Editorial

The Presidential Derby was officially flagged off with the nominations last Thursday and contestants running in the furlongs to the finish line on September 21. The contest for the country’s top job numbers a record 39 offering themselves to the 17.1 million registered voters. Unlike in the USA, where only two candidates and a few independents are in the race for their Presidency, Sri Lanka has so many that the Government Printer has an unenviable task to include all the names in a ballot paper that fits her printing press.

The Election Commission also ran out of symbols to offer, especially to the Independent candidates. The old elephant is not in the race, nor is the hand of yesteryear, which is subject to a legal challenge. The dog and the pig were not on offer this time. Just imagine someone telling the voters, “Vote for the dog.” On the other hand, it may have helped that candidate win the support of the increasing number of dog lovers. The frog was on offer, but there were no takers.

With five weeks to go for D-Day or E-Day, other than those committed, a vast number of voters still undecided will begin making up their minds as to who they should vote for. The people are going to get their ears blasted and eyes strained over the next five weeks on who is best to steer the ship of state for the next five years from the bridge of that ship. There is no guarantee he can complete his term either, given what happened to the winner of the last race in 2019. In the past, some have steered this ship through rough and turbulent seas; some, like the Titanic, hit an iceberg and submerged it—almost sank it— only to have it salvaged in the nick of time and brought safely to the harbour for repairs.

Candidates competing for the plum office have been signing memoranda of understanding (MoU) left, right and centre with all comers. Every vote seems to count in what, in all likelihood, is going to be a keenly contested, at least a three-cornered battle for supremacy. These MoUs are not in the public domain. All that appears for the voter are photo-ops for the media of the prospective candidate and ‘the other party’ exchanging some documents.

Whether one MoU contradicts another that has been signed or whether these MoUs serve only to justify a crossover from one alliance to another for political advantage, the voter will never know. The flip-flops of second-string politicians are clearly to get on the winning ticket at the next parliamentary elections. Full disclosure is unavailable. These MoUs, by law, need not be registered anywhere, nor are they required to be made public for voters to make what is expected of them—an educated choice. As the campaign now rolls out, many would like more substance and policy than platform rhetoric and empty promises.

The candidates themselves are expected to put forward their manifestos, or whatever they call their request for a mandate of the people. This being the ‘promising season’, candidates are promising not just constitutional reforms, but entirely new constitutions. These ‘manifestos’ are not justiciable either. A candidate cannot be sued for ignoring them if elected. The Executive President has immunity from being sued anyway. These manifestos therefore become mere ‘scraps of paper’.

The bonhomie among the candidates displayed for the cameras on Nomination Day was a healthy sign of a mature democracy, but as the inaugural election rallies are launched and the campaign heats up, there is an element of concern, if not trepidation, that hotheaded elements from the different competing camps can make things go awry by taking the law into their own hands.

In the past, the non-executive Head of State would invite all the political leaders and issue a joint statement calling upon their supporters to maintain law and order and ensure a peaceful election. It would be something for the Elections Commission to consider as it performs the role of the independent arbiter of the forthcoming election.

Passport to perdition

Sri Lanka’s economy is still struggling to recover from a total collapse a mere two years ago. Improved tourism earnings and worker remittances are crucial to narrowing the current account deficit. Today, both sectors are mired in a severe crisis caused by procurement irregularities for which one ministry—and a single department under it—is responsible.

As we report on our front page today, the country’s existing stock of passports will run out in roughly 43 days (at the prevailing rate of controlled issuance). And visas can no longer be booked online. The breakdown of these basic facilities through mismanagement and disregard for procurement guidelines evinces a blatant indifference towards the public good.

The Supreme Court on August 2 suspended a Cabinet decision allowing the Department of Immigration and Emigration (D/IE) to enter into an outsource agreement with a three-member foreign consortium to process online visas for visitors to Sri Lanka.

The Court also directed the Department and other respondents to revert to the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) mode that existed before April 16, when the outsource arrangement kicked in. The D/IE can comply speedily, and in good faith, to facilitate the thousands of tourists seeking trouble-free entry into this country. But they didn’t.

The D/IE—and the Public Security Ministry above it—appears to have obeyed just part of the Court’s edict: it abruptly shut down the problematic online portal. And it refuses to restore the ETA, citing poorly defined legal impediments. It also bizarrely blocked Sri Lanka’s foreign missions from issuing visas. Three weeks on, visa issuance is entirely ‘On Arrival’. And bribery is rampant at the airport.

This seems all about one mad scramble to clinch a lucrative tender for e-passports before September 21. As of Friday, there were just 44,200 passports in stock. Or is it deliberate subterfuge on the eve of a crucial election?

Desperate citizens in the passport queue include students, business people, and hundreds of Sri Lankans who have secured employment abroad, including in Korea. The thriving bribery at the Bandaranaike International Airport and outside the Passport Office to have a tourist’s passport stamped or a new passport issued mirrors the goings-on at the higher levels of politics, officialdom, and business elite, with connections acting under the fog of election politcking in progress elsewhere.