{"id":90988,"date":"2019-07-02T16:27:27","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T23:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90988"},"modified":"2019-07-02T16:27:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T23:27:27","slug":"the-major-constraints-for-sri-lankas-future-the-proportional-representative-system-of-election-the-provincial-councils-and-the-19-th-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/02\/the-major-constraints-for-sri-lankas-future-the-proportional-representative-system-of-election-the-provincial-councils-and-the-19-th-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Major Constraints for Sri Lanka\u2019s Future: The Proportional Representative System of Election, the Provincial Councils and the 19 th Amendment."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

I write in support of the suggestions made by the former Minister\nMilinda Moragoda. We have to be thankful to Mr Moragoda for his patriotism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patriotism is what we need today to save our Motherland. It is sad\nto say that Sri Lanka is today disintegrating fast. Our economy is in tatters\nwith an international debt that cannot be sustained. We are now in a situation\nwhere we have to borrow to repay our debts and in that process we become\nfurther  indebted. That was  the path laid for us by the IMF from\n1978. Our debt of some $ 60 billion was created through imports for our rich,\nto finance foreign education for the rich, to import limousines for the rich.\nForeign investors also take away their profits in dollars increasing our debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Today our country does not have a single development programme to\nenable our people to become productive and emerge out of their poverty. All\nwhat we see today  in the name of development  are\nelection gimmicks to bribe voters at forthcoming elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have seen the disintegration of a few countries in the past few\ndecades.  In the Fifties, Somalia was a country with a vibrant economy with\npeople in production. Siad Barre the ruler, was first wooed by Russia because\nRussia wanted control over the strategic Red Sea route. Russia then poured in\nAid. Then the United States of America offered more Aid and \nSiad Barre  turned to the USA. The local industries, agriculture and animal\nhusbandry were disbanded  and neglected because it was easier to live on borrowed funds.\nWhen Russia disintegrated it was no longer necessary for the USA to provide\nfunds to Somalia. Then the  USA reduced Aid. The fallen\nlocal economy could not be revived. Poverty and  unemployment\nreigned supreme.  Warlords started carving out the  land..\nThe rich migrated to London . In the early Nineties my Somali students at\nWestminister Institute spoke about the  lost\neconomy- once they were thriving in agriculture and dairy farming. The only\nemployment available today to Somalians is to pirate on the high seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 My students were the rich in Somalia who could afford to migrate.\nLater the rabble scrambled everywhere. There are Somali ghettoes in London,\nwhere the whites scramble away from them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is happening to Sri Lanka is fairly similar. The economy is\nin tatters. Everything is imported. There is Salmon to serve the palates of the\nrich. There is vinegar from the USA, fruit juice from California and Australia. \nPlush  Limousines adorn our roads., Everyone that can find money is off\nabroad, for study hoping to live abroad. The masses live in poverty. The rich\nlive in the lap of luxury, their travel and foreign education for their\nchildren taking away foreign exchange that has been borrowed at high interest.\nIt is a fait accompli for sheer disaster. Corruption is rampant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime  the USA is forcing security \nagreements to send their forces in , because the present leaders\nhave sold the Hambantota Port to a Chinese Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elections are around the corner and it is up to the people to\ndecide to find a leadership that will restore order and build up the lost\nparadise..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A paradise it can be. I am certain of that. \nThe writer once worked in the Administrative Service and worked in\npoverty alleviation programmes that have now been abolished \nby the dictates of the IMF. Agriculture that involve over a\nmillion is starved of officers. President Premadasa in about 1996 promoted some\n2400 overseers as Grama Niladharis and since then the village level does not\nhave a single officer with agricultural training. The Seed Farms that \nfound high yielding seeds are either privatized or underfunded.\nThe Ministry of Agriculture is unaware that its extension service at the field\nlevel is as good as dead. Small industries that once made Sri Lanka self\nsufficient in textile manufacture is now dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a \u2018sovereign’ country and a Parliament, but it is the IMF\nthat rules and decides what we can do. The IMF tells us to find foreign\ninvestors who come in, invest a pittance, trade in local currency and transfer\nthe profits untaxed in our borrowed foreign currency. The Central Bank does not\nhave the knack to handle the foreign exchange that comes in. Its sleuths even\nfail to find that Tourism is no longer a foreign exchange earner. With hotel\nbookings mainly done by the internet, the rent being paid in local rupees but\nthe booking agents fee, some fifteen percent being  paid out in foreign\ncurrency we are the net loser!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corruption is rampant. However I can assure that in the Seventies\nthe politicians were not corrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in these sad circumstances that the words of patriot Milinda\nMoragoda comes of great importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 19 th Amendment should be abolished. There is absolutely no\npoint in having a ceremonial president who can only look on while the country\nis being sold and is being run as a fiefdom of foreign powers. It is the\nAmbassadors that reign supreme and call the shots today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we had parliamentarians who were responsible to the electors.\nThat was because each parliamentarian  was\nelected from an electorate. The introduction of Proportional Representation\nmade the parliamentarians corrupt as they had to find finances to do\npoliticking in an entire district to collect a second vote to win. The\nparliamentarians also lost touch with the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Thirteenth Amendment is of Indian origin. It was forced on us\nby Rajiv Gandhi who thought that he could satisfy the LTTE. President\nJayawardena submitted like a lame duck  and we\nare saddled with Nine Provincial Councils, with Ministers and councilors \nwho  are a drain on our budget and act the goat. Key ministries and\ndepartments are devolved at the provincial level and the Ministers have to be\ncajoled and pleaded of to get development work done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mr PC Imbulana, the Governor of the Central Province approved\nmy programme to alleviate poverty  in the\nCentral Province and convened all provincial ministers and officials \nfor a conference, none of the ministers attended. \nSri Lanka is a small country  and \nwhen nine provincial ministers and officials have to be wooed to\nget any programme of development done, it is impossible for any development\nprogramme to be implemented.  Earlier all Government Agents\nwere summoned to a conference and were given order to proceed. They had full\npowers and need not go behind councilors to agree. When I as Senior Assistant\nCommissioner of Agrarian Services sent out a circular on fertlizer use to all\nmy staff- the Assistant Commissioners of the districts, the divisional officers\nand the overseers at thefield level the circular had immediate effect. \nMy officers had to act on the instructions immediately. That was\nhow we implemented the green revolution and now any ministry that wants to\nattend to any development task has to resort to wooing provincial \nministers, who have their own agendas. Sri Lanka is too small a\ncountry to have provincial councils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important fact is that President Jayawardena had obtained\nundated letters of resignation from all Members of Parliament other than Ronnie\nde Mel, had incarcerated all of them in a hotel and when he wanted them to vote\nin Parliament would escort them to parliament and force them to vote as he decided\non pain of dissolving parliament if they did not carry his orders. That was how\nPresident Jayawardena got the 13 th Amendment passed. The  undemocratic\nmanner in which the Act was passed itself militates  the abolition of the\n13 th Amendment.  I have never heard of a\nleader of a country resorting to holding elected representatives of a country\nto ransom to force them to vote in the annals of politics.  President Jayawardena\u2019s curse on this\ncountry- the Thirteenth Amendment has to be abolished someday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Provincial Councils deserve to be abolished  for\ndevelopment to become a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister Milinda Moragoda has also suggested a Senate comprising\nprofessionals and patriots as a second house. This is an ideal suggestion if\nunwanted and rejected people are not nominated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not necessary to panic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Armed Forces can be trusted. The problem is that the Police\nare detailed to look after politicians and not to look after the people. Even\nnews of the 21\/4 attacks were informed to politicians and no action taken to\nsafeguard the people. Our Cardinal has uttered words of wisdom which are worth\nfollowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a country blessed with ample resources, an intelligent\npeople and able administrators.  Let me tell a few truths to\nprove that our economy can be won. Once we had the Marketing Department that\npurchased veg and fruit from all producer fairs, at prices higher than what the\ntraders offered. Tripoli Market in Maradana its headquarters was a hive of\nactivity every morning with twenty wagon loads and some thirty lorry loads of\nproduce. All that was checked and sent off to retail units in Colombo to be\nsold keeping a margin of fifteen percent to cover handling and wastage. The MD\nshops sold at low prices. That is how we provided profits to the farmers and\nalso controlled inflation in cities. We had a Canning Factory that exported\npineapple. The IMF disbanded that Marketing Department. We have to bring it\nback. Once for a full year I was in charge of Tripoli Market. Now we even\nimport veg and fruits!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Industries we have the ability to make all  what we\nimport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we had Powerlooms and Handlooms run by Small Industries\nDepartment and the Divisional Secretaries.  We\nwere self sufficient in textiles. The IMF disbanded the Small Industries. I can\nassure anyone that we did well. My Powerloom at Hakmana made suiting that was\nin high demand even in London. My books: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka(2006)\nand How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Kindle\/Godages(2017) detail\nhow our economy was ruined..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me tell another detail to prove that we can be a success.. The\nMinistry of Plan Implementation  did not approve my doing any new\nindustries when as the GA at Matara I was charged with creating employment in\n1971. I wanted to teach the Ministry a lesson. I commandeered the science lab\nat Rahula College Matara every evening from six till midnight. My Planning\nOfficer, a raw chemistry graduate supported by the science teachers did a\nmyriad experiments to find the art of making crayons. We found the method \nand made it to be equal in quality to the Crayola crayons of today,\naccomplished in three months. In league with the Morawaka Cooperative Union\nunder Sumanapala Dahanayake the member of parliament who was its president, we\ngot down to produce crayons- done  in two weeks working day and night. The\nMinister of Industries was stunned to see the quality of our crayons and came\nto open up sales and with that the Ministry had to eat humble pie. Sumanapala\ndeveloped CoopCrayon  to have islandwide sales. It was the best industry\nthat was ever run,  proved because President Jayawardena in 1978 \nsent a special officer, A.T.Ariyaratne a Deputy Director of Cooperative\nDevelopment to find some fault with the Crayon factory. That Deputy Director\nspent days and reported that it was a well run industry. That saved Sumanapala from\nprison.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We now import everything we can make. We can make most of our\nPaper from waster paper which we throw away now and from straw which farmers\nburn to get rid of. It can easily be done within six months. Our economic\npundits will come up with  a hundred provisos- economics of scale and lack\nof foreign exchange criteria which industrial giants India and China do not\nfollow. They are all paper qualified who have never established an industry in\ntheir lives. We can provide full employment to our people by banning imports\nand making them in our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me tell  how we can build industries by cutting imports.\nOur CoopCrayon  required a permit to import dyes, the only imported\ningredient in making crayons.  The Ministry of Industries refused as ours\nwas a cooperative venture.  The Controller of Imports had separated foreign\nexchange to import crayons.  I pointed out to Harry Guneratne, the\nController of Imports  that he could save foreign exchange by allowing us\nsome of that foreign exchange to import dyes. because we will be making the\ncrayons that he was hoping to import. He  was immediately convinced.\nMinister Illangaratne who approved it even wanted me to establish a crayon\nfactory at Kolonnawa, his electorate. A small allocation of foreign exchange to\nimport dyes enabled the Ministry of Imports to cut the import of crayons. That\nis how we have to cut our imports and make things ourselves. A crayon is a\nsophisticated product. If we could have made crayons, which we did,, there is\nno item that we cannot make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

. \u2018We have to get parliamentarians in the caliber of Sumanapala\nDahanayake  to our Houses of Parliament today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While fully supporting Milinda Moragoda I have added proof that we\ncan win the battle to develop our country and alleviate poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to patriot Milinda Moragoda for his  words of wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin Karunaratne 28\/06\/2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Government Agent, Matara District<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programmes of success(Godages)\n2006<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the IMF Sabotages Third World Development (Kindle\/Godages)2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne I write in support of the suggestions made by the former Minister Milinda Moragoda. We have to be thankful to Mr Moragoda for his patriotism. Patriotism is what we need today to save our Motherland. It is sad to say that Sri Lanka is today disintegrating fast. Our economy is in tatters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-garvin-karunaratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90988","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=90988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}