Jaffna farmers blame bureaucrats again

By Chris Kamalendran

The farmers claimed that their onion produce which was due to be shipped by a government chartered vessel was blocked on the instructions of Jaffna Government Agent K. Shanmuganathan.

In a letter to the Minister of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (North), Dr. Sarath Amunugama the farmers claimed that all arrangements had been made to ship the onions on MV Mercs Kumana on June 15, but on the instructions of the GA the ship had sailed back to Colombo without taking the cargo.

The following day the farmers were directed to load their produce on MV Induruwa Valley which had been chartered by a Jaffna trader and the farmers were compelled to pay Rs. 70,000 per lorry load.

The vessel had carried the equivalent of 125 lorry loads of onions.

The letter signed by R.T. Kanthan on behalf of the Jaffna farmers said they suffered considerable losses due to the action taken by the GA.

The farmers had pointed out that they were cultivating onions with great difficulty and at the end of it they have not been able to ship their produce to Colombo due to bureaucratic action .

They claimed that as a result of not being able to send their produce to Colombo some of the farmers were compelled to sell their produce at prices as low as Rs. 10 per kilo in the retail market while in Colombo a kilo of onions was being sold at Rs. 80.

The farmers had urged Minister Amunugama to intervene and take action.

On receipt of the letter the Minister had summoned the Jaffna GA and farmer representatives for a meeting on Thursday where the issue was discussed at length.

The GA claimed that he did not receive the communication in time and therefore the ship had been sent to Colombo without cargo on June 15.

However farmer representatives had pointed out at the meeting that the Additional Commissioner General of Essential Services, L.U.W. de Zoysa had passed on a message through the ICRC to the GA on June 14 and it was unlikely that the GA did not receive the message in time.

At the meeting the Minister has directed farmer representatives to deal with the Commissioner General of Essential Services to overcome any difficulty, Mr. Zoysa told 'The Sunday Times' 

Dr. Amunugama had assured the farmer representatives that in future they would be allowed to bring their farm produce to Colombo in the ships chartered by the CGES.

The farmer representatives pointed out that irrespective of the future arrangements they had incurred severe financial losses and some of the farmers were compelled to pawn their jewellery to pay for the shipment.

They said they had collectively paid over seven million rupees as a result of the action taken by the GA.

In April 'The Sunday Times' exposed some of the malpractices taking place in the shipment of cargo from Colombo to Jaffna. 

A shipment of potatoes due to be shipped from Colombo to Jaffna was blocked at the last moment on the grounds that sufficient potato stocks were available in Jaffna. 

Monks appeal to Thailand

By Shelani de Silva

A six-member delegation of prominent monks is expected to brief the 'Sangha Raja' known as 'Supreme Patriarch' in Thailand believed to be only second to the king of Thailand, a spokesman said. He said the decision to organise the visit was taken following reports that the LTTE were maintaining bases in the two countries.

The delegation will meet Buddhist leaders and prelates and urge them to appeal to their Governments to take immediate action to prevent the LTTE from using their territory for any activities.

Thailand's Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Thakur Phanit told reporters early this week that so far the Thai government has failed to get any evidence to prove that the LTTE were operating from their country.

He said that the Thai government will take all possible action to prevent the LTTE using their territory for illegal activities, but they expect Sri Lanka to provide any information that could lead to the cracking down on any LTTE activities there.

Cabinet minister opposes postponement of polls

By M. Ismeth

"I will in no way agree to such a move. I believe elections will be held on schedule," Mr. Rajapakse said adding that a majority in the ruling PA, including ministers held the same view.

He said the President had pledged there would be no postponement of general elections and he was confident that pledge would be kept.

Mr. Rajapakse said he believed the postponement rumour was floated mainly by some UNP politicians who feared they would not be re-elected.

Lanka backs Iran's membership in G-15

One of the hotly debated issues at the G 15 Summit was Iran's request for membership in this group of developing countries. When Iran's application for membership came up, some members of the Group were hesitant as this may affect the existing regional representation within the Group.

HOwever, when the issue came up at the Foreign Ministers level, Minister Kadirgamar opened the debate with a strong statement in support of Iran's membership to the G 15.

The Minister's statement proved a catalyst when it was immediately supported by a number of other Foreign Ministers present, particularly from Asia, leading to a unanimous conclusion that Iran should be admitted to the Group as its 18th member.

The G 15 also called upon the UN to ratify the International Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing and to take measures against drug trafficking, money laundering and other transnational crimes.

In a joint communique the G 15 expressed its commitment to curb illicit arms smuggling and to lend its support to the forthcoming international conference on illicit arms, a matter which Sri Lanka has consistently pursued at the United Nations General Assembly and other international forums.

Devaluation shocks follow price hikes for consumers 

By Tania Fernando

With the devaluation most traders say that they will be at a loss, specially due to the fact that they buy goods on credit. When settling their bank loans they will be charged at the current exchange rate.

"We will suffer tremendous losses, because we purchase goods on deferred payment terms and we get credit from suppliers, but we have to settle them at the current value which means we incur heavy losses", said Mr. Rajkumar a wholesale trader in the Pettah.

Although most traders said that they have not decided on price increases, it is inevitable. Once the present stocks of goods are over and they import new consignments, prices will go up.

Meanwhile, the prices of sugar, milk and Bombay onions have increased by Rs. 2, Rs. 3 and Rs. 1 respectively.

Other items that are expected to register price rises within the next few days are rice by Rs. 2, dhal by Rs. 3 and tinned fish by Rs. 3.

Although prices have increased, there is no increase in wages, and the most effected by this devaluation will be the middle class. This virtual increase has come in addition to the recent price hike in gas, diesel, transport costs, etc.

While most traders are talking about the devaluation, they are also taking into account the increase in diesel prices, which affects prices once again. With so many increases being laid upon the consumer one after the other, where it will all end is the million dollar question.

A representative of the Sugar Importers Association said that for about one month the market will be slack. This will happen because the consumers will at first reduce purchases because of the price hike, but they will get back to their normal purchasing after that.

While some argue that with the devaluation of the rupee, people who earn foreign currency will be getting more rupees, yet at the end they have to spend more for their purchases, which eventually does not make a difference to their budget.

Meanwhile, a manager of Japan Auto Lanka, importers of motor spare parts said that spare parts which have a demand will most probably not suffer price increases. However, items which do not have a demand will increase in price.

A car importer said that the prices of cars too will increase. The prices will vary depending on the duty they have to pay for each individual vehicle.

A representative of the Tyre Importers Association said that the cost of tyres will increase once they import their new consignment. "The present stock will go at the present rates, but we will increase prices eventually, since we don't want to incur any losses", he said.

While all elected governments come in with the promise of trying to alleviate poverty, could all this price increases lead to more poverty.

The prices will not only affect the consumer market, but the manufacturing sector as well, which ultimately will affecting the public. Textile manufacturers too will have to increase their prices since most of them import the raw material and will now have to pay an increased duty rate.

With the price increases in consumer items, even the sick will be hit with the hike in pharmaceutical products. A pharmaceutical company said that their profit margins are very small, therefore they too would have to increase their prices in keeping with the devaluation of the rupee. 

Missing infant body raises alarm 

By Leon Berenger

It all began on June 3 at the Government Hospital in Nuwara Eliya, when a young mother, Sandya Kumari Jayaratne entered the maternity ward to deliver her first child.

The baby girl was born a few hours later but sadly though, on the following day the infant developed a sickness and had to be rushed to the Kandy Hospital some 65 kilometres away after her condition worsened and became life threatening.

The child died on admission to the Kandy hospital and the mother was sent back to Nuwara Eliya in the same ambulance sans the infant.

However the real mystery began after the father, Subaseela Vithanage Piyasena (39) a driver attached to the Nuwara Eliya Labour Department went to the Kandy Hospital mortuary to collect the body of his child for a decent burial for which he had already made arrangements with a local florist.

Earlier in the day Piyasena had visited the mortuary and had taken a photograph of his dead child. He also made an official identification of the infant claiming that he was the father.

On inquiring of the whereabouts of the dead infant, hospital workers would only say they did not know what he was speaking about. It was then that the father produced the hospital tag which had been tied on to the infant to which the workers had reply. Piyasena later took the matter up with the Kandy Police to whom he produced the hospital tag as well as other documents relating to the identification of the body.

A senior policeman commenting on the matter said it was too early to come to a concrete conclusion since investigations were at the preliminary stages, but added that the matter will be properly looked into, including the possible removal and sale of human organs.

Lanka ranks 76th in health survey

Sri Lanka came in on top among the SAARC countries with India coming in at 112, Pakistan at 122, Bhutan at 124, the Maldives at 147 and Nepal at 150. 

France come out on top in the survey while Sierra Leone came in last. 

The survey compared a population's health with how effectively governments spend their money on health, how well the public health systems prevents illness and how the underprivileged, minorities and special populations are treated. 

Where can they walk?

By Nilika de Silva

Although it is enshrined in the Highway Code, the safety of pedestrians has become of no importance on modern day Sri Lankan roads, as many instances have been recorded in which pedestrians have been knocked down even on pedestrian crossings. 

The total number of pedestrian deaths last year was 713. This included a woman in the seventies who was knocked down by a bus on a pedestrian crossing.

An issue that arises out of this is whether pedestrians in Sri Lanka have access to pavements and whether pedestrians have any right to be on the road. 

While the UDA is planning garden cities for future generations, it would also be appreciated if they took time off from these costly exercises to devote a few moments to the pedestrians of today, whose tomorrow may never come thanks to the lack of road surface set apart for them. 

Right of reply

The Sunday Times last week reported that NFC's internal Auditor had been suspended after he had sought clarification about extravagant expenditure.

Mr. Abeysekara's letter said:

Any expenditure over Rs. 50,000 has to have Board approval and there is no record of the NFC Board, nor the Board of Trustees of the National Film Development Fund - -inadvertently referred to as the NFC Trust Fund - having granted permission for a sum of Rs. 1.4 million to purchase "beverages". There is no record in the Finance Division either of such a sum having being released. However, I would be deeply grateful if your reporter could provide me with the evidence she may have obtained for such an allegation, and which evidence would have been substantial for your Newspaper to have given it such prominence. This would help us enormously in an on going move within the Corporation by me and my Snr. Management to eradicate corruption, waste and extravagance, and also to arrest sinister manipulations to undermine the good work that is being done for the upliftment of the Sri Lankan film industry. 

The allegation that the NFC has spent Rs 1.4 million on purchase of liqour is quite laughable since the quantum of "beverages" purchased as such, would take more than a couple of years to be consumed, even by a group of the most hardened alcoholics, and if all such alcohol was poured into the Beira Lake, it would have caused a minor flood.

When over Rs 300 million has been spent over the last ten years to repair and maintain the sound studio of the NFC at Dalugama by the previous managements through the so called local experts, bringing the facility almost to a grinding halt, and when the present management after having obtained Board approval gets down an Indian expert from the prestigious Indo-American company - Magnatic Ltd. who had originally installed the machines and who has since not been invited for maintenance, and this expert recommends the replacement of spare parts worth Rs. 3 million, to bring the only sound recording facility for film in the country, to a professional level, and once again through Board approval and the proper financial procedure, which re on record for anyone to see, would you call it "waste", "extravagance" and "corruption" ?The Senior management of the NFC is quite aware of the elements referred to in your news item as "NFC insiders", whose vested interests have been threatened by programmes for streamlining the NFC administration to eliminate corruption, waste and extravagance in this state institution.

These elements are being identified now and the NFC senior management would take stern action in the next few months to eliminate them completely.

REPORTER's NOTE: There was a mistake in reporting the figure on expenditure incurred for the purchase of liquour for NFC Tamashas. The figure was reported as Rs. 1.4 million, but should have gone as Rs 140,000. Mr. Abeysekara chooses not to dwell on the exact amount spent. The fact that the money had been drawn from the National Development Fund is what is not 'laughable' There is no need to ask me for evidence - NFC can ask its internal auditor, he will tell you.

Countdown 

Polls: who's staring at defeat?

- by H. Chanda Nanda

The exact dates are of course not known — but then that is the prerogative of the astrologer! And that's not the usual scenario in sunny Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan voter is said to be very politically conscious and eagerly awaiting his opportunity to exercise his franchise. That is one reason why our voter turnouts are more than 80 per cent usually — though there are other, less flattering reasons too. 

But this time, it is different. Tell a voter that he will be called upon to exercise his right in a few weeks' time and he is bound to ask you 'is that so?'. But then, in defence of this apathy of the Lankan voter he must have many arguments: the war in the north, the media war over the censorship, and most importantly, the economic war to make ends meet. 

And how can the average citizen think about elections when he is fighting three wars and has also got to update himself on the latest cricket scores? 

But really, this must be the period where most Sri Lankan voters make up their minds about who their representatives would be in the next six years. 

The answer to that question — because this is a general election — will vary from Colombo to Colombuthurai and from Kotte to Kottegoda but overall, will the next Parliament be predominantly blue (with its associated red and purple brigades) or will it be mostly green? 

In theory, it should be a cakewalk for Ranil Wickreme-singhe and his United National Party. The incumbent government has been in office for six years, it is no where nearer to ending the war than it was six years ago and economic burdens are adding up by the day. It must surely be any Opposition Leader's dream. J. R. Jayewardene couldn't have orchestrated a better scenario. 

Consider the plight of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. She cannot obviously have a countrywide high-profile campaign for the general election — especially in the aftermath of the Town Hall attack and the killing of C.V. Gooneratne. 

The people see her only on their television screens, attired in different sarees of course, but seated at the same table in the same room, day after day, talking to different sets of people. Her public utterances are confined to contrived, theatrical interviews with unapologetic propagandists, replete with coughs and all. 

Sadly, the 'Podi Akka' of the Bandaranaike family who spent her childhood at Tintekel, the ancestral Rosmead Place residence, is now a prisoner at Temple Trees.

True, security concerns weigh heavily on the President, but surely at least an occasional public appearance is in order? And the people have a right to see and hear the leader they democratically elected? She is not the only world leader who is the target of an assassin, but her 400 plus security contingent hasn't the ability and the confidence to protect her from the LTTE.

President Kumaratunga's dealings with her cabinet colleagues have also been affected as a result of the security blanket and for other reasons. She has encumbered herself with the finance and defence portfolios but her deputies in these subjects have been sidelined, partly because they are trying to steal the limelight from her and it appears that she doesn't quite like the idea. As a result, both those ministries are run by officials but then she herself has publicly criticized at least the Finance Ministry mandarins saying they do not know their work. 

Even at the Defence Ministry, the panic purchasing of defence equipment after the 'strategic withdrawal' of Elephant Pass shows what bad planning has been going on. 

Mr. Wickremesinghe was right when he said the 'strategic withdrawal' of Elephant Pass was not due to the capturing of water wells at Iyyakatchchi but due to the bungling on the Beira Lake banks where the Treasury and the Defence Ministry were housed. As a result of all this, economic hardships are ever increasing. Shell Gas is allowed to dictate terms, the Electricity Board is telling people how many lights they should switch on in their houses, the dollar is rising, so are bus fares and the cost of living as even string-hoppers become smaller and their prices bigger. 

An official censorship to screen the facts with regard to the war is being enforced, but with each multi-barelled rocket launcher round, the effect will continue to be felt on the size and price of our stringhopper. 

One might call it a 'natural' government — things happen 'naturally' with this government because this inefficient government simply does not make things happen! 

So, if elections will be held in a hundred days, what's all the grumbling about? All we have to do is send the government packing and install the opposition to the seats of power and everyone will live happily ever after. 

And there lies the problem. We know that Ms. Kumaratunga is a lucky lady. She ascended to the presidency from being a political nobody in just over a year. She survived a suicide bomb when those around her fell dead. Now, it appears that she has got luckier still and is set to politically survive a thoroughly mediocre work record. And that is only because the UNP under Mr. Wickremesinghe — who is away in Singapore or Egypt on occasion, — has not performed adequately as a responsible opposition. 

Furthermore, with each passing week, the once mighty UNP is getting smaller with more and more defections and more and more 'weta uda' members who believe their party is 'kota uda.' In recent times alone, Wijeyapala Mendis and his clique left to join the government, Sirisena Cooray deserted ranks with his 'Puravesi Peramuna' and now Tilak Karunaratne has resigned to form the 'Sihala Urumaya'. 

Surely such exits are not the signs of a confident opposition waiting in the wings to form the next government! Rightly or wrongly, many party members will blame Mr. Wickremesinghe for this plight. 'Naayakathuma' does not command the respect that J. R. Jayewardene or R. Premadasa did, simply because he is younger and has less of an aura around him. 

That is not his fault and he arguably understands more about governance than most others do. But at the same time it is also true that he is surrounded - and comfortable with - a group of Colombo based rich young men who like to call themselves technocrats but whose own credentials to wealth are rather questionable and whose claims to have the common touch are laughable. 

The image of Mr. Wickremesinghe himself took a battering at the last presidential elections. He will lack support from the vast women vote bank and his manner of public speaking is not charismatic just yet. What his advisors don't seem to understand is that it doesn't pay to look and act like Bill Clinton because Mr. Wickremesinghe must cater to the Sri Lankan electorate and not an American one - so, dancing on stage seems rather ridiculous in Wattegama, whereas it may pay off in Washington. 

So, it is hardly surprising when UNP veteran Paul Perera who has seen many free and fair elections as well as not-so-free and unfair elections predicted that a combination of factors - election malpractices, police bias, inefficient grassroots organisation by the UNP and the opposition's inability to inspire confidence in the masses — will ensure that despite all the havoc caused to the country and the economy by the government, the UNP will lose again. 

One must recognize that the UNP last faced a general election while being in the opposition 23 years ago, in 1977 when Mr. Wickremesinghe, then in his twenties, was tagging along with his uncle to election meetings and satyagraha campaigns. 

That poll was under the first-past-the-post system but people said that 'UNP eken polpiththak demmath dinanawa' - that in effect, any candidate forwarded by the UNP would win. That was indeed so and the SLFP was reduced to eight members in Parliament - mostly pocket boroughs such as Attanagalla and Medawachchiya and a few other multi-member constituencies. Now, it doesn't need a political genius - or a consultant public relations company from overseas - to realize that such an atmosphere does not prevail in the country today. 

So, if Mr. Wickremesinghe believes that people have had enough of the PA and would therefore vote with the UNP, he is making a mistake. Some UNPers are wondering whether the UNP wants to lose the forthcoming poll. If the PA lost the last election, one party member argues, C. V. Gooneratne would not have been a minister and therefore would have been alive today. And, it is indeed difficult to guess whether his observations are in lighter vein or not! 

Most certainly, come election time and the PA is likely to use the LTTE card once again to try and convince the electorate that the UNP and the LTTE have a secret pact. It is then that Mr. Wickremesinghe will realise that his many trips to Temple Trees to meet the President to discuss constitutional reforms may have all been in vain. 

Then, it appears at least for now that voters will be disenchanted with the government but that they are also grossly disappointed with the opposition. In this backdrop, will a third party emerge? 

The Sihala Urumaya says that both major parties, the PA and the UNP are inefficient, and that both parties are trying to barter away the rights of the majority community. That is nationalist rhetoric, but it has not generated mass appeal for the Sihala Urumaya like for example, how the Lalith Athulathmudali- Gamini Dissanayake combination captivated the people in 1993 with their Democratic United National Front (DUNF). 

Mass mobilization is difficult for a new party but the plain truth is that the Sihala Urumaya frontliners seem somewhat remote, reserved and aloof from the voter. They do not have really 'big' names on their side, and all these factors will be a significant drawback when they take on the PA and the UNP in the forthcoming polls. 

The chances then that if they could make an impact - whose, UNP or PA - votes would they siphon off more? And that could be a deciding factor when taken together with the loss of votes the major parties will incur to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. 

For the JVP, the poll will be a test of their strength. They have tremendous organisational capacity but that somehow never seems to translate into votes beyond a ten per cent level. But what they lack in an appealing ideology, they seem to compensate for with commitment. Even then, it appears their role will be in shifting the balance of power as it did decisively in several provincial councils. Here, it may be argued that it should, theoretically at least, erode more votes from the PA. But then again, there are those who counterargue that voters who voted for the JVP at the provincial council poll will think twice before voting for the reds at a general election. 

That then, is the state of the field, though there are other considerations as well: whether an independent election commission will be formed, the ground situation in the north, the fate of the censorship to divulge the bunglings of the government, especially in war management, and on what Velupillai Prabhakaran's suicide cadres might decide to do. 

Considering all these, it appears that the outcome of the poll is too close to call, right now. But then, a hundred days is a really long time in politics. But the countdown has begun.

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