Samurdhi see-saw goes SB way

Some politicians of the former regime have seemingly plundered the people and the state with impunity though, in opposition, they now claim that they had put the economy that was ruined during the 17 year regime of the UNP, back on track.

Their claim is only partially correct. Some UNP politicians were also known to be corrupt when they were in government from 1977 to 1994. In any comparative assessment of the damage caused to the economy, those corrupt politicians of the PA beat their UNP counterparts comfortably.

Reportedly the country has to raise at least Rs. 22 billion to salvage the economy either by way of expenditure cuts or through taxation. The state of the economy is so dismal that the country cannot expect more than 3.5 percent growth for the present year and that too is possible only under favourable international conditions and when the power crisis is solved.

Battle for light

If the power crisis continues for a longer period, foreign investors will be reluctant to invest in Sri Lanka, capital outflow would increase and a major balance of payment crisis could result.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acted fast to solve the power crisis. He summoned an emergency meeting of top bureaucrats to resolve the crisis. He also sent signals to trade unions that he expects cooperation from them in his endeavour to solve the power crisis. 

The government is likely to come up with a national emergency plan with necessary emergency regulations to control the distribution, the supply and the purchase of power.

Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya who was also present at the meeting stressed the need to overcome the power crisis as fast as possible while the Prime Minister directed the officials to suspend plans to increase power cuts.

He urged the officials to find ways to increase the power generation rather than increasing the burden on the people with more power cuts. He also appointed a committee headed by Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte to find ways and means to overcome the power crisis.

With local polls in March, a further two and half hour power cuts would be suicidal for the UNF and Mr. Wickremesinghe, his ministers and advisors know this well. They also know that eight-hour long power cuts imposed during the last months of the PA regime is one of the factors that led to the defeat of the PA. 

During the election campaign, the UNF pledged to solve the power crisis as soon as it came to office. But more than 75 days after coming into office, the UNF is still unable to solve the power crisis - rain or no rain.

Thus the people's perception of the government is that it is slow and better at talking than in taking action.

Cabinet expansion

Soon after the emergency power-crisis meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Wickremesinghe, Karu Jayasuriya, Milinda Moragoda and Ravi Karunanayake attended a dinner hosted by IMF Resident Representative Nadeem Ul-Haq. They discussed a variety of matters ranging from power crisis and economic reforms to swearing in of seven new Cabinet ministers.

The Prime Minister was of the view that the expansion of the Cabinet was inevitable. On the one hand, he had to satisfy not only coalition partners but also party loyalists and on the other, he had to elevate important subjects such as economic reforms, education, commerce, labour and communications to cabinet level. 

Accordingly seven non-cabinet ministers were to take oaths before the President as cabinet ministers but the ceremony was put off several times, making the cabinet aspirants to grumble. The seven ministers were told they would be sworn in on Wednesday 5 p.m. but they were later informed that the ceremony had been put off for Thursday noon. Irritated by several postponements, some of the ministers were of the opinion that they should not take oaths before the President. But saner counsel prevailed and the seven ministers would now take oaths before the President tomorrow with the Prime Minister, who returns after a visit to Singapore, also attending.

Minister Ravi Karunanayake, one of the seven cabinet aspirants, told this column that they insisted on the presence of the Prime Minister because they were members of the Wickremesinghe administration and not that of President Kumaratunga.

Samurdhi bargain

The Premier, prior to his departure to Singapore, met President Kumaratunga and among the issues discussed was Minister S. B. Dissanayake's Samurdhi portfolio.

Rumour of course has it that the President put off the swearing-in of the new ministers because she was not in favour of giving Samurdhi to Mr. Dissanayake.

Mr. Wickremesinghe's position is that Mr. Dissanayake should be given Samurdhi because the President's earlier complaint that the minister was under investigation by the bribery and corruption commission is no longer valid after the commission said there was no case against him.

But the President said there were other reasons as well.

She said that Mr. Dissanayake had on several occasions insulted her and her family. But the Prime Minister stood his ground and wanted the President to give her nod for the appointment. He is learnt to have said that unless she acceded to this request, the people would think the President was blocking the new government's programmes. He is also learnt to have said that this was not the time for political battles, drawing the President's attention to the budget debate. He conveyed to the President that he would be under tremendous pressure from party members to cut the Budget allocation for the Executive President if she did not agree to the Samurdhi demand.

The President eventually gave her approval. The Prime Minister and the President then agreed to put off the swearing-in ceremony for Monday.

The Prime Minister later told confidants that the Samurdhi matter had been almost resolved.

However, Mr. Dissanayake is yet to receive an invitation from the Presidential Secretariat for the swearing in ceremony.

Ratwatte rumble

Among the other issues the two leaders discussed were the case against former minister Anuruddha Ratwatte. The Prime Minister said he was of the view that law should take its normal course and there could not be any special treatment to Mr. Ratwatte.

The Prime Minister was not in line with the President's thinking when she summoned Attorney General K. C. Kamalasabayson to inquire about the CID inquiry against Mr. Ratwatte and the status of the case. 

The CID has, meanwhile, launched an inquiry to find out whether the questions posed to Mr. Ratwatte were leaked by some CID officers prior to the former minister went to the CID headquarters to face an inquiry relating to the Pallethalawinna massacre and related matters.

The questioning took a longer period than expected at the 4th floor of the CID and it is learnt that men behind the leak have now been identified.

The incident has provoked many people to ask how Mr. Ratwatte is still enjoying special treatment and influence among the police and the armed forces although he is not in power.

Meanwhile, President Kumaratunga has intervened for the first time since the new government came to office in the Athurugiriya case. 

The army and police locked horns in the matter when it was revealed that the men were part of the army's deep penetration team involved in anti-LTTE activity.

Defence Minister Tilak Marapana acted prudently in releasing the army men, who were arrested from the Athurugiriya safe house.

The President on Thursday instructed Interior Minister John Amaratunga to conduct a full probe immediately and submit a report to her. According to the presidential media director Harim Pieris, the President wanted to know on what basis the police conducted the raid and why the investigations were being carried out on a surmise that the Athurugiriya army men were part of an alleged conspiracy to kill the Prime Minister.

She also wanted to know why the police even after knowing the nature of the operations the Athurugiriya men were involved in acted in a manner that harmed national security.

Budget relief

Meanwhile, on the economic front, several government institutions have become a major burden to the economy.

At least one state commercial bank along with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the Ceylon Electricity Board and the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) have been identified as institutions that suffer largely due to mismanagement. 

As far as the CWE is concerned, Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake appears to be doing a good job to transform the state's main trading organ into a profit making one through a restructuring programme., But institutions such as the People's Bank are faced with acute financial problems. The Finance Ministry and the Economic Reforms Ministry headed by Milinda Moragoda are reviewing the situation to find out ways and means to tackle the problem.

At the same time the government is seriously considering moves to simplify the system of taxation. There are also suggestions to offer tax relief to private sector employees by raising the tax threshold. But whether these moves will be included in the budget is not clear. However, there would be some relief for the low-income earners in the budget, insiders say.

Peace at stake

As far as the peace process is concerned, there are still some sticky issues to be resolved. The Norwegians were trying hard to make it a reality shuttling between Colombo and London. On Wednesday, the Norwegians met the LTTE's chief negotiator Anton Balasingham to put final touches to a draft agreement for a permanent ceasefire.

The sticky areas yet to be resolved are troop movement and fishing in the North-East seas. The LTTE was insisting that the cease-fire should be extended to the sea and there should be free movement at sea.

But the government side appears to be wary about this demand because it fears the LTTE would use such a concession to ferry arms to its jungle hideouts in the Mullativu district.

As it was mentioned earlier in this column, the North appears to be more peaceful than the East. Soldiers manning forward defence lines in the North are more relaxed compared to their colleagues in the East where the situation is said to be tense.

Fearing that a small incident could spark off a big clash, the government has advised troops to move cautiously and avoid such incidents.

The absence of clearly demarcated areas in the East has given rise to this situation. However the government's intention is to assess the ground situation and to respond accordingly while the security forces are placed on full alert.

Once a permanent agreement on ceasefire is reached, an international monitoring team headed by a Scandinavian country would be appointed for the purpose.

UNF squabbles

Another subject that drew the attention of political analysts this week was the internal squabbles in the UNF.

It all started with the resignation of Minister Arumugam Thondaman over a nomination issue. He and deputy minister Muthu Sivalingam agreed to withdraw their resignations after Prime Minister Wickremesinghe agreed to address their grievances forthwith.

The Prime Minister was reportedly angry over last minute changes in the nomination lists of Nuwara Eliya and other upcountry areas. 

At Monday's working committee meeting, Mr. Wickremesinghe warned that severe disciplinary action would be taken against those who were responsible for amending nomination lists.

The working committee later decided that those who had been included in the lists at the last minute should resign even if they win at the local elections.

The responsibility of amending the lists will obviously fall on the shoulders of MPs who have been assigned with the task of handling nominations, party sources say. They will be called upon to show cause as to why they failed to supervise those lists properly.

One person who may have to go before the committee will be Deputy Minister Navin Dissanayake, who tendered his resignation from the post of Nuwara Eliya organiser two weeks ago, saying he had been sidelined in party matters in the area. He later withdrew the resignation after a meeting with the Prime Minister.

The main complaint of Minister Thondaman is that the nomination lists of the Nuwara Eliya have been changed to include several names from the Nuwara Eliya electorate of Mr. Dissanayake, the son of former UNP presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake.

After he submitted his resignation as the organiser for Nuwara Eliya, Mr. Dissanayake came under a veiled attack by the Prime Minister who referred to the principle-based resignations of people like Gamini Jayasuriya in the past.

"If one resigns he should be able to sacrifice all the privileges enjoyed by him." Mr. Dissanayake eventually had a meeting with the Prime Minister.

Later Mr. Dissanayake along with his mother Srima also reportedly met Mr. Wickremesinghe and cordial relations were re-established.

Apart form this, it is alleged that certain political appointees in Mr. Thondaman's ministry are trying to purchase luxury cars for official use when the government is reeling under heavy pressure of near bankruptcy. One corporation head is said to have ordered a brand new Peugeot 406 despite protests by trade unions. Another political appointee is said to be buying building material bypassing normal procedures.

Some bureaucrats under the political patronage of certain ministers are trying to make a fast buck while the UNF leader is indulging in an untiring effort to put the economy back on the track. Will this augur well for the new government?