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On Monday (10), the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) obtained permission from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the power sector regulator, to go for scheduled power cuts lasting one to two hours. This was on the grounds of a significant shortfall in power generation owing to a breakdown of one unit at the Norochcholai coal power plant, scheduled repairs to several other plants and a shortage of fuel. The CEB even released a detailed power cut schedule and senior officials told the media that they would be forced to go for power cuts if the necessity arose. Power Minister Gamini Lokuge brushed these aside, saying “with responsibility as the minister I say” that there would be no power cuts.

Yet, the very next day, many areas of Colombo, its suburbs and other parts of the country suffered power outages after a breakdown of a privately-owned power plant that supplies electricity to the national grid.

One would have thought Mr. Lokuge had learned from this experience not to be bullish with his statements to the media, especially given the volatility of the situation. Yet, he went ahead with a media conference on Thursday (13) to again express confidence that there would be no power cuts at least until January 22. Politicians cannot seem to resist the publicity even if they make an ass of themselves in the process. ‘Any publicity is good publicity’ seems to be the ethos.

Mere hours after this media conference, several generators at different power plants ceased working owing to lack of fuel; a result of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) deciding not to supply fuel to the CEB due to billions of rupees in outstanding debts. Instead of no power cuts or scheduled one-hour power cuts, the public were hit with sudden, unscheduled power cuts lasting up to two hours or more. Many were caught wholly unprepared. Businesses had to close early, housewives were left with pots on the boil unable to cook and children found it difficult to study. A one hour power cut was also imposed for certain areas in the country on Friday, a public, bank and mercantile holiday whilst Hindus were celebrating Thai Pongal. Again, the previously announced power cut schedule amounted to nothing. Needless to say, people were furious, with many directing their anger at the minister and his “lies.” Fortunately for him, there were no street demos and effigies being burnt.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa visiting the Litro Gas terminal at Kerwalapitiya on Thursday while a fresh controversy raged over the removal and reinstatement of the chairman of the state-owned gas company which has earned the public wrath for sending unsafe cylinders to the market

How can the Power Minister not know that fuel was about to run out at some of his power plants? Should he not have checked on the situation prior to going before the country’s media to proclaim there would be no power cuts? Needless to say, Mr. Lokuge’s antics added to the embarrassment of the Government, which is fast losing what little credibility it has left.

The CPC has now agreed to supply 1500 metric tonnes of diesel to the CEB on a daily basis as an emergency measure until Tuesday (18). What happens after that is anybody’s guess. Everybody seems to be living by the day uncertain of what surprises the Government will pull on them next — and on what aspect of their lives.

As CEB unions have alleged, this situation was foreseen, yet repeated appeals to the authorities to take preventative measures fell on deaf ears. The Sunday Times reported last week that the CEB’s General Manager had been informed at least two weeks ago by the Deputy General Manager (Systems Control) that if the deficit was to be overcome, a power cut of two and a half hours would have to be imposed. No such measures were taken.

The power crisis is adding more woes to the public, who have already been short-circuited due to severe shortages in a variety of essential items. The lengthy queues for cooking gas, kerosene and milk powder continue. The only difference is that those in the queues in the evenings may have to wait in darkness given there is no power.

Even as new LP Gas cylinders that supposedly conform to the standards set by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute and the Consumer Affairs Authority roll out slowly from the two gas importers — Litro Gas and Laughfs Gas PLC, there are still scattered incidents of gas cylinder linked explosions. Such has been the appalling lack of accountability in this case that not a single minister or official has either resigned or been sacked over the issue.

There were reports on Thursday that this may change, when it emerged that Theshara Jayasinghe, the controversial Litro Gas chairman who has been under fire over the LP gas issue, was about to be replaced. Mr Jayasinghe, a leading member of the ‘Viyathmaga’ group of professionals who backed Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s candidacy for President, was to be replaced by Renuka Perera, the SLPP’s Administrative Secretary. The instructions for the removal had come from the Finance Ministry under Basil Rajapaksa.

Mr. Jayasinghe was on hand that day when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa undertook an inspection tour of the Litro Gas Terminal at Kerawalapitiya. Later on, reports emerged that the President had instructed the Finance Ministry to recall the letter removing Mr. Jayasinghe and to reinstate him. No official announcement was made regarding his removal, or reinstatement, but it accentuated the disconnect between the President’s office and the ministries, and this case made worse by the fact that one Rajapaksa brother had over-ruled the other.

Quite what prompted the reversal is a mystery, given that the Litro Chairman was facing heavy criticism even from within the Government and his removal was unlikely to attract a public backlash. Meanwhile, a group of Litro employees who style themselves as the “Movement to Protect Litro Gas” claimed that they had intervened on Mr. Jayasinghe’s behalf and requested the President to give more time to the chairman, who had only been in the job for six months, to put his vision for the company into practice. They made no mention of the seven deaths, severe burn injuries or significant damage to private property caused by gas cylinder linked explosions that a committee appointed by the President himself determined had chiefly been caused by the move to change the composition of LP gas in the cylinders. The President himself seems to have ignored the findings of the committee.

SLPP-SLFP war of words

As the Government lurches from one crisis to the next, questions remain over the future of the two main coalition partners of the Government — the SLPP and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). In the past two weeks, former President and SLFP Chairman Maithripala Sirisena has launched fierce public attacks against the SLPP’s conduct. Mr Sirisena’s outbursts have prompted the SLPP to hit back. As the war of words continues, the SLFP has been taking steps to reactivate the People’s Alliance (PA) or the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA); two alliances under which it emerged victorious at previous elections. The party has already decided that it will not contest together with the SLPP at any future election and will contest independently in whatever election that comes first.

With regard to leaving the Government at this juncture, however, sharp divisions remain among the 14 SLFP parliamentarians. Some have argued for a speedy exit from the Government given its plunging popularity and failure to honour commitments made in the agreement signed between the two parties. Others call for restraint, insisting the party will gain nothing by giving up its Government privileges and sitting with a weak Opposition when the Government still has almost three years left of its term. While the SLFP has been holding talks with coalition partners of the UPFA and other parties outside Parliament representation with the intention of forming a broad front, there is still no agreement on whether to approach parties such as the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) for talks.

While the SLPP has dared the SLFP to leave the Government, the party is not the least bit interested in leaving “just because the SLPP wants us to leave,” said Prof. Rohana Luxman Piyadasa, the SLFP’s Vice Chairman. The current situation, however, is extremely unhealthy for the Government. The soaring cost of living, rampant corruption and the lack of transparency regarding agreements the Government enters into have left the electorate frustrated and angry, he pointed out. “Ministers go on holiday while ordinary people suffer in queues for essentials. This is not a good look for the Government.”

As the pressure increases on the people, that pressure in turn is transferred on the Government and those within it. Whenever the SLFP holds pocket meetings these days, the first question party supporters ask is why the party is not leaving the Government. “We have other grievances such as the SLPP not convening a meeting of the alliance (Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandanaya) in two and a half years, but the main issue at hand is the pressure from the people. They want us to leave. The situation is becoming unsustainable, but we are not prepared to leave yet. That decision is up to the party’s politburo and the Central Committee, both of which have not convened in recent days,” he explained.

Prof. Luxman Piyadasa’s fear is that the current political climate is a ticking time bomb, with young people especially becoming more and more frustrated at the state of the country and overcome by despair regarding their own future in it. This could lead to a situation where even a minor incident could result in a spark that leads to mob violence. Perhaps it could even lead to the emergence of a new leader who could advocate violence as the only way to change the system.

The SLFP’s current focus is on better organising itself, strengthening grassroots support and forming a broader alliance so that come election time, it will be able to pose a formidable challenge to other main parties. Yet it remains to be seen how successful the attempt will be given that much of the SLFP has defected to the SLPP, making the party a mere shadow of its former self.

Not only that. There are some divisons even within the SLFP as was seen just this week when the party commemorated the birth anniversary of its founder, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. The two former Presidents from the SLFP, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Maithripala Sirisena avoided each other.

While the Government’s popularity may have crumbled, many analysts have opined it has not seen a corresponding rise in popularity for the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). The party has failed to mount a robust campaign to challenge many of the Government’s actions and remains a weak Opposition, both within and outside Parliament. SJB MPs who crossed over to the Government to approve the 20th Amendment to the Constitution continue to remain with the Government while no Government member has crossed over to the Opposition. The SJB publicly disputes claims that it has failed to gain the public’s confidence, though in the past few months, it has made aggressive moves to recruit new members.

Young SJB MPs in bid to rejuvenate party

One such programme was launched this week, when Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa inaugurated the “Samagi Vihidum Balaganaya” or Samagi Deployment Squadron. The initiative is aimed at attracting young recruits to the party. Ratnapura District MP Hesha Withanage will be its chairman and Badulla District MP Chaminda Wijesiri the Secretary. The two young MPs have been at loggerheads with the party leadership in the past, and have called on the party to be more proactive in briefing the public regarding how it intends to solve the various issues facing the country. They have been asked to put their own words into deeds.

Mr Withanage said their project has already begun. “Our goal is to recruit 10 young people from each village who have passed the GCE Advanced Level examinations and give them training. We have obtained assistance from university lecturers and other professionals for this purpose. We will then bring these young people together and hold forums and obtain their views on what we need to do to resolve issues faced by the country,” he expained. The first of these forums was held in Ratnapura yesterday.

Government faces criticism from the Church

As the country marked the tragic milestone of 1000 days since the devastating Easter Sunday terror attacks, the Government also finds itself under increasing criticism of the Catholic Church, led by Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. He held a media briefing on Thursday questioning the police investigation into the discovery of a live hand grenade inside the premises of All Saints Church in Borella. The grenade was found at the church on Tuesday and according to police, matchsticks and incense sticks had been wrapped around it using cello tape, so that it would explode after a flame was lit. The Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) arrested four suspects in connection with the incident, including the main suspect identified as a church employee and a 13-year-old boy who police said had been used to place the grenade inside the church.

The Cardinal, though, questioned the entire police narrative during his media briefing on Thursday. He released cctv footage from the church showing what he said was a suspicious person with a limp coming into the church at around 9.52am on Tuesday. Footage released to the media shows the person going to the location where the grenade was found, where he appears to be placing something there. The priests at the church had asked the police if they wanted to see cctv footage from morning, but they were reluctant to do so, saying it was enough to view footage from after 3.00pm. It was based on footage from later in the evening that they arrested the four suspects including the church employee, the Cardinal told journalists. According to him, the arrested church employee was the one who alerted the church priests about the grenade.

“Our question is why police did not view footage from earlier that day and insisted on watching footage from only after 3.00pm? In doing so, they didn’t see the man who came to the church earlier that day. There are several facets to this case that indicate to us that the police’s narrative here is false. The cctv footage indicates to us that this bomb was placed earlier that morning. Who placed it there? What the police did was to arrest the church employee who saw it and sounded the alarm,” the Cardinal remarked, alluding to a wider conspiracy behind the incident. He termed it as an attempt to create fear within Catholic churches adding that the man who came with a limp is seen walking away normally. He called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Police Spokesman to resign if they aren’t prepared to speak the truth.

The comments were enough to prompt Police Chief C.D. Wickramaratne to make a special statement on the investigation. Unlike his predecessor Pujith Jayasundara, who is currently on trial over negligence over the Easter Sunday attacks, IGP Wickramaratne has made a point to appear as little as possible in the media, delegating that task to Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nihal Thalduwa. The fact that the IGP chose to make a statement personally on the issue showed how much the allegations have stung.

Investigations into the incident are proceeding and still in their primary stage, the IGP said, with statements already recorded from 14 persons. He pledged that all those responsible for the incident would be arrested and brought to justice.

During Friday’s special prayer service held at the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka in Thewatta, Ragama to mark 1000 days since the Easter Sunday attacks, Cardinal Ranjith accused leaders of the current Government of forgetting victims of the attacks, though they had used the victims’ plight to come to power. The people, however, are becoming more powerful, he claimed. “No matter how much those in power try to oppress the people and continue while neglecting them, though they may try to cover up the truth regarding the Easter Sunday attacks, the people are becoming more powerful everyday while the rulers are becoming engulfed in turmoil. God is behind all of this.”

The Cardinal’s comments this week constitute a continuation of a series of attacks in recent months against the Government and its leaders. It is no secret that the anger and criticism he directed against the Yahapalana Government over its failure to prevent the Easter attacks despite the many prior warnings given by foreign and local intelligence agencies prompted many Catholics to vote for Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP in the past two elections. The Cardinal was nick-named ‘MR2′ by his critics who said he was too supportive of Mahinda Rajapaksa at the time.

Tamil parties prepare document

Tamil political parties in the North, meanwhile, are expected to submit a document titled “Fulfilling the political aspirations and Indo- Lanka” to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The document, which was finalised this week, will be submitted in the wake of calls from certain quarters of the Government demanding the repeal of the 13th Amendment which was introduced as the result of the Indo-Lanka pact of 1987.

There were several weeks of discussions on finalising the document and attempts were also made to bring Muslim and Upcountry based political parties on board. These attempts, however, were unsuccessful.

Party leaders representing Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the Thamil Makkal Kootani (led by C.V. Wigeswaran) and the Thamil Makkal Thesiya Katchi (led by M.K. Shivajilingam) have already signed the document. It is scheduled to be handed over to the Indian Premier through Indian High Commissioner  Gopal Baglay. Party leaders have secured an appointment with High Commissioner Baglay on January 18 to hand over the letter which will be delivered to the Indian Premier’s Office in New Delhi.

The document reiterates that the Tamil people, through past elections, gave mandates to devolve powers asserting their self-determination to find a lasting solution for ethnic conflict in an undivided country.

This week, the Government also extended the terms of Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas until March 19, 2023.

In terms of the gazette, the term of each member of all 24 Municipal Councils, 41 Urban Councils and 275 Pradeshiya Sabhas has been extended until March 19, 2023.

The Government claims that the move is to give more time for the local councils, whose work was hampered for two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, many councils themselves are now torn by infighting. The past few weeks have seen pandemonium and even fistfights breaking out in some councils after their budgets were defeated. Just how effective giving more time to councils given this situation remains to be seen.

The country is only too well aware that the postponement was for the Government to buy time to redeem itself with the masses whose confidence in its ability to govern has been shattered in recent months.