Migrant workers to vote soon
By Feizal Samath
Close to a million Sri Lankan migrant workers may finally get the chance
to vote in an election back home after a non-governmental agency succeeded
in convincing the state's Human Rights Commission (HRC) that voting is
a right of every citizen.
After hearing representations from the Migrant Services Centre (MRC),
the HRC has decided in a landmark move to recommend to the government and
the Elections Commissioner that Sri Lankans working overseas be allowed
to vote at any local election. This is however unlikely to happen before
the December 5 poll.
"Yes, we have agreed to make a recommendation to the government on the
right of migrant workers to vote," said HRC chairman Faiz Musthapa. He
said the commission would recommend amending the elections law and also
suggest ways on how migrant workers could vote. "We are in the process
of doing this. This will apply to migrant workers only ... not those Sri
Lankans who reside abroad."
Separately, the Action Network of Migrant Workers (ACTFORM), a coalition
of 25 local groups working on or concerned with the issue of migrant workers,
made a fresh appeal on October 24 to the Elections Commissioner to consider
these rights.
"We call upon you to please look into this anomaly as a matter of priority
once the current parliamentary elections are over," it said in a letter
to Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake.
The Dehiwela-based MRC, affiliated to the National Workers Congress,
has been campaigning for voting rights for migrant workers for the past
two years. It made appeals to the Elections Commissioner in the run-up
to the presidential and general elections in 1999 and 2000, and even made
a similar plea at the referendum that was scheduled for August but later
postponed indefinitely.
"The Elections Commissioner was helpless. So we made an appeal to the
HRC on the grounds that it has the powers to intervene on behalf of migrant
workers and grant their right to vote," said MRC Executive Director David
Soysa.
More than 800,000 Sri Lankans have migrated to West Asia and other Asian
countries in the past two decades for work. They pour back billions of
Sri Lankan rupees into the economy. According to government estimates,
remittances from migrant workers are expected to top Rs 100 billion (US$
1.1 million), up from Rs 80 billion in 2000, with Rs 55 billion coming
from West Asia alone.
The MRC issue was taken up by the HRC on six occasions before the Commission
gave a ruling on October 18.
"Now that the HRC is to make the recommendation it can be implemented
for any other polls after the December 5 elections," Mr. Soysa said, adding
that the MRC had proposed to the commission for an absentee or postal voting
system to be also extended to migrant workers, a facility now enjoyed by
government workers. Another proposal made was for polling booths at embassies
for Sri Lankans to cast their vote. "Like any other sector, migrant workers
should also be allowed to place their grievances like abuse and exploitation
before parliament and hold their MPs responsible for a violation of their
rights," Mr. Soysa said.
Canada, Australia, Britain and the Philippines are some of the countries
that allow nationals residing overseas and migrant workers to vote.
No increase in wheat flour import duty
By Chris Kamalendran
In the wake of strong protest from confectionery and food manufacturers,
the Government has revoked a decision to increase the duty on wheat flour
imports.
On October 19, the Government decided to increase the import duty on
wheat flour from 10 per cent to 25 percent but abandoned the move on Monday
after traders protested saying it would favour the Prima Company and virtually
restore its monopoly status — a status it enjoyed till the government liberalised
wheat imports a few months ago. Maliban Biscuit Company Manager D. L. Weerasuriya
told The Sunday Times that had the decision been implemented, it would
have cost his company an additional seven rupees per kilogram of flour
and prompted a price increase of all its products. A Finance Ministry official
said the government decided to revoke its decision to protect the local
industries, but he refused to rule out the possibility of re-imposing the
proposed increase with some revisions.
Watchdogs will expose abuse or misuse
By Nilika de Silva
With the election campaign getting into full gear after the closing of
nominations yesterday, the traditional abuse of public property and funds
for party or personal gain also appears to be in similar gear.
According to opposition parties and civic rights groups, large-scale
recruitment is taking place in government departments and state corporations
while state property, including vehicles and machinery, and employees are
being released for party work.
It is alleged that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation last week released
several employees for election work while others were recruited to the
CPC on a contract basis. Many of them as security assistants.
The letter of contract is from October 17 this year to October 16 next
year with a reminder that the employee's service could be terminated on
24 hours notice.
A letter was issued from the Presidential Secretariat this week to Ceylon
Petroleum Corporation Chairman calling for seven people to be released
from duty from October 22 until December 15 to attend to the Gami Saraniya
programme.
While President Kumaratunga declared a fortnight ago that no more teachers
would be recruited as it was evident that sufficient teachers had already
been absorbed into the service, some 3,280 teachers were given appointments
after the dissolution of parliament.
Promotions were given to 3140 acting principals making them permanent,
opposition leaders alleged.
These promotions and appointments were made on a cabinet paper presented
not by the Education Minister but by Agriculture Minister D. M. Jayaratne,
who is also the general secretary of the PA.
Meanwhile, a programme for the protection of public property during
elections has been fine-tuned by the Institute of Human Rights (IHR) in
readiness to expose and rectify any misuse of public property or funds
for party gain.
The use of state funds for advertisement campaigns is one area the IHR
will be looking into. Often full page advertisements are featured in the
media attributed to various Ministries and the Development Lotteries Board.
Even the allocation of state advertisements to advertising agencies
appears to be based on certain selection criteria not in keeping with the
impartiality expected from state bodies, an IHR official said.
The IHR is using private investigators to detect cases of misuse.
Public complaints could be made to the Institute of Human Rights, No.
10, Purana Vihara Road, Colombo 6. Telephone/Fax: 674436, Project Director
J.C. Weliamuna said.
Other election observers, including PAFFREL, also said they would keep
a close watch and expose instances of misuse of state property.
One case being talked about is that of a minister who is reported to
be using helicopters to travel between his electorate and Colombo. But
it is not clear as to who is paying the fare. |
