Chanaka Bandarage

The 2015 – 2019 Maithree/Ranil Government is perhaps the most disastrous and dysfunctional government Sri Lanka has ever had. We must try everything to avoid a similar situation arising in November 2024.

Maithree, Leader of the SLFP went on one road; Ranil leader of the UNP went on another. They never went on the same road together. Two of them constantly fought with each other – like cat and dog.

None of them cared about the people. The country suffered tremendously.  

Maithree/Ranil in a race like manner appointed their ‘kith and kin’ to the government; thus the number of ministers and top public servants ‘went through the roof’.

The two of them gave us many other ‘gifts’ too  – the Central Bank fraud, 52-day illegal Government and the 2019 Easter Sunday attack are some.

A government led by the NPP (President) and SJB (Prime Minister) will no doubt be a repeat of what we experienced between 2015 – 2019.

All people must realise this and cast their vote to elect a majority NPP government.

Should they give a 2/3 majority to the NPP? Yes and No.

Yes:

NPP has promised to abolish the Executive Presidency. They wish to make the Prime Minister the head of the state. The Prime Minister will be directly answerable to the Parliament. This is excellent. This is the real  Westminster democracy that we enjoyed prior to 1978.

To make this change – amend the Constitution; the NPP will require a 2/3 majority in the parliament.

It is expected that with the change to the Constitution (22^nd Amendment), the 13^th Amendment will be abolished. The useless Constitutional Council, various Commissions like the Police, Public Service, Finance etc will be gone.

Once people have elected a government, it should be able to govern without hinderance. It should be able to appoint people to high offices as it wishes. The Opposition in the parliament can object/argue.

Having undemocratic Councils/Commissions etc is akin to one touching the nose from around the head  than direct.

At the moment it seems the NPP will run a fair dinkum government. They are determined to end bribery, corruption, mismanagement and maladministration. It is this type of a government that Sri Lanka well deserves. Hence the voters should give them a 2/3 majority.

No:

If the NPP would not abolish the Executive Presidency (and the Provincial Councils), they do not need a 2/3 majority. A simple majority is sufficient.

After winning the Presidential election, the NPP has been silent on abolishing the Executive Presidency.  This is a worry.

Since 1994, all Presidents gave people the promise that they will abolish the Executive Presidency. After coming to power, all of them ignored it. Simply, all of them lied to the people.

Will the NPP do the same?

Arrogance and Impracticality

Since winning the Presidency, some NPP leaders’ rhetoric seem arrogant (not of the top 3). They use language/tone that demean their opponents. They tend to threaten/intimidate opponents.

Of course, the past rogues, all of them, must be caught and subject to court action – ‘leave no stone unturned’. But, everything must be done legally, in own pace.

The NPP leaders who do not hold government positions have no right to be of the government’s spokespersons. They have to wait until they become members/officials of the NPP government. Currently, they can express opinion only within their NPP framework – not as government spokespersons.

Of course, the NPP will win resoundly on 14/11/25, but they need not be arrogant about it. Humbleness is a great quality.

High and medium rank NPP leaders who now think too high of themselves must bear in mind that ‘higher one climbs, harder will be the fall’.

They seem to have taken the voters for granted; they must understand that like how they were elected  in September 2024, they can be tossed out too. 2022 Aragalaya comes to mind. The present is a social media dominated era. Social media can build or break leaders/governments.

The story of the tortoise and the rabbit is an important one to bear in mind – ‘slow and steady wins the race; and overconfidence can bring downfall’.

Let us hope that the NPP learns from the advice given herein, in good faith.

Let us wish the new President and his government all success!

The new government

It is obvious that the new cabinet (the world’s smallest) is performing well. It is a very hardworking cabinet.

It is painful that the government seems struggling with revenue. The fact that it has issued billions of worth treasury bonds is alarming.

The government must secure new sources of revenue. New foreign investments will flow in after the parliamentary election?

The best is foreign aid. Except pledges from the US and Japan nothing much has been offered to the new government. Surely our western friends (Europe, Canada, Australia) and close neighbor China must show generosity. The writer notes the  President’s visit to India next month (his first overseas visit as the President). This is a very crucial visit.

The Nomination Lists

The NPP Nomination List is full of university professors, academics, doctors, lawyers, engineers accountants and other professionals. About 75% of the list is such people.

Can these people solve the country’s problem? Did we not have an abundance of such people in the previous governments?  Did they not prove that they were useless and failures?

It was such ‘intellectuals’ that destroyed Gota and his government. How many Professors and academics were in his government and Viyath Maga?

In the recently concluded IMF talks (October 2024) the government team comprised of top university professors. What did they achieve for the country? Nil (see our article dated 5/10/24).

Some commented that the government’s IMF team was more concerned on taking their selfies than the talks. One opposition politician stated that this delegation went to the IMF meeting without a single file in their hand. The writer is unaware of the truth of these.

The Nomination List of any political party must reflect the society that we live in. Bulk of our society comprised of small business people – people who run the corner-store, fish vendor, carpenter, tailor, beetle leaves seller, gram seller, cobbler, farmer, mason, 3-wheeler driver, sweep seller, tradesman etc. 

Then, the labourer, fisherman, garment worker, technician, bus driver, bus conductor, teacher, agriculture instructor, nurse etc – they work for wages.

It is their problems that the MPs must solve.

For this, rather than ‘big guns’, such ordinary people must be the MPs as much as possible. They are the ones who must be in the parliament. But this never happens. Political parties never include such ‘lower class’ people in their Nomination List.

The NPP had a great opportunity to break the ice this time, but they did not. The NPP filled the Nomination List largely with ‘high-end intellectuals. The ordinary masses were ignored/disregarded.

It is not a must for a nominee to have a university degree. DS Senanayake, Sir John Kothalawela, R Premadasa did not have university degrees. They are regarded as Sri Lanka’s best heads of state.

What is important is that apart from having a reasonable education and an exemplary character, the parliamentarian must have engaged in employment, income generation/small business type work.  Preferably, they must have raised own families.

Such people have the experience of going through hard life. They know what suffering means and how to survive in this harsh society (about 50% of the country’s population is categorised as poor).

Candidates must possess high people skills. This is more important than the PhDs.

Most of the MPs in our previous parliaments have come from the ‘high class’.  They have been there  owing to nepotism/cronyism/money/connections. Very few have come on own merit. Lots of them have never worked.

Is it why lots of them have been corrupt?

Basically, they live in a vastly different world than the ordinary people. The new expressways were built for them – to fly at break neck speed, in their super luxury V8s – bought from the taxpayer funds. When they crash, it is not them but the poor man who gets injured/killed. They wine and dine in 5-star hotels. They constantly travel overseas in business class flights. How can one expect them to solve the poor man’s problems?

Then, there are university educated political/aragalaya type activists. They seem good, down to earth people. Most of them come from the down trodden. They are not arrogant and are honest. The  remarkable thing is that most of them have not engaged in full-time employment and/or any sort of real work/income generation activity.  Aragalaya runs in their blood veins. They can talk well, very eloquently. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara come to mind.

As they have no solid work experience; can they solve the working Sri Lankan’s problems?

As they are very determined, let’s hope they can.

For this let’s wait, with fingers crossed.

This time, all the major political party Nomination Lists is a failure. They are full of highly professional, academic and intellectual people. These candidates seldom represent the ordinary mothers and fathers of the street.

The NPP’s nominee for Badulla District, Ambiga (a tea plucker) seems an ideal pick. She has come through the ranks. Similarly, Chamara Sampath who is contesting from the same district is a good pick. It is rumored that he has sold gram in the train. Saman Lal of Moratuwa is a good pick; a carpenter by occupation.  As Mayor, he developed Moratuwa (the writer is aware that some question the character of Chamara Sampath and Saman Lal).  Mujibur Rahman, Eran Wickramarthne, Niroshan Padukka of SJB are good candidates. Sanajaya Mahawatte seems a good person, so does Maurine Noor.

Such people deserve to be in the parliament.

Again, we must have in the parliament those who know and have experienced life struggles. This is why the western countries are so developed. In addition to top lawyers, accountants, academics they also have among their MPs former labourers, plumbers, carpenters, farmers, cleaners and small business entrepreneurs.

In those countries, masons, electricians, chefs  can be seen  chatting/drinking beer at the same pub table with specialist doctors, lawyers and top public servants. Those societies are not stratified. It is that type of a society we must try to build here.

In Sri Lanka, if intellectuals are a must for law making, let some of them be included in the National List. But, in the Nomination List, at least half (50%) must be of real grassroots level workers (male and female). How long will it take Sri Lanka to achieve this?