You said that ‘Canada linked to alleged war horrors… accused of killing innocents in Syria and Iraq.
Let’s not white-wash Canada’s indirect involvement in the killings of innocentSinhalese people in the border villages in North and East of Sri Lanka in the thousandsduring the Tamil Eelam War, by the most ruthless terrorists in the world, designated as such by the UN of the Tamil Tigers.
It was Canada that let the Canadian Tamil Tigers collect two million dollars a month for 13 Liberal Governing years beginning with Jean Chretien days. It was these monies that were used to purchase sophisticated war weapons to kill the innocent Sinhalese people in droves.
Let’s not forget that it was a cheque that was cut for nearly $7 million dollars from a Bank inVancouver under a Tamil name to purchase 50 tonnes of TNT and 10 tonnes of RDX from the Rubezone Chemical Factory in Ukraine in 1994, that was used in the truck bomb by theTamil Tigers that brought down the Central Bank building in Colombo’s Finance District killing86 innocent civilians and maiming for life another 1338 on 31 January 1996,
Let’s add Sri Lanka to Syria and Iraq where Canada has been involved in war killingsdirectly and indirectly in international war theatres, Canada is not lily-white by any means.
Broadly speaking, most are fully in favour of retaining a Unitary Structure of governance as opposed to a Federal, Quasi-Federal based on the Indian model, or other multi-level structure where powers need to be devolved to the semi-autonomous units that are to be set-up for various regions within the tiny island of Sri Lanka, which is the common homeland of all her people.Federal or quasi-federal systems have been successful to some extent where countries such as Canada, the United States of America, and India with an extensive landmass, involving the coming together of independent colonies in the first two countries, and the weaving together of disparate ethnic and linguistic groups as found in India, to form a single federal state or country.Federal systems where limited powers have been devolved to linguistic regions in Switzerland and Belgium too would not fit into Sri Lanka’’s demography which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious in character, except for the northern province which has been ethnically cleansed of the Sinhala and Muslim communities who were driven out of the region after 1981.Furthermore, Sri Lanka is a tiny island which cannot afford to create artificial regional barriers based on language or ethnicity that tend to divide the nation state, as her pluralistic society and territorial integrity could best be safeguarded via a locally crafted unitary system of governance that improves on the existing arrangement which is well understood by the people at all levels.
The new Constitution should be drawn up with a great deal of care after a wide ranging consultation process with members of the public, professional bodies, trade unions, religious leaders, and all concerned categories of people willing to share their input to build one that is acceptable to the vast majority of the nation’s population. Its framework should be based on a unitary system of governance with the Centre having an overriding say in the matters of national importance while the peripheral units will cover items of regional value not in conflict with the centre. It should at the same time seek to share a greater degree of power with special interest ethnic/religious/and livelihood groups prevailing in the various areas of the country in the power structure at the Centre, so that all issues of a conflicting nature could be freely discussed and resolved in the deliberations taking place in the main body of elected representatives.
Replacement of Provincial Councils by Multi-District Councils:
It would also provide an opportunity to roll back the detrimental impact of the 13th Amendment imposed by our giant neighbour in 1987 creating Provincial Councils deemed ‘white elephants’ by most people, which have failed to deal with the local needs of the resident population. These have only served to create an additional layer of superfluous politicians feeding on the public purse, and even challenging the unitary character of the state with the combined North and East Provincial Council declaring its independence from the rest of the country soon after its inauguration in March 1990. The solution to preventing a similar situation is not to devolve more powers to the peripheral units but to scale back the powers to fit a lesser council required to serve the day to day needs of the residents. In my opinion, the ideal unit needed to replace the Provincial Councils would be Multi-District Councils tailored to deal with the common problems affecting neighbouring districts as grouped below:
i) Northern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mannar; ii) North-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Mullaitivu and Trincomalee; iii) North-Central Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa; iv) North-Western Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Puttalam and Kurunegala; v) Central Hill Country Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya; vi) South-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Kalmunai; vii) Megapolis Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Gampaha, Colombo and Kalutara; viii) Kegalu-Sabaragamuwa Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Kegalle and Ratnapura; ix) Uva Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Badulla and Moneragala; and x) Southern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Galle, Matara and Hambantota.
The members of the Multi-District Councils may be elected by a separate election for a term of up to 3 years, or picked from among local city, town and village council members who will declare their intention to serve both locally as well as at the district level when they present themselves as candidates for the local council.Each Multi-District Council will be headed by a Multi-District Executive Chairman who may be picked directly by the voting public or by the elected councillors.The District Secretariats established by the Central Government could be suitably modified to serve the needsof the Multi-District Councils, thereby economizing on staff usage, facilities and administrative expenses.
Some of the powers to be devolved to the Multi-District Councils amongst others to be determined by a competent authority are listed below for your perusal:
·Licensing of Automobile Vehicles in the district ·General Health and Sanitation ·Local power generation ·Minor roads and bridges ·Administration of District Courts, Family Courts and Local Dispute Arbitration ·Junior Technical Colleges ·Primary School Education ·Special Police to handle Court duties, Traffic control and non-criminal offences ·Welfare services ·Sports and Cultural activities ·Small scale industries ·Agrarian services to localized farming communities
_An Alternate Constitutional Arrangement:_
The present presidential system where a large proportion of power has been vested in a single Executive President who is also the Commander of the Armed Forces could be of use during a period of internal strife, where these powers could be effectively used to combat the insurgent forces and bring about peace, order and stability in the country.As the aim is to see beyond the era of armed conflict that has been ended, it is best to opt for a Westminster style parliamentwhere a Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers would govern in consultation with the elected representatives and voting public.
In order to arrive at the goal of enhanced sharing of political power at the centre, I would recommend a blend of the Westminster model with the old Committee System that prevailed during the State Council days prior to independence, to be able to accommodate the minorities in all aspects of governance entrusted to the elected legislature.I think that the electoral process should be revamped incorporating the following steps to achieve the desired objective:
* a)***All political parties should nominate their candidate for each electorate as in the past instead of nominating a whole slate for each district.This would eliminate the need for each candidate to seek ‘preferential votes’ from the entire district at a great deal of time, effort and expense, thereby drastically reducing the total election budget needed by each candidate to a manageable level.This would in addition help to reduce the tendency for elected representatives to acquire funds or other assets through corrupt and illegal means to recover the large sums that they would otherwise spend to seek preferential votes district-wise at the election.
Take steps to curb political interference in public life and ensure that due process will be speedily applied in accordance with the laws of the land.
Scale down the level of politicization and resultant political rivalry whichunduly pits one against the other within society, by at least allowing for theelection of members of local government bodies based on individualpreferences instead of on party lines for each ward or electorate without theneed to confront each other on party lines on a district basis, as prevailing in most countries.
The leaders should lead by example, by adopting simple lifestyles andtaking all necessary steps to reduce graft, corruption and waste.
b)The bonus places or additional seats given to nominees in the National List towhich the political parties become eligible could still be determined based on the overall voting strength of each party.These additional seats could preferably bereserved for enlisting competent persons who are recognized for their outstanding knowledge, technical skills or volunteer services to the larger community.
c)The senior positions in government that may be reserved for members of the minority communities are given below:
·Minister of Tamil Language and Culture ·Deputy Minister ofDisaster Relief and Re-Settlement ·Deputy Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication ·Deputy Minister of Education ·Deputy Minister of Health Care and Nutrition ·Deputy Minister of Local Government and District Councils ·Deputy Minister of Justice and Law Reform ·Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries
Achieving Peace, Harmony and Reconciliation: It has been reported in the media that part of the reasons for drafting a new constitution was to give effect to the presence of a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society in present day Sri Lanka, and to attempt to heal the divisions and differences and bring about a greater degree of reconciliation amongst the resident populace. Such thinking is flawed as people of different backgrounds lived in harmony in the earlier historical Kingdom of Sinhale pledging their loyalty to the state and in return receiving equal protection from the crown. The problems that we face today is due to foreign colonial powers having exploited the underlying differences in order to divide and rule the people and create hostilities between different communities thereby destroying the communal harmony and peace within the society. The solution does not lie in highlighting such differences and transforming the society into strict ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious compartments, which will continue to pull the nation apart in different directions, but drawing strength from the past and building on the commonalities based on our shared values generating trust free of external divisive influences.
In order that the desired harmony and reconciliation may be achieved, we must refuse to recognize political parties with ethnic or religious labels, and furthermore give positive effect to the fundamental right of ‘Freedom of Movement’ where citizens are free to move to any part of the island which is their common homeland and settle in where they may engage in lawful pursuits to support themselves and their families. This right of Freedom of Movement is currently not being upheld equally, as the internally displaced Sinhalese and Muslims are not being given equal treatment in the resettlement plans as Tamil IDPs are being given the highest priority. While in the early 1970’s there were as much as 27,000 Sinhalese and around 75,000 Muslims living in the Northern Province, only about 17 Sinhalese families have been permitted to resettle in the Navattakulli area, with no statistics of resettled Muslims being available in the public domain. The few Sinhalese allowed to resettle too have not been provided the same level of assistance extended to the Tamil IDPs, even though they too were displaced owing to violence directed against them by extremist Tamil separatist terror groups. The Sinhalese and Muslims of the eastern province too were attacked by the LTTE and other Tamil separatist terror groups in the 1980’s and 1990’s as they sought this region for their proposed mono-ethnic separate state of Tamil Eelam, forcing many thousands to flee the area thereby depriving themselves of their properties and livelihoods to seek safety elsewhere. They too have a similar right to be resettled in their places of origin with similar assistance being given to Tamil IDPs. This policy of step-motherly treatment being extended to the Sinhalese and Muslim IDPs is paving the way for Tamil mono-ethnic regions that would tend to drift towards separatism rather than reconciling with the rest in forming a united nation.
Reconciliation between people of different backgrounds could take place mainly through interaction in day to day living, by fostering the sharing of space instead of compartmentalizing of different communities to different regions. The northern province which is predominantly Tamil following the historical events of ethnic cleansing during the time of Sankili, and subsequently encouraged by our former European colonial masters and the more recent forced evacuations of non-Tamils by Tamil forces seeking a separate state have led the region to become a mono-ethnic enclave with underlying separatist tendencies given voice to by prominent members of the Tamil community. While the road and rail links have helped somewhat for the meeting and mixing of communities within and outside the region, more needs to be done to encourage non-Tamils to move to the region just as a large percentage Tamils have been welcomed by the Sinhalese and Muslims living elsewhere in the country. I would suggest as a policy measure, that the state formally decide to select new settlers in land development projects island-wide on the basis of National Ethnic Ratios, so that new communities will reflect the nation’s make up. Even the private sector too should be encouraged to follow a similar policy subject to their finding the necessary skills, so that multicultural communities will come into being everywhere. This will permit more non-Tamils to settle amongst the Tamils in the north and for more Tamils to settle in other areas leading to more interaction and shared community life that will help to establish inter-communal harmony and true reconciliation.
Retain State Protection and Foremost Place given to Buddhism: *Sri Lanka, being a civilizational state with a recorded history dating back to over 2,500 years, it is incumbent on the present generation to give due recognition to the unique heritage and culture of the people. It must be reminded that even the last colonial ruler, namely, the British, undertook to safeguard the ‘Religion of the Budhoo’ in the treaty signed in 1815 known as the Kandyan Convention entered into between Britain to whom power had been ceded by the Chieftains of Sinhale. The religion practiced, followed or adhered to by the vast majority of the people of the island of Sri Lanka going back to the arrival of Arahat Mahinda Thera at the invitation of Sri Lanka’s monarch, King Devanampiyatissa, over 2300 years ago, to impart the Noble Teachings of the Buddha, that which has always been held in pre-eminence by the rulers and people of the land from the earliest of times, whilst granting freedom for the belief and practice of other faiths without discrimination in private or public. The foremost place granted to Buddhism, the harmonious way of life expounded by the Buddha, by Chapter II, Article 9, of the Second Republican Constitution should be retained without diminishing its standing, in recognition of this nation’s heritage which has been built by the tenets and values of this religious Teaching which has withstood the test of time, and even permitted other faiths to freely flourish within her terrain.
Create an Office of the Ombudsman: In addition to the existing bodies set up by parliament such as the Human Rights Commission, it is felt that a useful role could be played by an *Independent Ombudsmen *who may be authorized to look into complaints of abuse by the state sector or other establishment or person, as a large segment of the people are too poor to litigate or seekredress for wrongs done or perceived to have been done against them.At the same time,steps should be taken to ensure equality of all citizens before the law and grant equal protection to every citizen by re-visiting the *Fundamental Rights Chapter*.****
Conclusion:
I havetaken up mainly the**contentious issues included in the draft proposals made by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly.**Istrongly believe that this submission contains valuable ideas that could be incorporated in drawing up a new constitutional framework creating a workable arrangement which will help the minorities to play an important role in the day to day governance, encourage the establishment of an atmosphere of co-operation amongst competing political forces, whilst making it a home made solution that will remove the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity faced by the nation from armed separatist groups including what is left of the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.I believe that the proposed model will help the various communities to share the tasks of government and benefit equally from the fruits of the unitary state of Sri Lanka, without seeking a separate future that calls for establishing artificial provincial barriers leading to the tearing apart of the island homeland.I have also emphasized the need for improved human rights monitoring and at the same time having an Ombudsman to befriend the needy who are too poor to seek redress through the normal channels.Also, to build a society that is free from corruption, the lead needs to be taken at the top, and it must necessarily flow from the highest echelons by each and every person committing themselves to lead lives that are free from exploitation and misappropriation.
Government has decided to seek the Attorney General’s advice with regard to holding the local government election, government sources said.
Government has decided to seek the Attorney General’s advice as there is a division among the members of the election commission. It is said that the majority of members in the election commission is against the ideology held by its Chairman Nimal Punchihewa who holds that the local government elections should be held.
The election monitors are of the opinion that there could be issues pertaining to holding the election even if nominations are called in this situation.
It has been said that holding of elections could run into trouble as the total cost of it is said to be rupees 12 billion whereas the total amount allocated for the Elections Commission from the budget is Rs 10 billion.
Some of the Election Commission members are of the opinion that announcing the date of the elections should be delayed even if nominations are called.
However sources close to the Election Commission Chairman is of the opinion that the Finance Ministry will disburse additional funds if needed. (Yohan Perera)
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed the United National Party (UNP) that he would not be involved in any activities related to the upcoming local government election.
Communicating his decision to the UNP, President Wickremesinghe noted that he was given a mandate not to engage in elections, but to rebuild the country and ride out the crisis situation within two years.
He stressed that he is not prepared to act in contravention of this mandate.
During the year 2022, the Sri Lankan Rupee depreciated against the US Dollar by nearly 45%, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported.
Accordingly, the Rupee depreciated by 44.8% against the US Dollar in 2022, while also having depreciated against the Euro by 41.4%, the Indian Rupee by 38.6%, the Pound Sterling by 38.1% and the Japanese Yen by 36.4% within this period.
These figures were released by CBSL in their latest edition of the Weekly Economic Indicators report
If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute’ runs a wry idiom in New England where the weather may change dramatically in minutes. However, these days blaming the weather for pretty much everything is fashionable– be it global warming or cooling, no rain, or too much rain, drought, floods or a snow blizzard in winter.
Recently the news was filled with stories of anthropogenic climate catastrophes; from ‘poisoned fog’ from land-locked, dust bowl New Delhi, directly targeting windblown coastal Colombo, to cattle dying due to Cold weather in the Eastern Province. Additionally, there were bio-warfare lab made Fall Army Worms (Sena Catapillar), and coconut White Flies destroying crops in a mysteriously coordinated attack on national Food Security this holiday season as imported goods flooded Sri Lanka on the (neo)liberal, US ‘Force’-backed, President’s orders– rapidly deepening the Dollar debt trap ex-post the Staged Default.
Meanwhile, two United Nations Climate conferences (CoP-27, CoP-15), the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), offered contradictory messages about who must bear the cost for Loss and Damage” caused by climate change amid a global and local corporate media blitz of climate disaster stories with narratives of Famine in the background. Indeed, climate and debt anxiety cross-messaging with electric car and green technology advertisements, as well as, disinformation following two years of a confusing Covid-19 infodemic increasingly characterizes an anxiety gripped ‘risk society’ in a post-truth world.
At the CoP-27 Anthropocene Climate Catastrophe show in Egypt last month, countries of the Global South called for the industrialized North which is currently responsible for over 92 percent of cumulative carbon emissions to pay up for Loss and Damage” to the environment.[i]
Land and Ocean Grabbing for Blu-Green Debt Bond-age
Strategic Sri Lanka at the center of the Indian Ocean, which succumbed to a Staged Default for the first time in its history as an independent country this year is currently in IMF and colonial Club de Paris (PC), debt negotiations that include Green and Blue Bonds or debt-for-nature” swap (DFNS).
A Blue-Green deal of up to USD 1 billion in climate-focused finance is planned according to a Reuters report. [ii] However, Global South countries had pointed out that industrialized Euro-American nations that caused the carbon emissions and Ozone holes must to pay up for any green transition at Cop-27, rather than appropriate the forest lands and ocean resources of debt trapped countries in the name of ‘environment conservation’ that take the form of Corporate Green Bonds or DFNS.[iii] Moreover, the valuation of the Blue Ocean and Green forest ‘assets’ to be traded are opaque, with no mention of the Submarine Undersea Data Cables in the strategic island’s maritime Exclusive Economic Zone.
The proposed blu-green bond trade as part of debt restructuring would again benefit the unknown international sovereign bond (ISB), holders and hedge funds of OECD countries, which include BlackRock, that staged the Default in Sri Lanka amid a triple whammy of Covid-19, climate catastrophe and Debt disaster narratives in the global and local corporate media.
Meanwhile, A recent 2020 OCED report found that the richer nations have never reached the promised $100 billion for climate financing, and what’s worse is that instead of providing the promised climate fund, a majority of the climate finance from high-income nations to low-income countries took the form of loans that deepen debt traps. [iv]
The IMF and PC are pushing for a quick debt restructuring deal in Sri Lanka that would include Green and Blue (forest and ocean) Bonds, and the un-bundeling and sale of strategic lands coastal areas and energy, transport, and telecom State Owned Assets (SOE), infrastructure amid expert’ narratives of Famine and climate crisis. These narratives enable disaster capitalism a la Naomi Klein’s classic work ‘The Shock Doctrine’, this time with a blue-green mask in a strategic Indian Ocean island in the cross-hairs of Geopolitical tensions as Cold War hots up in the Indian Ocean region.
Some have suggested that the forests and oceans of Sri Lanka are doubly valuable, even priceless, due to the island’s Geostrategic location on major trade, energy and Submarine or Undersea Data Cable Routes (UDC), in the age of Big Data and the Information Economy. The island has been also dubbed an Unsinkable aircraft carrier” with the country increasingly an Economic Proxy War site in the West’s confrontation with China, much like Ukraine is a proxy war site in the confrontation with Russia. The Sino-Russia pact of ‘limit-less’ cooperation in the long predicted Asian 21st Century seems to have unnerved the West!
Meanwhile in small print, there was also the news that India would enable Sri Lanka to trade in Indian Rupees, aiding the quiet de-dollarization process in this dollar debt trapped island which was till recently listed as South Asia’s only Upper Middle Income Country by the World Bank. Before the dramatic default-triggered currency devaluation Sri Lanka had the highest GDP per capita and best social indicators in the region.
Odious Debt bondage and the Semiotics of a Chilling Killing: Cui Bono?
Recently, a member of a powerful business family was assassinated in a mafia style staged crime that seemed designed to send a chilling message and silence those among the business community and wider society who question the official narrative and quantum of debt, bonds, and bondscams at the CBSL in a world where debt data like Covid-19 fatality rates and artificial Intelligence (AI) generated weather data are a numbers game with contradictory models.
Mr. Dinesh Schaffter, scion of a powerful and respected business familywas a primary material witness at the Presidential Commission that investigated the 2015 Central BankBond Scam that is widely alleged to have been authorized by then Prime Minister and current President Wickramasinghe 2015 also to fund his party’s election campaign. Dinesh Shaffter, the Managing Director of First Capital Holdings a company that had also placed bids at the time had raised questions regarding the bond auction: Subsequent court action revealed insider trading allegedly by Perpetual Treasuries, with PM Wickramasinghe’s friend Singapore Mahendran then CBSL head, and his son-in-law Aloysius of Perpetual Treasuries – all part of the bond scam network.
The Semiotics of the guillotine style killing with the victim, Mr, Shaffter left in his own car at the Colombo General Cemetery (Kannatte) indicates a crime Staged to send a chilling message to those who may seek the truth or dare speak truth to power. This at a time when a group of high powered international academics have called for transparency and information disclosure regarding the identities of the bond holders whose names are kept secret while the country is mortgaged in IMF and PC negotiations to pay and benefit bond holders.
The academics have also called for ISB holders who lent at predatory rates claiming ‘high risk” should bear the cost of their predatory practices and take the losses, rather than the IMF and colonial Club de Paris act as their Debt Collectors, while passing on the burden of this Odious and illegitimate debt transacted between two corrupt parties (corrupt politicians and hedge fund bond traders), to the citizens of debt trapped countries in the Global South who had little to do with these transactions and are denied the Right to Information on the identities of the Bond holders.
It’s the Bonds, Stupid! The Right to Information
Forensic Audit reports on the 2015 bond scams were embargoed by Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy the Governor of CBSL who is now an ‘advisor’ on debt restructuring talks with the IMF. Is it not time to first reveal the findings of the 2015 Bondscam audit reports in full to the Parliament and people of Sri Lanka? Three Governors of the Central Bank were involved in Bondscams and/ or Cover up ‘investigations’ include: Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Arjuna Mahendran and Indrajit Coomaraswarmy.
However, rather than call for information disclosure, opposition members trade in salacious stories about beds, bestiality, bondage and the sexual preferences and exploits of the President (who now enjoys Presidential immunity), as well as his advisors which are widely circulate in corporate and social media channels to distract from the thickening plot of past and future bond scams conducted with impunity and immunity to beggar the country by successive Ranil Rajapakse governments.
The staging and semiotics of the assassination of Mr. Dinesh Shaffter, who was to depart for London on the eve of his death points to powerful local and global-interests and networks behind the scene, drunk with a sense of immunity and impunity. The perpetrators of the crime in broad daylight in central Colombo clearly felt well protected; and no investigation could or would touch them as the progress of the investigation shows.
The chilling killing would simultaneously stymie any bondscam investigations and search for information on the identities of the Bond holders. This is also evident in the on-going cover up ‘investigation’ including the absurd narrative that the victim committed suicide.
It is clear that Dinesh Shaffter knew too much and was willing and able to ask questions at a time when bond trading related to the country’s Debt Default is under scrutiny with calls for transparency and information demanded from International Sovereign Bond (ISB), traders and bond holders who were complicit in the Default being made by academics and civil society groups as the IMF prepares to asset strip the county to benefit Euro-American creditors.
Finally, the semiotics of Mr. Dinesh Shaffter’s assassination and the ongoing cover up ‘investigation’ are similar to the ISIS claimed Easter Sunday attacks that also targeted Chinese owned Shangri La Hotel where the leader of the Suicide attacks, Zaharan died with another Suicide bomber in 2019. This was shortly after the World Bank had ‘upgraded’ Sri Lanka to an Upper Middle Income country forcing the country to borrow from private capital markets/ bond traders to recover after the hybrid economic war style Easter attacks. At that time Ranil Wickramasinghe was Prime Minister.
Four years after the mysterious Easter Sunday 2019 crime, the smoke-screen of investigations by various local and international intelligence agencies has thickened, while investigators and court cases continue to ignore prima facie evidence regarding the external, geopolitical motives and local-global and Diasporic transnational networks that are as clear as daylight behind the 2019 ISIS claimed Easter Sunday crime.
At this time amid exaggerated climate crisis media narratives, Green and Blue Bonds are being marketed as an opportunity” to kill two birds with one stone (pardon the poor pun), through so-called debt reduction and carbon sequestering in Sri Lanka. The local corporate media routinely and uncritically promotes Disaster Capitalism –from Covid-19 to climate crisis and debt with famine narratives, while advertising antidotes.
Evidence from other countries that have entered into blu-green bondage or Debt for Nature Swaps (DFNS), however shows that such bonds would actually deepen poverty and debt in the strategic island at the center of the Indian Ocean, and force it to pay for the West’s carbon emissions at a time when the rest of the Global South has called for the OECD countries to pay for their own carbon emissions and climate change.
At the United Nation’s CoP-27 Anthropocene Climate Catastrophe show in Egypt last month, countries of the Global South called for the industrialized North which is currently responsible for over 92 percent of cumulative carbon emissions to pay up for Loss and Damage” to the environment.[i]
An IMF and Paris Club Green and Blue bond deal in Sri Lanka would hence mean debt induced disaster capitalism and asset stripping of strategic lands, marine areas, as well as, energy, telecom, transport infrastructure privatization with the un-bundling and fire sale of strategic SOEs. This would ensure dismantelling of the Welfare State which was once the envy of the developing world given the island’s high human development and social indicators. on the eve Sri Lanka’s 75th year of Lost Independence – in the name of Debt Restructuring!
The Green and Blue Bonds business is promoted by the usual suspects in the international arena that thrive on colonial trade and economic structure of dependency and Disaster capitalism: from hedge fund and multi-national corporation funded UN agencies (WHO, FAO, UNICEF, UNDP) and IFIs (IMF, WB, ADB), to selected Environmental I/NGOs, all funded gravy train style by transnational and multinational corporations including big and Dirty oil companies like Shell Oil that are rapidly re-branding as clean green energy and green tech companies. Locally, the Ranil Rajapakse Government backed by US Secretary for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu’s ‘Force’ with successive bondscams at the CBSL under his belt, and of course bond traders once again see a business opportunity in the Blue-Green Transition. Blue-green tech Disaster capitalism is a reality as big oil companies re-brand as clean, green, technology giants amid an Anthropocene climate catastrophe media blitz.
Climate Hypocrisy: Is Sri Lanka bound for the Chagos Island?
However, Sri Lanka like other debt-trapped Global South countries where DFNS are pending– from Belize to Ecuador– did NOT cause climate change and may even benefit from it! Hence, the call at CoP-27 was for Climate Justice and the Industrialized West that caused the problem and whose bond traders led by BlackRock have debt trapped countries to pay up!
Mounting evidence shows that in countries where DFNS have been implemented, farmers, fishers and indigenous communities have been deprived of access to traditional lands, marine areas and livelihoods in the name of ‘environmental conservation’, and have deepened the debt. However, increasingly, DFNS are being sugar coated as the solution to a post-Covid-19 Global Debt crisis as a corporate capture of lands and marine resources via Green and Blue Bonds is implemented with a Green Mask and CoP 15 30 into 30 advertizing of the need to save endangered species by 2030 by demarcating Marine Protection Areas (MPA), like the US and UK occupied Chagos Island which houses a massive and envrironmentally polluting Military Base called Diego Garcia.
Thus, there are growing concerns about climate hypocrisy” and ‘climate colonialism” with questions being raised about the science, Data, datafication and climate models, media and experts regarding the Anthropocene climate story: This climate skepticism is not to be confused with Donald Trump’s climate denial however. Who collects the data, how and where, as much as how are the climate change models and narratives generated and crafted are a valid questions[ii]
Above all, qui bono –who benefits from the blu-green transition given the billions and trillions sought? What is increasingly clear is that advanced industrialized green and blue technology producing countries stand to benefit from the Great Green Global Reset. They produce electric cars, boats, solar panels etc. and their multi-national companies, and bond holders, as well as, a host of environmental NGOs on the conservation gravy train are due a windfall if the green and blue bondscam that the IMF, PC and GoSL are preparing passes muster amid so many climate disaster narratives.
ENSO and Gaming the Narrative with AI for Global Governance: Eroding Self-determination
The world is currently in a La Nina or climate cooling phases with high rainfall, precipitaion and floods and snowstorms. But who talks or cares about the real scientific data or the indeterminacy principle and what cannot be modeled and gamed with Artificial Intelligence (AI)?!
Increasingly, Global Catastrophe narratives, from Covid-19, to climate change, and Debt with Famine stories, are gamed to suit the interests of the Global 1 percent with the DAVOS clique creating the message to advance the Global Governance agenda, and never mind any incongruence with long-term historical and longitudinal patterns. The Green Nobel Prizes have been already dished out much like President Obama’s Nobel Prize for Peace before he authorized drone killings in Afghanistan.
The ENSO climate phenomenon which is notoriously hard to model and predict given many variables and variability is never mentioned in the newsfeed while the narrative is gamed to promote the Great Reset for Global Governance with AI in a world of Big Data Fetishism (Datafication), algorythms of unknown variables and aeteology in our Virtual Realty created with AI and Gaming Culture and Cognitive Dissonance as the Covid pancidemic, climate and debt anxiety level ramps up. Thus, narratives patently counter to the local, national and regional facts on the ground increasingly hold sway in a world of alternative facts and virtual reality of gamed narratives.
The climate change narrative has achieved global cataclysmic proportions promoted by the United National specialized agencies which like the World Health Organization promoted the Covid-19 Pandemic with a confusing infodemic to erode the founding principles of the UN Charter – the Right to Self-Determination of Peoples of the Colonized world, the Soverignty of States including Economic Policy autonomy.
Over-generalized Global catastrophe narratives –f rom Covid-19 to Climate Crisis- which also turns social science and the demand for context specific analysis increasingly enables Over the Horizon operations for Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD), and Global Governance, by the few, with the few for the few (global 1 percent), in this era of hybrid cyber war. This is of course not to deny climate change since all things change but the question is where are the climate change hotspots and who benefits from climate change and what is the cycle of time –Anthropocene is doubtful- that we are talking about weather that changes in minutes or in the earths geological evolution from plystocene to myocene to anthropocece.
The maps and AI generated air flows that show Colombo affected by poisoned air from distant land-locked New Delhi, rather than coastal Chennai where air is not as poisoned, and that Cold weather only targeted cattle who died in the Easter Province and not in other area which were affected by the same cold weather gives rise to questions. Of course it is well know that New Delhi which is land locked and affected by proximate deseart storms has very high air pollution at danger levels every year in December also in the wake of Divali fireworks and burning fields.
AI enables a deapth-less Virtual Realty to intersect tangentially with empirical realty as those with the technology tools and toys to game our realities seek to control the masses. At the other end of the gamed news spectrum in Sri Lanka we have salacious stories about bed and bestiality among parliamentarians and the sexual preference of the President to distract from his High Crimes and succeeding Ranil Rajapakse regime.
Climate Hypocrisy: Blocking Industrialization promoting colonial economic dependency with a Green Mask
The good news is that many climate change models and empirical reality show that Sri Lanka at the center of the Indian Ocean which receives two monsoon seasons, may actually benefit relatively speaking, from climate change due to the so-called El Nino-La Nina Southern Oscillation (ENSO), weather pattern– with increased rain. The arable land extent would expand into the dry zone regions. So too, there is the possibility of more green hydro-power electric energy generation. Of course, there is a chance of coastal erosion due to sea level rise.
However, while the good news remains repressed, the climate disaster ‘poisoned fog’ story recently stymied Trade Union’s protests against the privatization of SOEs as part of an IMF inspired Firesale to benefit bond traders, primary being BlackRock.
The fact that the so called El Nino Southern Oscillation” (ENSO), a weather pattern familiar to human kind for centuries, whereby there is an oscillation from global warming to cooling with climate swings from drought to floods in 7-10 years cycles is never mentioned.
Simultaneously, the Climate change narrative is increasingly used to block industrialization and perpetuate Colonial Economic Dependency in Global South and countries like Sri Lanka that have high value Rare Earth Minerals (REE), and Ocean resources, which are being mined and exploited by TNC corporations of industrialized donor” countries without Transfer of Technology or local value addition. Environmental protection against ‘polluting’ industries is the paternalistic narrative used to prevent processing of Graphite, Zircon, Titanium etc. which is sold cheap as unprocessed mineral sand”.
Questions about Debt Justice, Climate Justice and climate hypocrisy also arise regarding several well-funded climate change ‘activists’, lobbyists, NGOs and indeed Green Political Parties in the West given failure to focus on the environmental costs of the West’s own military business industrial complex, related war games, war economies and infrastructure, or the environmental impact of a costly war being fought in Europe at this time. After all, the US led NATO war machine with over 800 military bases around the world is the biggest consumer of energy and greenhouse gas emitter on the planet!
As the Committee to Abolish Illegitimate Debt (CDTM) noted: At the UN Biodiversity Conference, or COP-15, the post-2020 framework will likely endorse the target of declaring 30% of the world’s land and oceans as protected areas by 2030. In delivering on ‘30×30’, a rushed approach to gazetting large areas of the oceans as protected areas for nature could be extremely harmful. Governments must therefore recognise the rights of people, including their free, prior and informed consent to any decisions that deny them access to their historical fishing grounds, in line with the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on sustainable small-scale fisheries, as proposed in the Artisanal Fishers Call to Action.
Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka ascends many issues and the process of peacebuilding has been a giant process since before 1983 that required considering different influential factors related to the nature of ethnic and religious beliefs of people. When Sri Lanka faced the problem of loss of peace among ethnic communities there was an easy role to rebuild the peace, but the reality consisted of a giant manipulation and misunderstanding role and many neglected aspects associated with economic, social, and religious flow outs and the process involved with humans than any other factors. Does Sri Lanka need outsiders for building peace is a serious question and why outsiders are involved in the peace-building process seems concerned with international politics? How the ethnic peace in the country had been maintained since the era of homo sapiens would provide strong support for policy developments and when outsiders come to interfere with the process it has gone out of order. Generally, ordinary people believe that no place could be built in the country with the involvement of outsiders.
The experience of the era of Lord Buddha indicates that the People of Sri Lanka will agree with outsiders if outsiders’ work consists of the feeling of domestic people. Consider the facts in the way how Lord Buddha approached in history and why that process was successful. Will Eric Solheim’s approach or ready to approach similar way is doubtful among Sri Lankan especially the majority community Sinhalese? I think, president Wickremasinghe knows this situation and did not make any speech containing his views in public.
When people noticed the news that Eric Solheim re-emerged in the peace-building process many talked that peacebuilding in the country might be a dream than an achievable reality because the expectations under the leadership of Solheim would not be successful and it contains a double game.
Why Solheim is reluctant to make a public statement considering the democratic values of Sri Lankans? In fact, he doesn’t want to Sri Lankans be in peace together without ethnic differences, he is a person looking for a job to survive. He needs a conflict to make his approach.
Sri Lanka is not a poor country but a poorly managed country. According to the list by Credit Suisse published in 2022 pertaining to Total Wealth of Countries and reported by Wikipedia the value of total assets of Sri Laka was 400 Billion US dollars and the country is placed 57 out of 158 countries reporting. Countries like Kenya, Argentina, Ghana, and Nepal are placed below SL.
This is the proven wealth and not the full potential of the resources of the country. If the wealth of our marine resources of the 200-mile economic zone, the hydrocarbon, and mineral resources are added it would be much more. Port City could add another 15 billion US dollars. Total external debt of 51 billion US dollars is only a fraction of this. According to the Minister of Justice, the amount of foreign exchange not repatriated by exporters to the country is 53 billion US dollars. The total loss from 2009 to 2021 on trade mis-invoicing is estimated at $ 50.833 billion. If the country was well managed SL would be enjoying a net foreign exchange reserve of around US dollars 50 billion. Deprivation of this is the crime of the economic assassins of the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, the Department of Customs, and the banking community.
Even if we saved 100 billion US dollars on total export income and mis-invoicing, we would not have still attained the full potential of the country. Our obvious economic fragility is in the balance of trade. Our imports have been hovering around double the value of exports. There too the bulk of our exports are in the three major commodities and in low technology garments. For some time the balance of payments gap was compensated with increased remittances from foreign employment and income from tourism. However, the vulnerability of these sources was realized with both these sources drying up due to the Corvid 19 pandemic. That demonstrated that we need to develop more sustainable sources to maintain a healthy trade and payments balance.
At the time of independence, Sri Lanka had a well-established political system with a universal franchise, reasonable infrastructure, and a sound public administration. Our per capita was one of the best in Asia and was only lower than that of Japan. So much so that sociologist Snodgrass queried what more could a newly independent nation want?’. Our economy was able to maintain a free health service and free education.
In 1944, the State Council resolved to launch a State Project of Industrialization in Ceylon. In the same year, there was the – Industrial Corporation Bill. The concept of socialist industrialization was keenly advocated by the Marxist parties which believed that full employment could be achieved only through industrialization. In the same year, J.R. Jayawardene (JR) moved a motion in the State Council for the preparation of a complete plan for industrialization. There was a firm bipartisan consensus on industrialization with a different emphasis on ownership. D.S. Senanayake (DS) was a prime mover of the plan for industrialization. The interest in industrialization changed with the failure of the UNP to get a majority at the 1947 General Election and being forced to form a coalition government with the Tamil Congress of Ponnambalam. The left movement though divided had become a threat to the UNP. No doubt DS as an astute politician apprehended that industrialization which would result in organized labor would strengthen the left movement. Instead of industrialization, he opted to build a peasant community which would be the mainstay of the UNP. In addition, self-sufficiency in rice and restoration of the ancient irrigation works were popular platforms.
The abandonment of the industrialization policy of the State Council was also the result of a lacuna in the system of a lack of a clear process of national development. Even as early as 1938 India had a mechanism of a National Planning Committee which blossomed into a National Planning Commission after independence. India since then has had 10 rounds of five-year plans. The main task of the Commission was to formulate a plan for the most effective and balanced utilization of the country’s resources. In contrast, the then UNP government did not adhere to a balanced utilization of resources but focused on a narrow trajectory of development. But for the political bias, DS could have steered a two-pronged strategy for the development of the country leading to food security and full employment through industrialization. SL had the funds, physical and human resources, and infrastructure to venture into manufacturing. But politics prevailed and we missed the most important opportunity for an early start of a manufacture-based economy with an export orientation.
Shifting people out of subsistence farming into formal manufacturing jobs would have made the agriculture sector more efficient and improved productivity in agriculture.
A strong manufacturing sector with increased productivity would have enhanced economic growth. Most innovation and technological advances originate in the manufacturing sector.
Manufacturing creates demand for skills, inputs, manufacturing components, transportation, and storage. Growth in manufacturing boosts growth throughout a broader set of activities, including in the service sector. The then UNP government did not fully appreciate the importance of manufacturing in the development of the economy particularly in creating productive employment and earning foreign exchange.
DS denied SWRD Bandaranayake (SWRD), who was at the time the leader of the House, his due place, and maneuvered to get his son Dudley Senanayake to succeed him as Prime Minister. This resulted in SWRD creating a new party resulting in both positive and negative consequences. The split created divisive politics based on ideology and ethnicity. This was the dawn of the era of chauvinistic and emotional politics.
This maneuver also kept JR, the best brain in the party, out in the cold. If JR succeeded DS, he who believed in planned industrialization could have introduced industries with modern technology with the help of the Japanese who were under obligation to him for his open support to Japan, at the war reparation conference in San Francisco in 1951, where he rejected reparations and quoted the Buddhist saying Nahi Verena Verani.
An irony of the development scenario during that time was while agriculture was the exclusive priority in the Sinhalese dominant areas there were a few projects in the industry like Kankesanthurai Cement Factory, Paranthan Caustic Soda Chemical Factory, and Valaichchenai Paper Mill established in the Tamil majority areas by the Minister of industries G.G.Ponnambalam of the Senanayake Cabinet.
With the Korean Boom’” in 1949 Sri Lanka had a trade surplus and the plantation sector was strong and bringing in sufficient foreign exchange. This background may have made the policymakers of the time complacent about the performance of the economy and other than a few import substitution industries, industrialization on a larger scale was not contemplated.
Without industrialization, we have lagged behind most Asian countries. Even after 1977, we did not learn from the experience of export-oriented industrial development of the Far Eastern Tiger Economies. Instead, we preferred to follow the prescriptions of the IMF and World Bank. Not only did we not believe in national planning we did not even have national policies on any major sector of the economy. We need to have not only an industrial policy but also a technology policy backed by an enlightened education policy. Our policymakers and professionals have not shown either the capability or the inclination to change the prevailing systems.
The consequence of God Delusion in the West largely among the mainstream Christian populace is the increasing search for Sati ( Mindfulness) originally taught by the Buddha in India over 2,500 years ago. Sati Meditation is filling a huge void in the Western consciousness due to the collapse of Monotheistic belief systems. The Buddha was the first major figure in world history to openly advocate self-reliance over-reliance on an external savior. The Buddha said that right worship is neither killing innocent animals as offerings to an unknown God(s) or indulging in meaningless prayers to someone who fails to answer your prayers ( for example, ask Palestinians in the current context) but giving up hatred, greed and envy, and embracing loving – kindness and compassion to all living beings. Panna ( Wisdom) should be the ultimate aim of every human and achieved via Samadhi(the practice of mindfulness) and Sila (the practice of right ethics). Sila, Samadhi, and Panna in a nutshell constitute the Noble Eightfold Path as taught by the Buddha.
The people of Sri Lanka have also contributed to the onward march of the Dhamma to the West in a major way. Heading the list of Sinhala Buddhist missionaries to the West are Anagarika Dharmapala ( the World’s first Global Buddhist Missionary) and Asoka Weeraratna ( later known as Ven. Mitirigala Dhammanissanti Thero) who founded the German Dharmaduta Society (1952), the Berlin Buddhist Vihara in Germany ( 1957) within Das Buddhistische Haus founded by Dr. Paul Dahlke in Berlin – Frohnau in 1924, and the Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya (1967).
Sanctions force people to prolong the use of older vehicles that burn fuel less efficiently, while making it impossible for Iran to obtain equipment and technology to reduce emissions.
With the arrival of the cold season, the air pollution in Iran’s capital Tehran has reached an alarming level and is hazardous for the health of local residents. Domestic and foreign experts pointed out that under the years-long U.S. sanctions, the forced use of old vehicles, which should have been scrapped long ago, is the cause of the terrible air quality in Tehran.
Over the past weeks, Tehran’s local authorities decided to shut down school and university classes for some days and switched to online learning.
Abed Maleki, deputy director of Civil Affairs Coordination of Tehran Governorate, announced on Monday the continuation of remote working of sensitive groups of employees, including pregnant women, employees aging above 50, and those who have heart, lung, respiratory and rheumatic diseases as well as ones with diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer problems, according to official IRNA news agency.
Maleki said that based on the approvals of the air pollution emergency working group, universities and all educational levels of Tehran will continue online learning for two more days until Wednesday, while sports activities in open spaces are also canceled.
The even-and-odd plans for motorists are implemented as traffic rationing measures under which private vehicles with registration numbers ending with an odd digit will be allowed on the streets on odd dates and those with an even digit on even dates.
Besides, a daily permit license to enter the restricted traffic zones in Tehran will not be issued by Tehran Municipality until Wednesday, Maleki said, urging the citizens to refrain from unnecessary activities outdoors.
RESULT OF SANCTIONS
Abbas Shahsavandi, the head of the air health and climate change department of Iran’s Health Ministry, pointed out that the traffic of old cars and diesel motorcycles is the main reason behind Tehran’s air pollution. There are many clunker vehicles and diesel motorcycles in Tehran, which must be removed from the consumption cycle, Shahsavandi said.
Also, Abdollah Motevalli, deputy director of Iran’s Standards and Quality Inspection Company, said that some 83 percent of air pollution in Tehran and 70 percent in other Iranian big cities are caused by vehicles, according to the report.
On Dec. 20, 2022, a group of UN human rights experts announced that “it is no surprise that Tehran is one of the world’s most polluted cities. U.S. sanctions force people to prolong the use of older vehicles that burn fuel less efficiently, while making it impossible for Iran to obtain equipment and technology to reduce vehicle emissions.”
The sanctions also prevent Iranian scientists from engaging in joint environmental research projects abroad, and prevent Iranians from accessing online databases and courses about environmental issues and sustainability, they pointed out.
NEW SOLUTIONS
On Monday, Mojtaba Shafiee, managing director of the Transport and Traffic Organization of Tehran Municipality, stressed that new ideas are needed to tackle the traffic and air pollution in Tehran.
Elaborating on the effect of the even-and-odd plan from the door of the homes on reducing air pollution, he noted that if the plan is implemented correctly, it will be effective in reducing air pollution.
He also announced the holding of the 19th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering in Tehran in March, with its focus on public and smart transportation among other topics.
Regarding the development of cycling routes in the capital, he stated that the use of shared bicycles is one of the main models of traffic management around the world that should be considered in Tehran.
In the meantime, Motevalli said that all motor vehicles used by government, public and non-government sectors are required to obtain a technical examination certificate, which can be highly effective in reducing air pollution, optimizing fuel consumption and car safety, and consequently the health of citizens.
Kanjipani Imran alias Mohammed Imran fled to Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday (3) raised concerns over the country’s intelligence network after notorious underworld gangster and drug lord Kanjipani Imran alias Mohammed Imran fled to India after his release on bail.
Imran, wanted by the Sri Lankan authorities for various offences, including murders and criminal intimidation, was arrested in Dubai in 2019 and deported to the island nation. He was in judicial custody till a local court on December 20 last year granted him bail on payment of two sureties, each 5 million local currencies.
The Sri Lankan police last week said Imran fled to Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu days after his release on bail.
Speaking to reporters here, Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena said Imran’s fleeing to India has raised concerns on the working of the Sri Lankan intelligence agencies and they must be questioned on the issue.
He said similar concerns over Sri Lanka’s intelligence network were also raised after the Easter Sunday attack. The local intelligence was inactive even after being alerted by their Indian counterpart about the 2019 bombings carried out by ISIS-related terrorists
President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued orders to the Chairmen of Sri Lankan Airlines & Ceylon Petroleum Corporation calling for a report on the payment of bonuses at a time when both institutions were running at a loss.
Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera today reiterated that the proposed tariff structure had been proposed by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
The minister has shared the proposed tariff structure for a cost-reflective electricity pricing formula on his official Twitter account as an official message.
Accordingly, there are details relating to the tariff structure that was effective from 2014 to August 2022, the revised tariff structure in August 2022, and the proposed tariff structure for January 2023.
The decision on electricity charges is as follows: (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)
The cabinet that met on Monday for the first time in 2023 has decided to strictly adhere to restrict the number of students to a maximum 40 for Grade 1 – 5 and 45 students for Grade 6-11 from this year, cabinet spokesman, Minister Bandula Gunawardana said today.
He told the weekly cabinet news briefing that a new admission system will be introduced from 2023 for students from grade 2 to grade 11 – except grade 6 – in government schools by further streamlining the current circular provisions.
The new system also aims at identifying student groups that really need to change their schools and to create fair and equal access opportunities to enrol in to intermediate grades and to keep the maximum number of students for grades 1-5 classes at 40 and for grades 6-11 at 45 unchanged under the new system.
One of the biggest problems faced by the Education Ministry over the years is the heavy congestion of students in classes. This has become a big issue among students as well as teachers, that affect the education and performance of students directly. Restriction of the number of students in a class to a manageable level will be a relief to students as well as teachers,” Minister Gunawardana stressed. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)
Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel, former Ambassador to UAE and Israel, Former Chairman Consumer Affairs Authority and President Ambassador’s Forum (Sarath7@hotmail.co.uk)
Egg
Egg is an essential part of the Sri Lankan diet as it is affordable and freely available when the prices of meat and fish is exorbitant. Citizen is going through the most difficult era with 72% inflation ever rising currently the 7th position in the world. It is the requirement of the governance via the main regulatory instrument act no 9 of 2003 by the name Consumer Affairs Authority with 77 sections within with intentions stating in the preamble that ’’Whereas it is the policy of the government of Sri Lanka to provide for the better protection of the consumers through the regulation of trade and the prize of goods and services and to protect traders and manufactures against unfair trade practices and restrictive trade practices.’’ Egg is the talk of the town with accusations to many on the fast rising of eggs skyrocketing the cost of living of the consumer at the mercy of the trader, manufacturer, regulator and according to news reports the emerging ‘’Mafia’’ on eggs. Going back to the definition Mafia is a criminal gang flourishing in other parts of the world on Drugs, Gambling and many kinds of illegal activities by international gangsters’ powerful even overriding and overstepping governments and international police network. Prize of egg as in the case of other consumer items are rising rapidly with no control from the CAA despite the prizing under section 18 of the CAA act empowering the line Minister and the CAA to decide on prizes of selected items that are necessary for the citizen under circumstances based on a research by the CAA to act upon unfortunate overlooked by the trader leaving governance and CAA helpless allowing the prize of eggs to float freely giving the trader a free hand to decide the prizes of eggs. It seems egg has become a barometer on the strength and applicability of the governance and the main regulator on the cost of living of the citizen taking egg as a barometer in the prizing and cost of living index showing the incompetence and the weakness of the application of the act no 9 of 2003 which is the only legislation available with no changes since 2003. Whether it is the incompetency of the governance or defects of the legislation than any way needs reforms is a matter for a public debate expecting for a long time. Who is in a position to give some relief to the suffering masses is uncertain as nobody takes the responsibility and do not seem to be powerful to bring down the prize of many consumer items including eggs, with a monopoly of the egg prodder’s people say are powerful politically and otherwise. There is news that the head of the egg mafia is the brother in law of a minister between two ministers on trade and agriculture moth of whom are not taken serious in any respect. Both are living on politics with humble beginnings now no longer in need of wealth.
Competition and Competition Law
Ironically the Preamble states that it is the duty of the government to protect traders and manufacturers against unfair trade practices and restrictive trade practices. At the same time the Government is Sri Lanka is also desirous of promoting competitive prising wherever possible and ensure healthy competition among traders and manufactures of goods and service. Competition and competitive trade is the basis of modern trade and academics give specie attention on the competitive law and practical application world over. Main functions of the Consumer Affairs Council (s39) is to stream line anti-competitive practices based on section 41 of CAA Council being satisfied that an anti-competitive practice exists but such anti-competitive practice does not operate or is nt likely to operate against public interest by order made in that behalf authorise such anti-competitive practice or (b) an anti-competitive practice exists and that it operates against public interest by order in that behalf provide for (1) the termination of such anti-competitive practice in such manner as may be specified in that order and (2) such other actions as the Council may consider necessary for the purpose of remedying or preventing the adverse effects of any anti-competitive practice are the safeguards provided to protect the consumer and trader from cartel mafia exist world over including Sri Lanka in trade including egg trade now completely out of control in the hands of the mafia. This is the law and practice and the solution is in the hands of the governance and the line Misters in power frequently on media.
Powers of CAA
What other powers have the CAA and the governance to provide relief to the grieved consumer currently purchasing eggs at any price sole by the trader as a part of the mafia. Under regulation of trade in Part two Section9 the Authority may undertake such studies in respect of the sale or supply of any class of goods and services as would ensure the availability to the consumer of such goods and services of satisfactory quality at reasonable prices and adequate quantities. (b) to promote assist and encourage the state of other organizations of consumers for the purposes describe in paragraph (a) and (c) assist encourage associations of traders to enter into agreements with the authority of for the purpose described in section14. (Agreement to provide for maximum prize and of goods. Other provisions such as hording of goods, are of no relevance due to the severe shortage of eggs and the monopoly on price and distribution.
Other avenues and way out
There are no further avenues or ways to give relief the consumer showing the nature of the legislation which is powerless with no teach to take steps for relief to the citizen apart from a direct political solution outside the ambit of the CAA act which unfortunate powerless and unable to give any further relief to the citizen and it is timely to amend or introduce new legislation suited for the country. Author could be contacted on sarath7@hotmail.co.uk/sarathdw28@gmail.com
In recent decades, one of the political West’s favorite strategies have been the so-called decapitation strikes” against various countries or non-state actors. One of the first examples of this happened in the 1990s in Europe, during the US aggression against Yugoslavia. At the time, NATO forces directly targeted the Serb/Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. In complete disregard for the safety of his family, NATO destroyed Milosevic’s mansions and residencies, causing casualties among civilians in the process. Although the attacks failed, the Serb/Yugoslav leader was still deposed and later imprisoned in the aftermath of a successful NATO-orchestrated coup.
A similar approach was used against Saddam Hussein in Iraq. These attacks failed, but after the US-led invasion forces occupied most of the country, he was taken prisoner by American troops and after a show trial by the new puppet regime in Baghdad, executed in 2006. A very similar fate awaited the leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, who was also directly targeted during the 2011 NATO aggression on Libya. Unlike Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi never got a show trial, but was instead brutally killed by a mob. Again, in both cases, NATO strikes on the residencies of both leaders resulted in the deaths of their immediate family members and any civilians in their vicinity.
It should be noted that these decapitation strikes brought mixed results. While they did destroy much of the command structure of the targeted country or organization, the ensuing chaos and power vacuum were usually filled by someone with little regard for meaningful dialogue and brought even more suffering to the people of the affected country, causing decades of instability and factionalism. Such strikes were always conducted with impunity, as the targeted countries had no means to respond. It seems this has become such a favorite strategy in the Pentagon, that the US simply forgot that certain countries can return the favor”, so now they’re suggesting the same against global powers such as Russia.
For months, in complete disregard of reality, some US officials have been calling for the elimination of Russian leadership. Threatening a country incapable of retaliating is one thing, despite how morally and legally reprehensible that is, but threatening a country whose response could quite literally end the world is a clear indicator of just how detached the US establishment has become. And yet, this doesn’t stop the said officials from continued calls for decapitation strikes against Russia, as stated by former CIA head David Petraeus, or direct calls for Putin’s assassination by both former US National Security Advisor John Bolton and a sitting US senator Lindsey Graham.
The comments by these US officials inevitably caught Russia’s attention, including its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency published on Tuesday, he condemned that Washington DC obviously doesn’t rule out the assassination of President Vladimir Putin. The foreign minister noted that some unnamed officials from the Pentagon actually threatened to conduct a ‘decapitating strike’ on the Kremlin… What we are talking about is the threat of the physical elimination of the head of the Russian state.” Moscow’s top diplomat cautioned against such a line of thinking. If such ideas are actually being nourished by someone, this someone should think very carefully about the possible consequences of such plans,” Lavrov warned.
His comments were most likely directed at a late September article by Newsweek, when several Pentagon officials suggested a decapitation strike to kill Putin in the heart of the Kremlin.” At the time, Putin stated that Moscow would use all means necessary to defend Russia and its people”. As per usual, the Western mainstream propaganda machine immediately (and deliberately) took the Russian president’s words out of context and suggested that the remarks are a clear sign” of Moscow’s planned usage of thermonuclear weapons. However, Russia has repeatedly stated that it doesn’t plan to deploy any of the weapons of mass destruction from its massive arsenal.
Lavrov also warned that some of the US vassals and satellite states are openly embracing this confrontational approach. They seem to have gone completely beyond the bounds of decency,” he said, referring to a statement by former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, who without a shadow of a doubt declared during the election debates that she was quite ready to order a nuclear strike.” Russia’s top diplomat once again cautioned against such statements, but also recalled that they’re even worse in the case of the Neo-Nazi junta. I am not even mentioning the Kiev regime’s provocations that go off the chart. Volodymyr Zelensky went as far as to demand preventive nuclear strikes by NATO countries on Russia. This is also beyond the bounds of what is acceptable,” he warned.
Indeed, such rhetoric is quite disturbing, to say the least. Given how heavily armed the global powers are, calls for decapitation strikes or assassinations of any of their leaders are extremely dangerous. However, such statements aren’t coming from Moscow or Beijing, as they are aware of the irreversible consequences of such actions. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case in Washington DC, where a complete lack of etiquette (diplomatic or otherwise) seems to have become the norm. How exactly this could affect the world remains to be seen, as Russia is exercising restraint for the time being. This approach is the only sensible one, but the issue is that the political West often sees it as a sign of weakness”.
Sri Lanka Mission observed from the numerous inquiries it received from members of the Polish public and Sri Lanka well-wishers, the high appreciation of and increasing demand for Ceylon tea, spices, handloom items (sarongs, beach wraps, and shawls and accessories, etc.), handicrafts, including traditional masks and woven reed/rattan baskets, handbags, etc., porcelain tableware and giftware, and Ceylon gem encrusted costume jewelry.
Unquote
When you read the news above start ordering whether Sri Lanka can do better than this to earn more foreign currency
by selling petty things like tea handlooms and other small items rather than promoting investment in heavy industries like shipbuilding. Steel plants manufacturing agriculture equipment and mining etc
What is the purpose of having an embassy in Poland where well-clad fashionable ladies sell these petty things?
Sri Lanka should think big
We should employ knowledgeable export promoters who can identify the need for Sri Lanka at this moment
Poland is a highly developed European country that can invest in Sri Lanka where commodities can be manufactured using our skilled labour
Colombo, December 31: With renewed interest regarding narcotics abuse by the student community, many have questioned why Sri Lanka has been unable to stem the flow of illicit drugs to the island nation.
As part two of a three-part series, The Sunday Morning will explore Sri Lanka’s contemporary drug abuse issues.
According to the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB), the apex Government agency on the control of narcotics, abuse of narcotics by school children has been an ongoing concern for decades, with the issue coming under the spotlight again, possibly as a result of the reopening of educational institutions after a prolonged closure due to Covid-19-related public health restrictions.
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While the broader problem of narcotics abuse is a complex issue which requires a holistic approach, the containment of narcotics – which are trafficked into the island through 1,340 km of coastline – and the need for persistent monitoring of nearly 510,000 sq. km of the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to prevent such pose significant challenges. Today, widespread abuse of narcotics has become a key national security concern, while many have argued that it also needs to be addressed as a public health issue.
Over the last three months, The Sunday Morning has reported about poor prioritisation of funds and lack of effective policies for Sri Lanka’s national security apparatus, which is poorly equipped and underprepared to meet modern and evolving threats to the nation. This, despite continued colossal State expenditure on defence over the last decade.
Ice a concern, but bigger threats persist
According to NDDCB Chairman Shakya Nanayakkara, while the proliferation of synthetic drugs, also known as methamphetamine (‘ice’ being one of the many street names) is a concern, the continued use of ‘gateway narcotics’ remains a significant threat to the schooling population.
We have not received any tangible evidence yet to support the claim that the abuse of ice or other methamphetamines is prevalent among the student community. Of course, we are concerned about an increase in abuse of narcotics like ice. However, when it comes to the student community, there are other narcotics and gateway drugs like tobacco, marvo, thamel, arecanut products, and tobacco products – ones which are chewed – and cannabis, which are widely used by the student community. Tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis remain the main narcotics abused by students,” Nanayakkara explained.
According to him, the recommencement of ordinary school schedules following prolonged closures may be a contributing factor to the sudden increase in the reported use of narcotics by students. However, Nanayakkara stated that a survey, which would commence this month, would provide a data-based understanding of narcotic use among students, enabling an evidence-led decision process to identify countermeasures.
He urged educators, parents, and students who come across any samples of narcotics found among students or in school to urgently forward such substances through the Police department to the NDDCB for analysis at its laboratories. Nanayakkara added that such information was vital to develop a more informed approach to the spread of narcotics within the school system and to identify the proliferation of methamphetamines such as ice.
Inflows to SL – push factors
According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) findings, opium cultivation in Afghanistan increased by 32% over the previous year to 233,000 hectares, making the 2022 crop the third largest area under cultivation since monitoring began.
This, in the aftermath of the Taliban regaining power of the country after the rapid disintegration of the US and the EU-backed Government in Kabul, following the abrupt exit of Western nations from the troubled country after a decade.
The UNODC estimates that the 2022 harvest (6,200 tonnes) can be converted into 350 to 380 tonnes of heroin of export quality, at 50-70% purity, even though it is around 10% less than the 2021 harvest due to drought. Further, the UNODC has been reporting about an increase in synthetic drug production and intercepts coming out of the Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos regions.
There are concerns that internal conflicts in the Southeast Asian region, particularly in Myanmar, may be a contributing factor to an uptick in synthetic drug exports, with suspicion that some State and non-State elements are involved in the industrial-scale manufacture of methamphetamine/ice to fund ongoing conflicts.
Challenges for maritime interdiction
Being an island nation, other than cannabis and small quantities of locally-manufactured tobacco and arecanut-based narcotics, most drugs need to be trafficked into the country.
Historically, much of the narcotics that enter the island do so by illegal sea routes via the Indian Ocean, with only a fraction found to be smuggled to access points such as the port, airports, and through the post.
Over the last decade, maritime drug interdiction has been a key method employed by the State to counter trafficking, with the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Sri Lanka Coast Guard (SLCG), and the Police working together to net dozens of drug shipments. However, the vast expanse of ocean around Sri Lanka makes the efforts challenging.
Over the last seven years, the Sri Lanka Navy has shown some success in intercepting a number of drug trafficking efforts, with nearly 30 foreign vessels (unflagged, unregistered) carrying narcotics, which are then offloaded on to Sri Lankan deep sea fishing trawlers to make the last leg of the journey to the island. Between 2016 and June 2021, the Sri Lanka Navy had intercepted 14 such trafficking attempts. However, between 2020 and early December 2022, 12 such foreign vessels have been intercepted.
Most of the foreign vessels involved in trafficking are suspected Iranian fishing ‘dhows’ (a traditional form of Arabian fishing vessels – mechanised). The UNODC terms the narcotics smuggling route from the Iranian/Pakistani Makran coast to Sri Lanka and beyond (Indonesian archipelago) as the ‘Southern Route’.
The Sunday Morning asked the Sri Lanka Navy and the Air Force about the key challenges they faced when intercepting narcotics shipments to Sri Lanka.
According to SLAF Commander Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana, the main challenge faced by the SLAF in carrying out maritime air operations for drug interception in the area of responsibility covering the EEZ (which is seven times greater than the land of Sri Lanka/furthest point is 200 nm (nautical miles) from Hambantota Port) and the Sri Lanka Flight Information Region (FIR) (which is 27 times greater than the land of Sri Lanka/furthest point is 815 nm from Mattala Airport) is the vast expanse of Sri Lanka’s maritime domain.
The lack of aerial platforms with long-range endurance to cover this expanse is a main difficulty in respect of maritime air operations. In addition, SLAF is also facing difficulties in maintaining the serviceability of the existing aircraft fleet. Further, the economic crisis has affected the acquisition of new/advanced technologies which are connected with maritime operations. The limited number of serviceable aircraft with the SLAF has adversely affected the frequency of maritime operations, with the lack of spares also aggravating the situation,” Pathirana told The Sunday Morning.
When asked about how the SLAF works with the Sri Lanka Navy to monitor the sea approaches to Sri Lanka in an effective manner, Pathirana stated: Use of air assets over maritime domain is cost-effective (reach and large area of observation). In the present context, SLAF has initiated joint operations with SLN and SLCG. The information obtained during the maritime air operations are shared with SLN/SLCG. However, several more platforms and UAVs may be required to enhance the effective operations to cover the entire EEZ, for which the cost factor appears as the main constraint of enhancing operations. SLAF also continuously engages in dialogues with regional and other stakeholders with regard to sharing of information and resources to cover the EEZ/FIR.”
Pathirana also said that the SLAF would initiate plans to acquire long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), real-time data links for existing platforms, and long-range maritime patrol aircraft specially for maritime air operations in consultation with the Government and other stakeholders.
The Sri Lanka Navy also echoed the sentiments of the Air Force regarding the vastness of the large sea areas across which they needed to mount surveillance. It includes the territorial sea, contiguous zone, and EZZ, which is 21 times the country’s landmass.
When considered drug trafficking, surveillance tasks extend to high seas – even more than 1,000 nm from land, as transfer locations/areas (exchange points) that are used by smugglers are far away from the coast,” Navy Commander Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera told The Sunday Morning.
According to Vice Admiral Perera, most maritime crimes around Sri Lanka are carried out with the assistance of local fishermen and those in the fishing community.
A colossal number of fishing craft engage in both littoral seas and high seas. Therefore, it is a big challenge for the Navy to check each and every vessel at sea. This challenge is aggravated as these vessels don’t have any tracking devices. However, through external assistance, the Department of Fisheries is in the process of installing a tracking system for multi-day fishing vessels. The Navy, Coast Guard, and Fisheries Department take every attempt to check these vessels prior to leaving and entering the harbour to identify vessels engaged in maritime crime and they have been successful to some extent,” Perera explained.
When asked about the resources the SLN can muster for the counter narcotics operations at sea, Perera said: Availability of units to patrol the island’s waters has also become a challenge. However, with the acquisition of new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) such as the SLNS Vijayabahu, the Sri Lanka Navy has been able to respond to operational requirements by maximum utilisation of available resources in an efficient and effective manner to achieve the national aspiration of eradicating the drug menace from the country. The fuel shortage has also become a challenge to operational efficiency. Despite this, Sri Lanka is being assisted by other states as well in preserving maritime security, especially considering the extensive commitment of the Sri Lanka Navy in engaging in the prevention of maritime crime in the Indian Ocean region.”
Perera added that narcotics bought mainly via sea into Sri Lanka were organised by powerful worldwide networks and drug barons, both local and foreign. Many local smugglers are based overseas and not in Sri Lanka. Narcotics trafficking at sea and land is increasingly carried out with new technologies and communication, with coordination via cyberspace, thus the challenges in obtaining information regarding them are growing.”
Restoring human intelligence
According to a former Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) detective who spoke to The Sunday Morning on conditions of anonymity, two of the core challenges local law enforcement agencies face in countering drug trafficking is the eroded public faith in the Police, the State, Judiciary, and systemic corruption within the agencies. Both issues affect how information regarding narcotics trafficking is received by law enforcement agencies that depend on intelligence derived from such to carry out targeted operations.
The lack of public faith in the Police and the justice system is a key issue. People are not willing to come forward to provide information due to the fear of reprisal, they don’t trust the Police to keep their information. Many confidential sources we have developed within the trafficking community are no longer coming forward with information because they fear that corrupt cops will leak information to the drug network, where they intimidate or kill the informants. We have seen eyewitnesses – persons who have been involved in trafficking and turned State witnesses – being killed or disappeared. Therefore, human intelligence aspects which are invaluable to interdict drug trafficking are rapidly dwindling,” the former PNB official said.
The retired senior Policeman also told The Sunday Morning that the custodial deaths of several high-profile drug traffickers had also sown suspicion among the narcotics trafficking community that they would not get fair treatment or due process by the law if arrested, thereby pushing many into maintaining silence about the trafficking networks.
The Government, Police, and the public must understand that if we turn a blind eye to abuse of Police powers and the arbitrary killing of suspects, justice will not prevail. Yes, we all want drug dealers behind bars, but killing them is not the answer; there are hundreds more who will readily replace them. This is a lucrative business,” he said.
The rot from within
Recently, Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament that he suspected some Police officers were involved in narcotics trafficking. The statement from the Minister of Justice would have been startling, but many in Sri Lanka had long suspected that members of law enforcement agencies were compromised to elements of organised crime and politicisation. He told Parliament that laws would be enacted to punish such officers.
The arrests of 13 PNB officers over alleged links to a narcotic smuggling network in 2020 were a clear indication that even the apex drug enforcement agency was compromised and in the pockets of some drug kingpins, many of whom control local operations from overseas.
A senior intelligence officer who spoke to The Sunday Morning stated that a number of senior Police officers were suspected to be involved with several narcotic trafficking networks.
There are some officers, some in senior positions, who are in league with certain drug networks. They use the Police officers to pressure and eradicate their opponents and other networks to gain new territory. These drug kingpins provide some of these corrupt Police officers tip-offs to raid and apprehend rival networks’ drug stashes. This in turn wins some officers accolades and promotions. This is how organised crime works; they penetrate the law enforcement agencies and use them for their benefit,” the intelligence officer said, adding that at times, the Sri Lanka Navy and other stakeholders were reluctant to share critical intelligence with some segments of the Police due to fear of compromising their ongoing operations.
Imagine if we develop an agent to penetrate a network and the Police leak the information to the network about an impending raid or search operation; our asset is then under significant threat. Their life will be in danger. Our agents take a lot of risks. We have to protect them,” the intelligence officer said, stressing that given the state of law enforcement and political involvement with organised crime in Sri Lanka, specialised vetted units for counter narcotics operations were a necessity. The intelligence officer also stated that an independent unit to check compliance and investigate Police corruption and malpractice was a need of the hour.
Reducing the demand
According to the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB), while robust measures are necessary to stem the inflow of narcotics, a greater emphasis is required to reduce demand.
Responding to a question, the NDDCB Chairman told The Sunday Morning that Sri Lanka needed to do more to improve awareness about narcotics abuse and work to reduce the stigma around those who become addicted to substance abuse.
The NDDCB’s mandate is to reduce demand. We are empowered to carry out awareness and treatment programmes to help addicts to recover. One key aspect is outreach to communities, such as the student community, to improve awareness of the risks, to cut through the marketing strategies of drug peddlers and peer pressure, and explain the dangers, the risk, and the life-changing impact of narcotic addiction. Prevention is better than cure,” Nanayakkara opined.
He said that recent moves by the Government to change legal options for drug abusers to seek rehabilitation in place of incarceration was a welcome move. However, much more needs to be done to build awareness and reduce the stigma of being labelled a ‘drug addict’ (‘kudda’), which prevents many families from seeking early intervention for their loved ones who have become victims of narcotics.
When asked if the NDDCB is adequately resourced for its role in demand reduction, Nanayakkara acknowledged that the agency, particularly its awareness, outreach, and rehabilitation programmes, were under-resourced. We do need more resources. In this economic climate, it is difficult to ask for funds. What we ask for, not all is given. What is given is mostly for recurrent expenditure. However, we are working with international organisations like the WHO, the UN, JICA, UNDP, and UNODC which support us.”
Nanayakkara said that Sri Lanka could learn from other countries, particularly from the European Union, about demand reduction and rehabilitation, but would need to tailor such best practices to meet local realities.
He added that Sri Lanka needed to expand drug rehabilitation programmes and make them more accessible to those who needed treatment.
According to Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka needs to develop competent resource personnel and counsellors to help drug abusers and their families seek intervention and treatment.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa US Citizenship: In 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had renounced his US citizenship to contest the presidential polls.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa US Citizenship: Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.(Reuters
Sri Lanka’s ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa applied for restoration of his US citizenship, a report claimed. This comes as he failed to get asylum in any country, the report said. Gotabaya Rajapaksa had fled Sri Lanka in July last year. He then returned after nearly two months. Although, the US government is yet to consider the request, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.
In 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had renounced his US citizenship to contest the presidential polls owing to Sri Lankan constitution rules which state that dual citizenship holders are barred from contesting elections.
The former president has appealed for the restoration of his US Citizenship after he failed to seek asylum in any country upon fleeing Sri Lanka. Gotabaya Rajapaksa had left Sri Lanka on July 13 last year during the anti-government protests in 2022. He then went to Maldives after which he travelled to Singapore and Thailand.
“An appeal by his lawyers to the US government — more pointedly the Department of State to restore his citizenship, which he renounced to contest the November 2019 presidential election, has still not been considered,” the report said.
Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe brought a decision to reduce the retirement age from 65 to 60.
Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: A Sri Lankan flag is waved by a protester.(AP
Sri Lanka began a fresh austerity drive under which there will be no government recruitment. In the island nations new taxes and higher electricity prices were started as the authorities aim to secure an IMF bailout, news agency AFP reported. As one of the preconditions to securing the $2.9 billion bailout from IMF is achieving debt sustainability, Sri Lanka has been bringing new changes after the country defaulted in April as its economy went into crisis.
The IMF had earlier asked Sri Lanka to cut down on its 1.5 million strong government jobs, raise taxed and sell off state-owned enterprises. In December, a record 20,000 civil servants retired which was eight times than previous years, according to the public administration ministry.
This happened after Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe brought a decision to reduce the retirement age from 65 to 60.
Almost double personal income and corporate taxes aimed at increasing state revenue kicked in, while electricity prices rose 65 percent, AFP reported. Ranil Wickremesinghe came to power after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned in July following months of protests amid economic crisis in the country.
Our problems have not been resolved yet. We need to reduce our debt burden if we are to move forward,” Ranil Wickremesinghe said.
Sri Lanka has also banned non-essential capital expenditure amid new measures owing to which officials who authorise investments over 500 million rupees without clearing them with the treasury first will be personally accountable for the same.
Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara has submitted the Cabinet Paper on the proposed revision of electricity tariffs to the Cabinet of Ministers at today’s meeting.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the Cabinet has postponed considering and reaching a decision on the cabinet paper to next week’s meeting.
In addition, Minister Wijesekara has mentioned that he briefed the ministers on the requirements, proposed tariff structure, energy forecast and finances.
In a Twitter message, he further pointed out that an additional one week was given to the cabinet of ministers for their observations on the proposals.
Proposed Electricity tariff revision was discussed at the Cabinet meeting held today. Briefed the ministers on the requirements, proposed tariff structure, energy forecast and finances. One week was extended for the cabinet of ministers for their observations on the proposals,” he added.
Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel /former Ambassador to UAE and Israel
Cost of Living
A proper consumer regime is a prerequisite for a smooth and successful management of economy which is directly interconnected to consumerism which controls and pushes the economy of a country. Consumer regime is the proper balance of the consumer trader and the governance that has a direct relevant on the economy. Consumer regime is governed by the legislature, government policy and competition on a democratic capitalist social mixed with socialism. In the circumstances the cost of living cannot be controlled as in a socialist structure where the price of the goods and services increase in a steady pattern. In socialist bloc the price of consumer goods do not rise as fast as in a capitalist regime due to economic factors as the economy of a socialist controlled and planned based on the government policy currently in Sri Lanka the cost of living is rising in an unprecedented rate due to inflation, mismanagement, and internal and external economic factors the governance has no control over. Structure is Current hot topic nationwide is the cost of living and price of consumer items and services. Cost of living is not a static scenario due to changes in trade production and the change of social structure on various factors and angles. Finger of the citizen always points -quite correctly- at the governance empowered to manage affairs of the citizen in the capacity of a trustee of the Nation for a given number of years. Who is responsible for the prices of consumer items and what the remedial measures to provide the citizen (the consumer) with products and services of quality at an affordable price? In any society beating cost of living depends on the conduct and strategies of the consumer and how sharp he is in planning when to buy, where to buy how to buy and what to buy the consumer items in the market challenging the trader and producer assisted and supervised by the state (CAA in SL). Sri Lanka lacks organized consumer organizations, sharp consumers and just traders for a good consumer/trade regime. Consumerism and trade is interconnected and the reader is invited to read the reading materials given below. Undoubtedly the regulator/s play a major part in Sri Lanka led by the main regulator Consumer Affairs Authority. Is the CAA( Consumer Affairs Authority) is living up to the expectations of the intentions and aspirations of the citizen is a question the consumer is in a position to answer. But it is a sorry state of affairs that the CAA as well as the citizen is in a helpless situation when the exploration of the trader, industrialist added to the misery the inefficiency of CAA with no teeth and proper management and leadership leading to unfortunate state of affairs.
Consumer
CONSUMER (S75 CAA act 9 of 2003) is any actual or potential user of any goods or services made available for a consideration by any trader or manufacture with the promotion that every citizen is a consumer an important member of the society. Note that any potential consumer and services come within the ambit of the definition which includes professionals and all kinds of services. Consumer is protected and looked after by the legislation (in Sri Lanka act no 9 of 2003 and many legislations and regulations) to some extent when the consumer worldwide is organized and protected due to power of organization and consumer education. ‘’John Kennady’’ in (1963) who initiated the world consumer day and consumer organization in USA that consumer then is the least protected in the society needing assistance of the governance which is fast changing for good today except in Sri Lanka. In many parts of the world the consumer is named an uncrowned King mighty powerful to bring the governments and the trader to knees by the organizational power. In Sri Lanka is consumer the king? Or powerful is a moot issue to be discussed. Consumer day is celebrated annually worldwide on various themes on current topics such as on 15th of March every year to promote consumerism and good practices on trade and commerce for the development and prosperity of the respective nations and consumers worldwide. CAA is scheduled to take part in the international event on 15th march 2020 with the international community. International activism should trickle down to the world citizen in protecting consumer and maintaining equilibrium in trade. Consumer is defined in many ways in different jurisdictions in the same theme except in Sri Lanka even a potential consumer comes within the ambit of the definition consumer. Every citizens a consumer as everybody is required to purchase goods and obtain the services of services. Section8 (f) of CAA says it is the duty of the CAA to promote, assist, and encourage the establishment of consumer organizations Sri Lankan consumer organizations are in the lowest ebb compared to even India the immediate neighbor more advanced that Sri Lanka in many respects. India has consumer courts and the judiciary and media is helpful to the consumer unlike in Sri Lanka- a sorry state.
Law and Practice
Consumer regime prior to the CAA act was governed by English Law (act no 1/79 consumer Protection, 1/87 Fair Trading Act, consumer Prices act -chapter 173- which was replaced by CAA act which is a combination of Australian, Canadian, and English Law with complete transformation from price control concept to regulatory powers for the performance of the current consumer regime. Whether the CAA act is effective or living up to the needs and expectation is a matter left to the citizen to decide. It appears that the consumer is not satisfied and the Consumer Affairs Authority is not providing cover and protection to the consumer, industrialist, and the trader based the regulatory powers with powers to impose decisions towards a proper consumerism structure to the citizen. CAA is empowered to impose restrictions, implement regulations and directions, in addition to civil law remedies available in the court structure. CAA act needs complete overhaul and changes on policy and implementation which is in the final stages of fine tuning at the CAA. Is CAA making use of the powers vested properly for the implementation of the regulatory power? Change o legislation is inevitable and a necessity today. It may be Sri Lanka would have been better off under English Legal system which is replaced by CAA as the consumer regime in UK is excellent with the intervention of the department of trade an d industry.
Consumer Protection / Consumer Education
Consumer should be protected and while trade is regularized for the development of the economy. Some objects ( S7 ) of the CAA is to protect consume against marketing of goods and services hazarders to life and property, protect against unfair practices, ensure adequate access, seek redress from unfair trade practices by Regulation of Trade ( Part 2 of the act) connected regulations and practices. As price control is the history some consumer items which the Minister believes essential to the society could be could be identified to impose the maximum price (S18) as has been implemented in Rice, Gas and their identified items. It is a requirement to display the price list (S26) in the absence of the prize control regime, with implied warranties and maintain the quality and standards with the condition that a receipt to issue (S28) all the consumer items and services provided. Consumer protection is strengthened by organization as in other parts of the world with international networks such as Consumer International (USA) and famous WHICH” magazine based in UK acting as giants on protecting consumer and assist the state in regularizing trade. CAA in SL requires to promote assist and encourage establishment of consumer organizations and how for this is implemented is in question. It is the duty of the NGO’s, Schools, and citizens in general to set up consumer organizations in all levels, and also duty of the governance to promote consumer education schools, Universities and for the public in general. Consumer education is to be promoted in all levels including in schools and Universities in addition to scientific public awareness programs.
Rice Gas and regulated items under S18 to be essential to the life of the citizen/Hoarding is an Offence
Determination of rice prices is complicated due to the complexity of the process connected to the paddy farmer, intermediate trader and small and large scale rice millers, State (CAA), and the consumer whose stable diet is mainly rice. Paddy famer spends a substantial part of the year with challenges and risks with no proper security for storage, insurance and sale of the products readily purchased /collected by the paddy trader receiving the major part of the profits when the monopoly and decisions of the products is in the hands of the trader, and the state as the regulator with substantial powers to maintain equilibrium in fair trade. Good practices previously with Paddy Board with enormous storage facilities, CWE with large network of storage, outlets were willfully destroyed by the errant politicians and fat cat selfish traders still haunting to get the maximum from the farmer sandwiched between trader, state, consumer and regulator. Until the CAA act is amended and a proper consumer regime is set up we must find ways and means to give relief to the consumer whilst maintaining equilibrium with the trader and regulator. It is in news that errant and few traders have stored the major portion of the paddy aiming at large prefects creating artificial shortages and price increases. Hording goods by and trader is an offence (S17) and the storage capacity can be determined by the regulator. It is also the mandate and duty of the consumer organizations to come forward to safeguard and protect the citizen backed by the media in maintaining the price quality and standards. Now there is news of hording large stocks by errant traders/mill owners and it is time to implement law to the last word. Before the introduction of CAA the price control mechanism was in force and the situation has been more consumer friendly in deed.
Collective Efforts is required with a scientific and long term strategy for a proper consumer regime based on consumer education and consumer organization- WAY FORWARD
Consumer and the famer is helpless in the hands of the errant trader and the wrong system inherited which needs complete overhaul with a new vision with the involvement and intervention of the Departments of Agriculture, Trade, Regulators, Trader/Chambers/Consumer and Trade Organizations, cooperatives, Banks, with a genuine political vision and a leadership in which the Ministry of Finance, Trade, Consumer affairs to play a main part. News items of some traders taking consumer to hostage to be punished and dealt with no sympathy. The plan to be drafted at the drawing board level initially by changing the concept and the ineffective and powerless CAA act and consensus to be agreed upon with the regulator trader and the consumer with short/long term genuine affords aiming at making drastic changes at the level of the legislature in formulating and implementing short/long revolutionary plans for a proper consumer regime and successful internal and external trade in line with the policy and the future prosperity of the nation. Consumer Education to be given priority instead of punishing the trader and leaving the consumer in the dark which is lacking in Sri Lanka and the regulators should be geared for collective actions with the help of local authorities and government departments strategized by the CAA and the Trade Ministry- Lack of involvements by the Chambers of Commerce and trade organizations are noted and everybody should take the issue forward as a national movement for the good of the citizen at large. On the whole it is the CAA that is responsible to lead the campaign with the resources and the battery of experts to assist the wish and will of the citizen awaiting a developed prosperous society with a developed consumer and a trade regime. It is time to rethink whether to reintroduce the old system of price control fair trading etc. which is functioning well in UK with the involvement of DTI-Department trade and Industry with the powerful and organized consumer movement. A though study and new approach is essential with change of the legal system and outdated legislation.
(Reference material – all by the author authored two books on consumerism – Junk Food Daily News- Island / Wise consumer Daily Mirror 19/12 – 2018 / Alert consumer 6/1/2008 Daily news -Protecting Consumer Sunday Observer 15/3/2018 /Target self-sufficiency in milk Daily News -3/Aug/2007 /Rice eating culture 14/Aug/2007-/6/1/2008-CAA ACT/ Rice price and cost of living 20/4/2008 /Simple life 6/July 2008/ 27/May 2007-Regulatory powers-observer gas prices 22/July 2007-14/Sept/2006 towards an International Consumer Charter-rice based products 4/1/2007 Daily News all could be retrieved from the internet and in the book on consumerism authored by me sarathdw28@gmail.comsarath7@hotmail.co.uk- 0094777880166)
Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel, former Chairman Consumer Affairs Authority, former Ambassador to UAE and Israel-President Ambassador’s Forum
Regularization Procedure
Regularization is a part of administration and government process in Sri Lanka and world over often used in governance and delegation of powers to subsidiary bodies and institutions, which is not a successful process in Sri Lanka. In the UK Europe and USA this process is successful such as Rail Regulator and regulatory body’s functions on gas, electricity water which is semi privatized in UK where the companies have set up subsidiary companies as agents on gas, water and electricity regularized by the main companies and the government by way of regulation and in USA where the regulatory process is functioning well especially in the insurance sector thriving in the medical field in the absence of NHS as in UK. Office of the Rail Regulator in UK (ORR) monitors national highways licensing and operating by the act passed in 1998 running smoothly after the privatization of Rail introducing a new era functioning by the process of regularization successfully. There is a regulatory process in Sri Lanka on transport which is only on paper. Privatization and regularization runs close to each other in UK and the west. It seems Sri Lanka too is planning to follow privatization follows by regularization in some areas such as water and such natural resources. Regularization is a process of acquiring responsibility of managing, running and administering public organizations following the directions answerable to the main authority in given areas. Sometimes regulators go out of control. Today PUSCL chairman acts independently challenging the line Minister and even the cabinet on some policy matters including the price and tariff increases , because he is protected due to appointment through the constitutional council and his change needs Parliamentary approval. In USA, and Sri Lanka Consumer protection, Enforcement of Banks and insurance are some areas subject to regularization process in practice. In Sri Lanka one of the main regulators is the Consumer Affairs Authority established under Act o7 of 2003 which is one of the main establishments enacted responsible for the day to day life of the citizen (consumer) that needs lot of changes and improvements that will be a detailed discussion in a deferent forum. There are many similarities of the way regulatory bodies function in USA, UK, India and Sri Lanka varying the success rates in different degrees. Main regulator CAA is not a successful piece of legislation due to the inherent defects on the implementation of the intentions of the legislature as anticipated thereby it has been a failure on application. Some of the other regulatory bodies in Sri Lanka are TRC Telecommunication Regulatory Commission set up by act no 27 of 1996, Public Utilities Commission appointed by the constitutional council with independence to act independently of even ministerial supervision set up by act no 35 of 2002, TVEC set up under vocational education act no 20 of 1990 supervised by the Ministry of education, for various purposes in addition to many other regulatory institutions and bodies taking only the above examples for this discussion. Let us ascertain whether these institutions are successful and whether any reforms or changes are required to be institutions for the development and functioning of the governance.
Telecommunication regulatory Commission – in Sri Lanka- is a massive money making institution regulating entire telecommunication process to promote sustainable development in the country and the telecommunication sector originally a government sector privatized with foreign investments and controlling body that brings a massive income to the government. It is similar to TRAI of India –Telecommunication Authority in India that covers India and controlling the entre telecommunication sector as in Sri Lanka. Dialog, ‘’Suntel’’, ‘’Sri Lanka Mobital’’ Hutch , Airteltol, are controlled by the TRC which is the regulatory authority acts independently as the regulator in the field as a giant business enterprise. Another author functioning is the National Medicine Regulatory authority set up under act no5 of 2015 regulating the drugs which is an important aspect of the citizen.
Insurance and also under the EU directions mostly insurance and health regulatory systems. In the United Kingdom the process of regularization is successful in water and gas In the USA regulatory process successfully functioning for example in the insurance when the health sector is private unlike in UK and Sri Lanka. This is successfully adopted in the private actor worldwide. One of the main regulators in Sri Lanka is the Consumer Affairs Authority set up under act no 9 of 2003 and many others set up under different acts, by laws, executive and processes of administration in many parts of the administrative system. CAA consisting of 77 sections was set up after abolishing the English modeled consumer law system with the new regulatory mechanism based on a mixture of Australian/Canadian/UK regulatory process regulating trade and consumerism in a different way. It was set up with most ambitious intentions which unfortunately have not been achieved due to the ineffective regulatory procedure. This process may be used for convenience speedy implementation and implementation of jobs with less complications on implementation of government rules and regulations. Regulation is expected to derive optimism and effective results with consumer friendly and less compacted procedure. Regulatory procedure is adopted worldwide in water, electricity, gas, health, Insurance and many other sectors in day to day life and in food, education, health, industry, many areas on regulatory procedures in place of direct governance may be for flexibility and convenience. In Sri Lanka in addition to Education, Health, Industry, Commerce, trade, and many ministries and departments it is worth mention some ordinances linked to regularization as follows. Trade Marks Ordinance, Prison Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Control of Prices Ordinance, Weights and Measures Ordinance, food and Drugs Act, Control of Prices Act, food Control Act, food Control Possession Act, Licensing of Traders Act, Bureau of Standards act, national Prices Control Act, Consumer protection act, Code of Intellectual Property act, Petroleum Products Act, food Act, Cosmetic Devices and Drugs Act, consumer credit Act, Sri Lanka Standards Institution act, fair Trading Commission act, measurements units standards and services act, unfair contracts terms act are some connected to regularization in addition many under various Ministries and Departments in force. It is time to regularize regularly process in the implementation of the most crucial and important sectors such as Private Hospitals, Casinos, Private tuition classes, Trades on various sectors, Hiring sector including three wheel drivers, Sports especially cricket, and institutions that are inefficient and lossmaking due to bribery and corruption, and many ongoing and future government and semi – government institutions. They need strict regulations, laws, by laws or special regulatory bodies as citizen is exploited, mishandled, misdirected, and pushed from place to place with no mercy or protection. For example the Casinos, Private Hospitals and Private Tuition Classes are money making centers function freely unregulated with no supervision on booming and encouraging bribery corruption and inefficiency rampant like air.
Why is regulatory process necessary and adopted in governance?
Why is it necessary and why is it not successful in Sri Lanka. It is necessary as the Public and some segment of the private sector is inefficient requiring efficient and rejuvenation. Most of the regulatory bodies operating in Sri Lanka appear to be not up to the expected standards. Nation as a unit is lazy and indifferent requiring a powerful leadership and a vision of a visionary leader. Obviously regulatory biddies too follow suit accelerated by the corrupt government sector. This shows a regulatory process is needed to the entire nation with a new vision and a program, starting a proper regulatory procedure from schools up to the other institutions such as Hospitals, government and semi government institutions that already has a legal system and a procedure. Regulatory procedure on media is frequent with local and international impact on the image and economy of the country. It maintains with international precedents and standards regulating by different institutions executive and otherwise. It is used in sectors such as Insurance, Electricity, Water, Health, media, Transport, Energy, worldwide in many ways, where traditional governance process is inadequate, convenient or inefficient classic example in Sri Lanka being the TRC (Telecom Regulatory Commission) and the Telecom monitoring system once backward to wait for years for a telephone connection before restructuring and introduction the regulatory procedure. Many sectors act freely with independence free of rules laws or regulations. Education sector is the cradle of future generation that needs a proper legal and regulatory structure, with no proper rules or regulations for Private Schools and tuition classes thriving with enormous amounts of funding. Vocations Schools have some semblance of regulatory structure yet incomplete and ineffective in the in comparative and other semi-governmental institutions. Vocational Training is an area where the regularization is applied in the respective cooperate bodies.
TVEC tertiary vocational education centers
TVEC – Tertiary vocational Education centers run under the Education Ministry regularizing the vocational and training centers and institutions. Process, Procedure effectiveness and competence of the institutions is in question as the officers are not up to the modern requirements and subject to inefficiency and corruption, acting as a lame duck. This is not satisfactory as the nation today depending on tourism and employment in the recovery process. The line Ministers must take notice of these defective processes and attitudes as an urgent need in the process of recovering the downward trend. Their duties are development of tertiary education and development which is a burning need today due to the shortages of employment lack of trained labor to the foreign market with the fast growing demands. It is noted that it is time to improve and encourage the trained labor to boost the foreign employment market by improving the education and training sector to cater the foreign and local job market. TRC the telecomm nation regulatory commission dealt with previously, PUSCL- the Public Utilities Commission, Condominium regulatory authority, National Transport, Central Bank that regulates the banking system, are few of the many regulatory bodies worth mentioning in the process of the current discussion.
Reshaping Economy and Polices with modern Trends
Changes are necessary in development and re – shaping the economy in line with the policies in new directions Electricity, Water, Petroleum, telecom, insurance, Bank, Finance, medicine, Food and drugs, and consumerism are areas that needs new shaping and vision to meet new trends with unexpected challenges which are proposed and indicated in the budget proposals. Most of these institutions are running at a loss with unpleasant memories and white elephants with burden to the tax payer not serving up to the expectations of the citizen yet compelled to live with. Airlines, electricity, and water are few eating into billions of tax payers’ money to waste. At the same time regulation is a part of good governance encouraging transparency and efficiency of public and private enterprises and establishments governed by the State with tax payer’s money. Regulations and Regulation is common worldwide and a basic requirement for state and private sector efficiency. There are different kinds and modes of regulation and regulators. Rail regulator in the UK has enormous powers which is followed in Sri Lanka. Public Utilities Board, Consumer Affairs Authority TVEC body set up tertiary education, regulatory body on drugs TRC telecom regulatory board, Electricity Board, Water Boards in UK and Sri Lanka are some of the institutions on regulating the needs of the citizen parallel to the general administration with somewhat independently managed yet with influence on politicos and line ministers.
Public Utilities Commission
PUSL is the regulator appointed under 35 of 2002 to regulate Energy, Petroleum Water, Telecom and other utilities through the Chairman and members appointed by the minister which is in a way duplication of duties and purposes for which the Consumer Affairs Authority No 9 or 2003 is established. PUSCL is expected to assist, regulate, organize and protect the consumer which of course a replication of the CAA which is the instrument established one year before PUSCL indication that government policies have not properly scrutinized during the drafting process. There is a proposition to do away with the PUSL and there is a protest that it has to be done based on due process and by or strengthen the CAA with a strong regular procedure and promoting competition law which is lacking in CAA act which are ingredients of the purposes of both acts enacted. There is infighting and a media circus with the Chairman Minister and the cabinet on the price increase and number technical issues with unpleasant confrontations with the Chairman who is a multi- milliner – minister and the government alleging has personal and business interests on the price increase and traffics which is unfortunate.
Energy Sector
Electricity Board act no 20 of 2009 is very traditional semi pollicised ailing statutory body incurring a loss of 85000 million rupees following the normal rigid format without considering the commercial aspect to manage with no loss making and mostly looking for the interest of the consumer by incorporating PUSL (Section 3-7-(e) protecting the consumer when the Consumer Affairs Authority is covering a wider area including the rights of the electricity consumer. Energy sectors are money spinners in other countries. In the United Kingdom the fierce competition of energy companies have brought down the cost of energy and telecom cost while the profit was soaring upwards. In Israel with no natural resources nuclear power has made the energy sector powerful. Sri Lanka is full of natural rivers, waterfalls and sunlight over the year with potentials for wind power in dry seasons. But we are trying to purchase power installed ships in addition imported coal and diesel. This is why changes in outlook and attitudes are needed with out of the box and innovative solution to be taken fearlessly with innovative challenges.
Petroleum Sector
Petroleum Corporation was established by act no 28 of 1961 (chapter 220) to import, export, sell, regulate and deal with petroleum including refinery which before nationalisation under the foreign hands has been a money spinner which now has become a while elephant with the accrued loss of around 1.5 billion when. It is a simple process of buying and selling with price fluctuations based on international markets. Sale of money making fuel stations and leasing of the oil farms which are great value to India for their defence is the most foolish and unwise step taken by a Sri Lankan governance ever which one cannot understand the reason behind when the Indian company formed is running at a tremendous profit margin and when we are in need of storage of oil at time when the oil prices are rock bottom.
Water Sector
Water is an essential element without which the animal kingdom will perish which is in abundance on 80% of the earth and % of the human body. Water is not evenly distributed and in some part of the world and even in Sri Lanka poor walks over miles for water which is so essential for living. Clean and pure water is a blessing to a human body and expensive and cumbersome to find. Sri Lanka is considered to be a wet country with semi desert areas are available in north and Deep South making the peasants to find water for drinking and agriculture. Sri Lankan peasant consumed natural water from rivers, and streams and manmade wells until the introduction of the tap water system by the British on the British Model colleting water on giant tanks after purifying. Water managed by the water board act no 2 of 1974 in chapter 541 at a loss of 505 million when water Is a money spinner many parts of the world including in UK where the pipe water system was introduced to Sri Lanka extracting profit of millions of pounds by way of profits by water companies (Thames ect ) spread countrywide collecting water from the rivers headed by Thames River and smaller river and reservoirs countrywide. In the water system substantial quantity is wasted when water is freely available in abundances to be purified and distributed. Water is sold via distribution centres when % of the population is provided .If most of the regulatory bodies are acting below standards resulting inefficient and unproductive output there is no option but to find a solution to correct the system. One should ascertain why some regulatory bodies are successful in Sri Lanka and many oversees are functioning well. Is it Law, system, attitude or management are matters to be looked into and find answers and solutions. TRC is a (rare) success story on efficiency and profitmaking after restructuring giving some sort of independence of management.
Way forward to success and efficiency of regulatory bodies
Undoubtedly the regularity system and regulatory bodies in Sri Lanka has not been successful due to many factors previously discussed. Then why it is successful in other countries including India? It is the want of concept, procedure, lay out and the implementation with the proper team .It is time regulatory institutions are restructured and regularized by supervisory bodies/or bodies to increase efficiency and proper implementation of the intentions of the legislature. A serious of serious discussions are needed with the governance, legal teams and the line ministers before formulating a detailed and concrete plan with solutions to implement. Hope the line ministers of the institutions discussed will bell the cat for the proposed intended reforms that are urgently and properly implemented to regularize and supervise the regulatory institutions. Author could be contacted on sarathdw28@gmail.com/sarath7@hotmail.co.uk
