P-TOMS: Treachery on Treasury
By Our Political Editor
The controversial Joint Mechanism (or P-TOMS) that broke up the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government and the hearts of exasperated Muslim political leaders became a reality, on Friday.

If the nation was made privy to the eight-page document titled “Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) for the Establishment of a Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (“P-TOMS”), there was still a short, but no less significant line that was left out in the official text made public through Parliament. It said “Agreed and accepted.” That was the penultimate line that was followed by the signatures of a Government official and a representative of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Signing “for and on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka” was Mudiyanselage Sumanaweera Jayasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction whilst Shanmugalingam Ranjan, “Deputy Director” of the LTTE’s “Research and Development Division” signed for the guerrillas. How an official signed “for and on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka” is no doubt a serious question. It is only the President or the Prime Minister who were entitled to do that. Leave alone a secretary of a Ministry, even ministers who want to do so require Cabinet approval, when the matter is outside the purview of their Ministry.

If Jayasinghe placed his signature at an auspicious time around 7.05 am in Colombo, Norway’s Ambassador Hans Brattskar flew to Kilinochchi in a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter to obtain Ranjan’s signature. It was only after his return to Colombo, that the Government Information Department announced the MoU had been signed by the duo. Until then, an entire nation was in the dark. The MoU to give effect to the Joint Mechanism (or P-TOMS), a document hatched in utmost secrecy and known only to select Norwegian peace facilitators, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and a handful of Government officials, became public through Parliament. Even then, the country’s supreme legislature, where the elected representatives of the people congregate, was not told that it had been “agreed and accepted” by Jayasinghe “for and on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.” Nor have the many contradictions albeit disinformation come to light until Friday. To a specific question raised that Friday morning inside the House by JVP’s Wimal Weerawansa, whether the MoU had already been signed, Leader of the House and SLFP secretary Maithreepala Sirisena was, at best, evasive.

If that was bad enough, there was something worse. The Cabinet, tasked constitutionally to guide the destinies of this island nation, was blissfully unaware of the MoU’s contents. It was only 48 hours before the document was tabled in Parliament that the Ministers met (on Wednesday evening) for their weekly session. President Kumaratunga was conspicuous by her absence. She was fulfilling a vow she made to the Venerable Mahanayake Theras that she would consult them before the JM or P-TOMS deal was concluded.

Kumaratunga flew in an Air Force helicopter to Kandy, but was able to obtain the blessings of only Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakhitta, Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter. The latter had expressed support for the JM. However, she could not meet the Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter, Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Sumangala. Despite a message relayed of an impending Presidential visit, he was away in his village near Ratnapura. The President returned to Colombo that same evening, but did not attend the Cabinet meeting.

Unlike the Cabinet Ministers who were kept in the dark, handpicked Deputy Ministers thought they were lucky. Two Sundays ago, they were given copies of a three-page document titled “MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (“MoU”) FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A POST-TSUNAMI OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (THE “JOINT MECHANISM”)

That document was a “synopsis of the draft” JM or P-TOMS. Though this document contained all the main ingredients of the official JM document released on Friday, what were clearly some of the controversial provisions had been left out. One example: The person heading the all powerful Regional Committee, to be headquartered in Kilinochchi, will always be a Tiger guerrilla nominee. A nominee of the Government of Sri Lanka will only serve as a number two, like a nominee of the Muslim community. In other words, a nominee of the Government of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, a sovereign entity, will be sub-ordinate to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the constitution of the Regional Committee.

In still more explicit words, leave alone giving equal status to the LTTE, President Kumaratunga has made the Government subservient to the LTTE in the Regional Committee. Even one among three representatives of the Muslim community who will become a deputy chair in the Regional Committee will play such a subservient role. This is despite Kumaratunga assuring the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh last month of “her commitment to ensure the full participation of all communities in the country to ensure the delivery of relief and reconstruction assistance to those affected by the tsunami.”

Another example is the role of the Treasury. The draft distributed to the Deputy Ministers said “the function of actually allocating and disbursing the donor funds will be retained by the Treasury: the High level Committee only formulates policy regarding these. But Friday’s document does not make any reference to the Treasury or for that matter to any state agency under the Government of Sri Lanka. It also does not make any reference to an assertion in the draft given to Deputy Ministers that “The LTTE, as a non State entity, cannot be a party to such an agreement.”

The reference is to an agreement between the multilateral agency and the Government of Sri Lanka. Why was the requirement to bring in a multilateral agency? It is only because the LTTE did not wish to deal with any arm of the Government of Sri Lanka nor recognise the nation’s sovereignty. Hence, the JM deal has not only excluded Government agencies but also the country’s Constitution and other laws. The MoU is ominously silent about whether the funds that will pass through such multilateral (World Bank) or bilateral (donor countries) to the LTTE will be subject to Government control, audit or scrutiny in any form. The serious security implications that arise from the JM to both Sri Lanka and neighbouring India also need detailed study.

It is a well known fact that the document given to the Deputy Ministers was withdrawn by officials of the Presidential Secretariat, immediately thereafter. President Kumaratunga accused newspapers that published contents of the document of including additions of their own. They were not additions made by the media. The references to the Treasury were indeed there in the document and had angered the LTTE.
As a result, the references to the Treasury were dropped without any explanation. That is not-withstanding all the Government propaganda that the Treasury (the Ministry of Finance) would be the agency that would disburse funds to the LTTE.

As part of this propaganda, state run Daily News of June 14, 2005 published a half page advertisement on Page 33. It was headlined “The Joint Mechanism – The disbursement of funds will be handled by the Ministry of Finance.” The introduction to the text had this to say: “The Administrative Mechanism will not handle funds directly. Rather, it will only make recommendations regarding various projects and monitor the progress of work. “After identifying projects, the committees will inform the Government of their recommendations and the Finance Ministry will channel the necessary funds to the institutions handling the identified projects. All foreign aid for Tsunami reconstruction will be received by the Finance Ministry as is the current practice.....”

How did this stated position of the Government just ten days before the JM deal was completed change? Why did the Government choose to maintain a stoic silence over it? Close on midnight last Thursday, Deputy Minister Mahindananda Alutgamage, (who like his parliamentarian twin, Dilan Perera), a champion backer of the JM declared that it was, unequivocally, the Treasury that would disburse all tsunami aid to Tiger guerrillas. This was during the TV talk show “Thulawa” on the state owned ITN. But on Friday morning he learnt the truth was quite different. Like him, most were unaware of the behind-the-scene manoeuvres that were going on.

Part of this secret activity was on Thursday when Norwegian Embassy Second Secretary, Tom Knappskog received an Air Force helicopter to fly to Kilinochchi. There he met the head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, S. Prabagaran alias Pulithevan. Diplomatic sources said the visit was to inform the guerrillas of Government’s willingness to sign the JM. It was Knappskog’s task to persuade them to sign with an official of the Triple “R” Ministry – a stance which the LTTE was not in favour of earlier. This was on the grounds that the LTTE did not wish to deal with any State arm, and preferred the JM being concluded between the LTTE friendly Peace Secretariat in Colombo, and its own Peace Secretariat. They agreed.

After the Norwegian Embassy official returned to Colombo, a draft copy of the JM document was made available to LTTE Chief Peace Negotiator, Anton Balasingham. Copies were also sent to Kilinochchi. Colombo had already taken up the position that P-TOMS was not part of the peace process, so it was decided that the Triple ‘R’ Ministry Secretary Jayasinghe do the honours – or dis-honour – as the case is seen. If Secretary Jayasinghe was tasked with the signing and sealing, Ambassador Brattskar was tasked with the delivery.

Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama had to argue a bad brief later on Friday. At a news conference he strained to argue that all the foreign funds would be channelled through the country’s Central Bank, and to the Divisional Secretaries. What was not said was the most poignant – if telling fact. What happened to the role of the Finance Ministry that the Government advertisements spoke of? Was it not, in the least, false advertising? At worst, a half-truth, misleading the country?The Joint Mechanism or the P-TOMS, hatched in secrecy, is now public. The UPFA has collapsed with the exit of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Its parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa has vowed a protracted protest campaign against what he on Friday called this “treacherous” JM deal of President Kumaratunga. He charged that in secretly spearheading this deal, she had betrayed her own party, her followers and an entire nation who were committed to a united Sri Lanka.

Kumaratunga who defiantly pushed the JM deal is now weighing her future options. She reduced the UPFA to a minority Government causing problems over future governance. Such problems will even affect the working of the JM or the P-TOMS. Hence, the prospect of early Parliamentary general elections has become a strong possibility. More so, with Kumaratunga now gone public that a Presidential poll was a year and four months away. But a heavy cloud of doubt hangs over the claims.
This week she urged Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake not to undertake an official visit to Pakistan. He was to leave on Tuesday (June 28) following an invitation by his Pakistani counterpart. This has fuelled speculation she would dissolve Parliament.

This is particularly so after her efforts to install another Government, even one by the United National Party (UNP) during behind-the-scene moves did not materialise. The UNP is not keen on forming Governments but wants to make sure that Kumaratunga holds the Presidential poll before December, this year. This week she had another meeting with UNP parliamentarian and former Cabinet Minister Milinda Moragoda. During this meeting she asked Moragoda to convey to his leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe not to waste his time hoping for a Presidential election this year.

But Wickremesinghe, like most of his former Ministerial colleagues, is not in a mood to accept Kumaratunga’s assertions. The once half-hearted approach demanding a Presidential election has now been energised with the political fall-out of the JVP leaving the UPFA coalition, the rising cost-of-living, and the UNP once again in with a chance of returning to public office. Its leadership is now of the view that the matter rests fairly and squarely in the hands of Elections Commissioner Dissanayake.

He had issued a Gazette notification on February 1, 2000 about Kumaratunga’s presidency after the 1999 December elections when she was re-elected for a second six-year term, which should end this year (2005 ). That’s simple arithmetic. New maths says that the President’s term ends in 2006. Other than for this gazette notification, there is no official gazette notification issued by Dissanayake on the second oath, or purported second oath, taken before the Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva by Kumaratunga. Nor was Dissanayake present on that occasion. For a matter of fact, no-one else seems to have been present. The news item published at the time, an inspired leak so to say, referred to Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar being present. {The Foreign Minister? Asked about it by The Sunday Times the epitome of a perfect gentleman in his response. }

Analysts say the Elections Commissioner is empowered to decide when Kumaratunga’s term as President ends. They believe he is waiting for the appropriate time later this year to make his determination known. He refused to be drawn in to a question this newspaper raised with him last week. A case is before court to make him give the date and end the guessing game. And the UNP will continue its pressure until they win their demand for a Presidential poll this year. Their “Jana Bala Meheyuma” (Operation People’s Power) begins in Matara on July 2. Already, the Police have imposed a ban on processions in the South extending from Bentota toTangalle. This is explicitly to prevent all kinds of anti-Government protests from P-T (Post-Tsunami ) victims. Whether this ban would apply to the UNP too is not clear, yet. But UNP sources say they plan to defy such a ban - and go to courts, if necessary.

Even if the SLFP is content in believing that there would be no Presidential elections this year, its hierarchy is very much preoccupied as to who its candidate should be for such an election. The President has declared she won’t be the candidate, throwing ice water on her efforts to change the Constitution for this purpose. The JVP’s walkout from her Government dashed the last iota of such an event. Though Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was the obvious candidate, he has failed to play ball with Kumaratunga in marketing her JM deal. It was on the basis of that support that she offered to make him the candidate.

Mind you, the Prime Minister’s silence on whether he supports the P-TOMS, or not, is deafening. Now Rajapakse has gone to work at the grassroots level to make his candidature a reality. The first move came when the Dambulla SLFP Bala Mandalaya under the leadership of Minister Janaka Bandara Tennekoon adopted a resolution calling upon the leadership to appoint Rajapakse as the Presidential candidate. The Dompe electorate Bala Mandalaya has also taken the same decision. Similar Bala Mandala meetings in other districts are also being canvassed for by Rajapakse loyalists. Interesting enough, one such meeting is due in Attanagalla shortly.

It is in this backdrop that the Central Committee of the SLFP has been summoned for June 30, the day after the President’s birthday. Confidantes of Kumaratunga are preparing to propose and second the name of Anura Bandaranaike. If this motion is carried, it will see a further split in the already divided SLFP. Kumaratunga’s actions that led to the collapse of the UPFA Government may then divide the SLFP too.
For the UNP, this is a re-play of the events of 1975 when the LSSP was booted out of the then ULF Government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Then Leader of the Opposition J.R. Jayewardene was the sole beneficiary of this unceremonial sacking of the leftists, but the shrewd politician of yore also knew how to capitalise on it.

He had a personal rapport with the Trotskyite leaders, especially N.M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva and Bernard Soyza. He could get on with the likes of Prins Gunasekera and W. Dahanayake, the independent MPs in the then Opposition. And he did hard work galvanising the UNP’s grassroot organisations.

His nephew and successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe has a tough time emulating his uncle. And times have changed. Last week he had toured half the south and part of the east, where Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem was trying to drive hard bargains with him over candidates – even hinting he would join the Kumaratunga Government.

This week, Wickremesinghe was in Kandy and its environs. His party was in an awkward situation viz-a-viz the P-TOMS. How could they oppose it, and earn the wrath of the LTTE, on whose support they bank a lot at the time of a Presidential election. On the other hand, they must win back the support they have lost with the majority Sinhalese.

For the first time, almost, the UNP statement on P-TOMS spoke of the plight of the majority Sinhalese being ignored by Kumaratunga in the P-TOMS. At the same time, they welcomed P-TOMS ‘in principle’.
Principled politics seem to be the most difficult to maintain nowadays, when every vote counts.

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