Editorial Courtesy The Island

President Maithripala Sirisena is in the attack mode. He has recalled Ambassador to Austria Priyani Wijesekera and several other embassy officials for not answering his calls. This has come close on the heels of his diatribe against the national carrier over the poor quality of cashew nuts he was served. Is he asserting himself to show that he is the boss? If only he had taken such stern action when the lid was blown off the first bond scam in 2015! He should have sacked the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran promptly!

There are serious problems which warrant President Sirisena’s attention and time, on the economic front, where the yahapalana government is bungling big time. It is hoped that he will stop tilting at windmills and concentrate on what needs to be done urgently.

President Sirisena made a solemn pledge in the run-up to the last local government polls to take over economic management as the UNP had, he said, failed to handle the economy properly. But nothing of the sort happened and he apparently has no say in economic affairs at present. He cannot even have fuel price increases suspended. He is left with no alternative but to comply and complain.

It has been reported that the government is planning to relieve the Central Bank (CB) of the task of raising funds for the state coffers and entrust it to the Finance Ministry. What are the yahapalana worthies, who think they are the bee’s knees, up to?

But for the intrepid CB officials who had the courage to stand up to the corrupt politicians of the current regime, the bond scams would not have come to light. Unfortunately, some bad eggs in the garb of CB professionals brought their institution into disrepute; they sided with some yahapalana politicians who lined their pockets at the expense of the state banks and the Employee’s Provident Fund.

The CB professionals who stood on the side of the truth have incurred the wrath of the yahapalana politicians involved in the bond rackets. Are government politicians trying to remove such officials from their path so that they could put some crooked deals through again?

The government is running around like a headless chicken, unable to tackle economic problems which are legion; it must not be allowed to take over the functions that are best left to the CB professionals.

Meanwhile, the yahapalana government came to power, promising the people that they would have a lot of money in their pockets. That pledge is likely to be fulfilled in the near future. Money printing is said to continue apace with the rupee tumbling rapidly. At this rate, the day may not be far off when the people will have to use wheelbarrows to bring their salaries home. Or, they will have to spend all the money, on the way, to buy a loaf of bread each.

It is feared that another huge fuel price hike is in the pipeline thanks to the government’s secret pricing formula. The general price level is bound to increase again in such an eventuality and Citizen Silva will suffer another body blow.

President Sirisena told a group of media heads, the other day, that he also had misgivings about the pricing mechanism, which only caused fuel prices to soar. He, too, has not seen it. He ought to demand that he be at least shown the secret formula. Unless the Finance Ministry panjandrums carry out his order, he should give them marching orders.

One of the main reasons for the current economic mess is the huge election bribe the yahapalana leaders granted the state workers, in the form of a pay hike, in 2015, to capture power. The government has started throwing money around again in a bid to impress the electorate and, thereby, shore up its crumbling image, unable to face elections. This election-oriented spending spree will further aggravate the country’s economic woes