{"id":83441,"date":"2018-11-18T19:44:02","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T01:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=83441"},"modified":"2018-11-18T11:35:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-18T18:35:48","slug":"a-golden-opportunity-for-the-interim-prime-minister-to-put-the-country-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/11\/18\/a-golden-opportunity-for-the-interim-prime-minister-to-put-the-country-first\/","title":{"rendered":"A golden opportunity for the interim Prime Minister ‘to put the country first’."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr D.Chandraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

I believe that when the Parliament is recalled in a weeks time monies have to be voted to carry on the task of government in this interim period till a finality is reached. A money bill of some sort has to be approved by the Parliament and this gives the caretaker Prime Minister to set the country on the right track as a first step to show the public some elements of financial good governance that Yahapalanites failed to do. To the author, there is a few that the incumbent Prime minister can do to prove his worth. The money bill that he brings must be drastic, challenging and public friendly as seen never before in the history of our democracy. The author believes that the public will light crackers, true to Sri Lankan style, vote with their feet later for the measures that will clean up the law making body for a start.<\/p>\n

Given the pathetic state of the law making body I cannot list all the remedies that need to be done in this short article but for a start can suggest a few that will gain universal approval. First, it is absolutely vital that the supreme law making body and its occupants are cleared of the tax rorts they individually and severally committed which made them the laughing stock starting off with the illegal selling of tax-free vehicles. Please legislate to tax them as per the rules applicable to other citizens and get them to pay the public money as a matter of urgent priority. Failure to pay should make them ineligible for public office at the forthcoming polls. This is killing two birds with a single stone. We, the taxpayers get our dues and second a public enemy, a would- be crook, is barred from the Parliament. In the same vein for the good of our country, the environment and the narrow roads that we have please set limits on the cubic capacity of vehicles the state will allow, lest we will die of pollution, if not killed at pedestrian crossings. \u00a0Other frauds such as the Central bank while being expedited, the immediate beneficiaries of the ill gotten money be exposed and the monies paid with fines imposed straight away under existing bribery laws be collected in favour of the Sri Lankan Treasury. This is an immediate penalty for murderers, drug merchants and rapists as in many other countries. There should never be leeches that jump from one party to another making democratic governance difficult for all times. Suggest legislation to end it for all times.<\/p>\n

Second, cut the wasteful expenditure on the perks and privileges given to Parliamentarians, which the public should not bear. I am sure that the whole caboodle of ministers and their kith and kin are beneficiaries of this largesse and it is the starting point of a much needed cleaning up operation. If your own party candidates don’t like it that is a blessing that God has delivered to you. Get rid of the men and women who could become unworthy of becoming public servants and select those who are willing and genuine. \u00a0Politicians from both sides do not realize that the very substance of politics and the state is at stake in the body politic of Sri Lanka and this is the time to ‘soften up’ the institutions and in particular the premier institution — the Parliament.\u00a0 There will not be another golden opportunity like the one given to you by an unforeseen set of circumstances. Being superstitious yourself, this must be your destiny. \u00a0As Marx said of the bourgeoisie let these useless men and women be their own gravediggers if they vote against the money bill for we know the legislative repercussions. I cannot value highly enough of the golden opportunity placed before you. Do not waste it, if you do, you will be painted by the same brush, as one who did not have the verve to walk the talk.<\/p>\n

I am sure that the wish of the incumbent Prime Minister is to allow the public to decide in this hopeless situation, which I believe is correct. We also need laws to prevent opportunities to sell, lease, and plunder our national assets by the politicians without public approval. Legislate against selling our heritage and dignity for a ransom. If you want to walk your talk this is the opportunity to start your second coming on a genuine footing. Prove yourself by incorporating some of these measures for corruption free governance right at the start and if you win your money bill we are winners and if you lose we still are winners in being able to elect someone willing to do the same.\u00a0 What a golden opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr D.Chandraratna I believe that when the Parliament is recalled in a weeks time monies have to be voted to carry on the task of government in this interim period till a finality is reached. A money bill of some sort has to be approved by the Parliament and this gives the caretaker Prime Minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-donald-chandraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83441","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=83441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}