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President Gotabaya Rajapaksa obtained 69 lakhs of votes at the Presidential Elections in November 2019 to be elected as the Head of State and Head of Government. Since then the phrase “heta nama lakshaya” (sixty nine lakhs) has become a catch phrase and is often used on political platforms.

The current usage of the phrase particularly by those supporting the Government reveals a total misreading and misinterpretation of the number of votes received by the President as a justification of Governmental actions irrespective of the merits or otherwise of such actions.

It is particularly used when opposition is expressed to any action of the Government with the counter that 69 lakhs of votes were cast in favour of the President in order to carry out such actions.

Victory at an election only gives the winner the legal authority to govern. But such governance has to be within the framework of the Constitution and the laws of the country. The margin of victory does not give any additional power to govern and implement policies that are politically advantageous to the Government but detrimental to the country at large.

The fact that the number of votes obtained has gone to the heads of some Government politicos as well as those individuals and organisations who claim they were responsible for bringing the Government to power is evident from the arrogant tone of their speeches when they confront those who express a view that is different to the Government on any matter.

The COVID- 19 Pandemic posed unexpected challenges to Governments all over the world including that of Sri Lanka.

The Public Health issues around the pandemic and the economic fall out would have tested the capabilities of any Government. The present Government too had to face up to this unexpected challenge from the beginning of 2020.

In such a context it would have been prudent and empowering for the Government to unite the whole country to face up to the situation arising from the pandemic. A Joint Committee of the Government, Opposition and other strands of society including civil society and religious leaders to coordinate and give leadership in the form of a National Response would not only have strengthened the Government’s hand but would have brought the country together.

Instead the Government was still intoxicated with the “ Heta Nama Laksha” feeling and preferred to go it alone in the belief that they could take the sole credit for any success achieved in combatting the COVID- 19 first wave. In fact the triumphalism of the Government was on public display with Government spokesmen making statements such as “we are winning” when the Government was successfully containing the spread of the virus during the early days.

However recent months have shown that things have gone completely wrong with the spread of the virus to all parts of the country. It is not a coincidence that the failure of the Government to combat the second wave of the virus is the absence of top Health officials who handled the first wave like Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Dr. Jayaruwan Bandara and Dr. Paba Palihawadana to name a few. While the current crop of Health Officials are making every effort to manage and contain the second wave, their efforts would have been greatly benefited from the experience gained by the officials who were in the frontline during the first wave.

Even now it is not too late for the Government to enlist the support of the Opposition and other sections of society and make the task of combatting the spread of the virus a truly National Effort.

What is even worse is the Government’s action of creating a new polarising issue of denying burial rights to those who die of COVID-19 As a result it has created created a great deal of anguish in the Muslim community and succeeded in alienating a section of Sri Lankan society.

While the Government is reluctant to take the step of bring the whole country on board, it has now taken the unprecedented step of appointing Army officials to each of the 25 Districts to coordinate the COVID-19 response. Such a task is right up the sleeve of the Government Agents of such districts and the Government’s move to appoint Army officials is sure to create contradictions between the two agencies which can in turn undermine the efforts of Health Ministry officials.

Another instance of the “69 lakhs” mentality was the Government’s preoccupation with the 20th Amendment while the Covid 19 virus was spreading in the country. When all its energies should have been directed in resolving the Public Health issues facing the country, instead the Government was more focussed on the draconian 20th Amendment.

Such an attitude on the part of the Government was all the more inexplicable because the Government had already announced that one of its priorities was to enact a new Constitution. It would have been more logical for the Government to have postponed the changes to the 19th Amendment to be included in the new Constitution and instead concentrated its efforts to contain the second wave of the Corona 19 virus.

Even after the enactment of the 20th Amendment which was touted as being essential for decisive decision making there has been no qualitative change visible.

An example of this is the Government’s lackadaisical approach to obtaining the vaccines for the virus. While several countries the world over have commenced administering the vaccine to its citizens, Sri Lanka seems to be at the end of the line of countries queueing up for the vaccine.

In fact it is not clear whether Sri Lanka has joined the queue at all because it is only now that the Government is attempting to source the funds necessary for the vaccines.. The Government’s decision to appoint Presidential Advisor Lalith Weeratunge to lead the effort to obtain the vaccine is a good one, although belated. (javidyusuf@gmail.com)