral Piyal de Silva, Commander of the Navy,  D.C. Wickremaratne, Acting Inspector General of Police, Rear Admiral (Retd.) Ananda Peiris Director General, Civil Security Force, Ms. J.M.C. Jayanthi Wijetunga Chief Secretary, Western Province, P.B.M. Sirisena, Chief Secretary, North Western Province. A. Pathinadan, Chief Secretary, Northern Province, Major General (Retd.) Shantha Dissanayake, Chairman, Consumer Affairs Authority, Mahesh Gammampila Director, Fertilizer Secretariat, . J.A. Nushad M. Perera, Chairman, Co-operative Wholesale Establishment, Bandula Thilakasiri, Director General, Department of Samurdhi Development 24. Bonniface Silva,  General Manager, People’s Bank, Sudath Gunasekara , General Manager, Bank of Ceylon,  Vijitha Herath,  Chairman, Lanka Electricity Board, W.W.D. Sumith Wijesinghe,  Chairman, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, A. Wimalaweera, e Commissioner General of Labour,  S. Singappuli, Commissioner of Co-operative Development,  Major General (Retd.) G. Vijitha Ravipriya, Director General, Sri Lanka Customs, Pradeep Yasarathna, District Secretary, Colombo, Sunil Jayalath, District Secretary, Gampaha, K. Mahesan, District Secretary, Jaffna,  U.D.C. Jayalal,  District Secretary, Kalutara,  L.J.M.G.C. Bandara, District Secretary, Puttalam,  N.W.G.R.D. Nanayakkara,  Assistant Governor, Central Bank,  Ms. T.M.J.Y.P. Fernando Assistant Governor, Central Bank, Major General (Retd.) Sudantha Ranasinghe, Director General, Disaster Management Centre, S.B. Divaratna,  Co-Chairman, Task for Poverty Eradication and Livelihood Development and Major General (Retd.) Sumedha Perera Esquire Co-Chairman, Task for Poverty Eradication and Livelihood Development.

Basil Rajapaksa has been engaged in a series of meetings since the new task was assigned to him. Different plans are on the drawing boards with a strong resolve that the people would be told to stay indoors for a long haul. The matter is to come up for review on April 4. Whether the ‘stay indoors’ order will continue or be curtailed is to be decided.  This is particularly in the four districts of Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha and Puttalam. The prospects of easing the curfew in non- affected areas, are also to be determined then.

The ongoing curfew and when it would be completely lifted is just one issue revolving around Covid 19 which the government has so far prevented from spreading far and wide. However, there are a multitude of deeply worrying issues staring in its face. A main issue is unemployment, the forced closure of apparel industries contributing to it in a big way. Principals in the United States, their largest market, have advised their suppliers not to ship any more. They have not received payment for those already exported due to the raging Covid 19 attacks there. Another industry which is reeling with no business is the tourism industry. Local experts say they would have to await government intervention since it would be a long time before they recover. Already, retrenchment is under way in some of the tourist hotels. The two sectors have suffered so much setback, they are unable to contribute towards the anti Covid 19 campaign.

Private sector companies have come forward with contributions. One of them is leading businessman Dhammika Perera. He donated Rs 70 million of his own funds. Four life-saving ventilators have been among the items procured with his support. Smaller businesses have also been chipping in by making contributions to the Police to obtain packets of vegetables or dry rations to the needy.

The worst hit are the self-employed, from labourers, masons and odd job persons and the like who constitute 40% to 50 % of the country’s work force. The remarks of a three-wheeler scooter driver are heart rending though their tribe are some of the worst offenders of traffic laws. Nimal (not his real name), 28-years- old and the father of two children, gave his account. “We have not been a burden to the government. We go for hires and earn our living,” he said. That past has remained good.

“I spend for the education of my children, for repairs on my vehicles and for daily living. Now, we are in misery,” he lamented. “Like many in my trade, I hear stories of food items are being sold from grocery stores or from lorries. We have no money to buy them. On one night, we all starved. I borrowed some money the next day. What is going to happen to us,” he asked. Declared another driver 31-year-old Sarath, father of a nine-year-old baby: “Not only do I have no money. I don’t know how I am going to pay the finance company for the lease purchase of my vehicle.”

Placing Basil Rajapaksa at the apex of the government’s campaign also has a significant aspect. He will have to expedite measures to ensure Covid 19 reaches a zero level. That is to ensure parliamentary elections are held at the earliest date. The date, though earmarked for May 30, will of course hinge on how much he and the Task Force will be able to achieve.