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PCs
for what or whom The lukewarm response by the people of Wayamba for the election of members to the Provincial Council in their area showed just how hot they were on the subject. The interest is more with the political parties and those who are making a grab for the seats in these Councils - 236 of them-at an incredible cost to the country. One can witness the scramble for nomination for these coveted seats. Led by defeated candidates of the April 2 general elections who don't mind the next best thing to a seat in Parliament, the contestants pack includes a whole array of wives, children and close relations of incumbent politicians. With the exception of just a handful, the quality of the candidates leaves much to be desired both for their character and their ability. With the possible exception of the JVP, this is anything but power to the people and grassroots devolution. It is just a widening of the net of the privileged few called Legislators. It is on the one hand a power-struggle among parties, and on the other a licence for perks and privileges at State expense for the winners. The nagging question remains: How much does it help the average citizen ? An investigation carried out by our reporters recently found sheer wastage of funds on infrastructure purely to accommodate the Council, duplication with the centre, confusion, corruption and no tangible benefit accruing to the villager without a bridge, water or an ambulance. The Provincial Council system was introduced to Sri Lanka under unfortunate circumstances back in 1987. Ironically, the parties that got on the streets to protest Indian arm-twisting at the time, for President J.R. Jayewardene to introduce the controversial system of devolution of political power to the periphery, are today in the forefront of the race to breast the tape and collect the prizes in the form of decentralised budgets, pajero jeeps, fax machines and fat salaries. And added to the irony is the fact that when the system was aimed at defusing the separatist struggle in the North and East provinces, that struggle has slowly advanced to a proposal to discuss a self-rule authority while the rest of the country that never asked for the Provincial Councils are saddled with a White Elephant system. What works or was meant for India cannot always apply to Sri Lanka. India sans devolution of power is almost unthinkable given its sheer geographical enormity. One Indian state can be four times the size of the entirety of Sri Lanka. The comparison is incomparable. And yet, what does the new Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have to say about devolution of power? This is what he says; "Whether it has been (the) highly difficult North-East where the insurgency was first to start in the country, and thereafter had a long innings, or it is Punjab or Kashmir in the North-West where the insurgency has been comparatively a recent phenomenon, or it is the LTTE problem in the South.......... the Centre has always stood like a solid rock and faced each of these problems which would have shaken any democracy in the world ". And again, he says: " Those who talk of pruning down the Centre's financial powers, so that States are less dependent on the Centre in this matter, generally fail to realise that their very existence itself very much depends on how strong the Centre is " ( Manmohan's India - 1994 - Deep and Deep Publications) In the light of current political developments in Sri Lanka, with the North-East separatists still demanding self-rule by some other name, and the total inability to provide redress to the citizens in the rest of the country, it will only be prudent for the JVP-PA combine, which once correctly opposed the introduction of this system of government, to review and revamp this miserable failure. If one wants true devolution, it is the District Development Councils concept that is the answer size-wise and concept-wise. Provincial Councils, and two Provinces merged into one is not devolution but the stepping-stone for grander things to come. |
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