Garvin Karunaratne, Administrative Service of Sri Lanka 1955 to 1973 Ph D, Michigan State University

Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and we were sovereign till we were conquered by the British in 1815.

We were also sovereign  from 1948 to 1977, when President Jayawardena submitted to implement the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF in return for finance- loans and since then it is the IMF that has been ruling us- we depend on the IMF for finance and they effectively control us.  

We were not a dollar in debt to anyone till President Jayawardena caved into the IMF for loans in 1977.  That too the IMF gave Sri Lanka a grace period of ten years during which the repayment instalments need not be paid. That was how the IMF bribed Jayawardena and my close friend Ronnie. 

Till 1977 we had development programmes that saw to it that we were even self sufficient in rice by 1970.  As the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla in 1968 and 1969, my task was to accompany the Prime Minister Mr Dudley Senanayake from dawn to dusk every Sunday and Saturday in Dedigama, his electorate and we could not find a person who was poor and destitute. We gave a free ration of rice to everyone then.  In the other days of the week I toured other electorates and that included Yatiyantota, of Dr NM and we had effectively abolished hunger. All our great programmes of development were in place and I am proud of the fact that  from 1955 to 1973 I played a definite role in successfully implementing them. 

Our foreign debt was nil till Prime Minister Sirimavo handed over the country to President Jayawardena in 1977.  Dr 

NM managed the finances well even finding finance when the OIl Sheiks increased the price of oil threefold in the early Eighties and we had to pay for the take over of Estates in dollars when we took over Estates over 50 acres.  Since following the IMF our foreign debt has increased from nil when Sirimavo handed over in 1977 to  $ 5 billion by  1989,  to $ 11.3 billion in 2005, to $ 22.5 billion by 2011, to $ 36 billion by 2012, to $ $2.9 billion by the end of 2014, to $ 56 billion  when President Gotabhaya handed over to President Ranil in 2022 and to some $ 90 to 100 billion today under President Ranil. ( Page 79 of my book:How the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Destroyed Sri Lanka: Godages. 2022).

Today one of our contenders to the Presidency vowed  to implement the 13 th Amendment. He forgets that the 13 th Amendment is not law, because that was implemented when President Jayawardena caved in to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who threatened to overrun Sri Lanka if Jayawardena disagreed, when Jayawardena incarcerated all members of Parliament except for my friend Ronnie and marched them to Parliament,  to vote. which he did. That is a sad  fact. 

Implementing the 13 th Amendment is the worst act anyone can do.

Let sanity prevail in the Presidential election on the 21 st. Let our  voters be blessed with the ability to elect a Sinhala leader who will steer our country to real victory away from imperialist domination. As Pandait Amaradeva sings:

“Me Sinhala apage ratai”

Garvin Karunaratne, 

Administrative Service of Sri Lanka 1955 to 1973

Ph D, Michigan State University

15.9/2024