{"id":107984,"date":"2020-10-24T14:14:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-24T21:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=107984"},"modified":"2020-10-24T14:14:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-24T21:14:42","slug":"covid-wild-fire-20th-amendment-mark-pompeos-threat-resurgent-mcc-signs-that-planetary-alignment-is-not-in-the-countrys-favour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/10\/24\/covid-wild-fire-20th-amendment-mark-pompeos-threat-resurgent-mcc-signs-that-planetary-alignment-is-not-in-the-countrys-favour\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID wild fire, 20th Amendment, Mark Pompeo\u2019s threat, resurgent MCC & SOFA; Signs that planetary alignment is not in the country\u2019s favour?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

With\npositive cases exceeding 7000, and a national daily high of 865 and cases being\nreported in many parts of the country, what is striking is the sound of silence\nfrom health officials. While it is understandable to have one spokesperson,\nmany other countries have generally had a non-health person as the chief\nspokesperson, at times a President or a Prime Minister, but in equal standing\nwith the most senior health official of the country. The logic is simple. This\nis a health matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npeople of the country have to know how a calm and contained situation in the\ncountry became a Tsunami. It is time that an independent enquiry, preferably by\na senior retired judge\/s is conducted without delay to assuage mounting\nconcerns amongst the public, and to restore the confidence people have in the\ngovernment ability to curb the pandemic spreading like wild fire in the\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nin this instance, Brandix was responsible for the beginning of this second\nwave, as most seem to believe, it is in their interest to provide all relevant\nfacts to the proposed enquiry so that they can be exonerated if the news\nspreading in social media is fake news. An assurance from Brandix and the\ngovernment is too little too late now, not just to find out how this happened,\nbut also to identify measures that need to be taken to prevent a recurrence.\nWith intense pressure on export oriented industries that employ large numbers\nof workers to keep their exports moving, the possibility of a recurrence is\nmore than likely.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\ndoubt, political and administrative decisions need to be taken, firstly to\nmanage the outbreak and to prevent similar outbreaks in the future. However,\nthe basis for these decisions have to be health policy related. The public\nneeds a greater assurance that this is happening. It is not evident that this\nis happening and that the public feels assured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n20th<\/sup> Amendment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n20th<\/sup> Amendment will become law as soon as the Speaker signs it. The\nPresidency assumes supremacy over the Prime Minister and the Parliament. One\nwonders how this amendment and its reinstated powers in the hands of the\nprevious President or a future President like him would have been viewed? A\nfundamental tenant of democracy, checks and balances, have been diluted or\neroded by the 20th<\/sup> Amendment. The issue is not about granting powers\nto a President. It is about mechanisms in place to prevent the misuse of such\npowers and also to make sure powers are used effectively and efficiently to\nproduce good outcomes for the people. The 19th<\/sup> Amendment had flaws.\nEven some who were engaged in framing it conceded that. However, the answer\nshould not have been the thinking that one had to go back to the 18th<\/sup>\nAmendment in order to rectify whatever flaws in the 19th<\/sup> Amendment.\nBoth amendments, the 19th<\/sup> as well as the 20th<\/sup> appears to\nbe personality driven and not necessarily what is the country\u2019s best interest.\nIt is no secret that the thrust of the 19th<\/sup> Amendment was to contain\nthe powers of one Presidency and now, the 20th<\/sup> Amendment has been\nenacted to restore most powers taken away from that Presidency.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nConstitutional Council, the independent committees, COPE and COPA committees,\nshould have been strengthened and given more powers. The contention that the\nindependent commissions were not independent is not a reason to have diluted\ntheir independence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark\nPompeo\u2019s visit, MCC and SOFA Agreements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis known that the US Secretary of State is not visiting Sri Lanka to have tea\nwith the President and the Prime Minister. He is coming to reinforce the\nmessage that the US State department official Dean Thompson announced in\nadvance of Mr Pompeo\u2019s visit that We encourage Sri Lanka to review the options\nwe offer for transparent and sustainable economic development in contrast to\ndiscriminatory and opaque practices. We urge Sri Lanka to make difficult but\nnecessary decisions to secure its economic independence for long term prosperity\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nwas the immediate consequence of this statement? Reuters (Marc Jones, Asian Currency\nNews October 23rd<\/sup>) reported that Sri Lanka\u2019s dollar dominated 2021\nand 2022 bonds dropped 5 percent or more according to Tradeweb data and dropped\nbelow 60 cents on the dollar threshold. This report continued to state\u201d all\nthe tell tales crisis signs are there: a trembling currency, credit rating downgrades,\nbonds at half their face value, debt to GDP levels nearing 100%, and almost 70%\nof government revenues being spent on interest payments alone\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So,\nif Mr Pompeo is visiting Sri Lanka with this news in the background, and the\nmore than a veiled attack on Sri Lanka\u2019s close links with China, he has to be\nafter an outcome that provides the US an unprecedented Quid Pro Quo outcome for\nsome financial support. The only such deal on offer as far as known is the MCC\nagreement and the USD 480 Million over 5 years it includes. There is another\nagreement, not an economic one, but a Military one, unsigned yet, which is\nprobably what is of more strategic benefit to the US and that is the SOFA\nAgreement. Under that the US Military could be in Sri Lanka at the invitation\u201d\nof the government of Sri Lanka. What this entails and what would happen like in\nthe Camel and the man in the tent story, is all too familiar when one looks at\nthe track record of the US in many countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nterms of the financial crises outlined in the Reuters report mentioned above, MCC\nagreement money is peanuts. It is US 30 cents per capita per year of the US\npopulation of 327 million people over the five-year period. Sri Lankans working\noverseas remitted more than USD 7 Billion per year before COVID struck. If the\ncountry is to sell its soul, surely they should sell it for more than 30 pieces\nof Silver?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nhas been reported that Mahinda Rajapaksa, as President, had made himself very\nclear as to his and the country\u2019s stand when Western countries led by the US,\nUK, France etc, had applied pressure on him to allow LTTE cadres to be shipped\nout of Sri Lanka during the last stages of the war in 2009. Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa,\nhis brother Gotabaya who is now the President, the Armed Forces of the country,\nended the war by defeating the LTTE, while rehabilitating more than 300,000\nLTTE cadres thereafter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps\nit is time Sri Lanka stood with their heads high once again, and gave a similar\nmessage to Mr Pompeo. That message should be that Sri Lanka welcomes US\nassistance but it cannot be at the expense of China\u2019s friendship and financial\nassistance. Sri Lanka could assure the US that the country\u2019s land or sea or\nfacilities, ports, airports etc, will not be given to any country for Military\npurposes, and that all were welcome to invest in Sri Lanka according to the\nsovereign laws of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nSri Lanka grovels now, the impact will be felt by the future generations, and\nthey will curse the current guardians for selling the country for 30 pieces of\nSilver. If President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had the 20th<\/sup> Amendment\npassed to reintroduce and reinforce the executive powers of the Presidency,\nthis is the time he could demonstrate how he would use such reinstated powers\nfor the benefit of these future generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUS is in the throes of a Presidential election. Polls are suggesting that there\nis a strong possibility of the incumbent President being defeated. Besides the\nunfairness of any pressure being applied on Sri Lanka at this stage to sign\nagreements, Sri Lanka should take into account the views of a Biden\nadministration should that come to pass on the 4th<\/sup> of November. Mr\nPompeo should respect such a stance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale With positive cases exceeding 7000, and a national daily high of 865 and cases being reported in many parts of the country, what is striking is the sound of silence from health officials. While it is understandable to have one spokesperson, many other countries have generally had a non-health person as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}