Local Government elections are no longer a distant dream and will become a reality early next year. With the polls in sight the major political parties are jostling with each other to enter the good books of the voter. This was evident as Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera presented his first budget last week.
The two major parties in the National Unity government, the United National Party (UNP) and the mainstream faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) loyal to President Maithripala Sirisena, will go their separate ways at the Local Government elections. Naturally, this would lead to some friction between the two parties and this is only to be expected.
Some observers are quick to pounce on such differences and claim that the days of the National Unity government are numbered, predicting that the local polls would bring the two warring factions of the SLFP- the mainstream party under President Sirisena and the dissident faction loyal to his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa- together.
Others point out that a similar situation existed during the run up to the August 2015 general election. That was an even more challenging proposition because parliamentarians of both parties were contesting each other. That the National Unity government came into being after such an exercise indicates that its survival is not under threat by a mere local government poll, they argue.
In any event, the two parties have to be seen to take the moral high ground, in their quest for votes. Therefore, party stalwarts and even Cabinet ministers of the UNP and the SLFP criticising each other could become the norm in the days and weeks to come, but this does not necessarily mean that the government is about to collapse.
Sale of Central Bank bonds
In this context, a focus of attention last week was the commemoration of the late Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera. The much respected prelate who passed away two years ago after a brief illness was widely recognised as the person who initiated and inspired the campaign for good governance or ‘yahapaalanaya’. His commemoration was attended by President Sirisena.
At the ceremony, President Sirisena was critical of those criticising him for appointing the Commission of Inquiry into the sale of Central Bank bonds. This has been interpreted by sections of the media as a deliberate strategy to weaken the UNP in the wake of Local Government elections.
However, the President was also to allude to the redeeming features of the National Unity government. He pointed out that, for the first time in the history of post-independent Sri Lanka, the SLFP and the UNP were governing the country together. The UNP endorsed and actively supported the general secretary of the SLFP to run for President, he pointed out.
Nevertheless, there were UNP backbenchers who entertained concerns about the President’s remarks. Among them, Badulla district parliamentarian Chaminda Wijesiri was to publicly state that a meeting would be sought with the President to ascertain the context of the President’s statement. This is unlikely to eventuate.
That is because President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have already discussed the issue. Following this discussion, Wickremesinghe censured his parliamentarians for attending a meeting of MPs organised by former minister Ravi Karunanayake at which the President was reportedly criticised for his role in investigating the alleged Bond scam.
Karunanayake was compelled to resign as Finance Minister following disclosures at the Commission of Inquiry where it transpired that his wife had leased an apartment for which the rent had been paid by Arjun Aloysius, who is a focus of attention of the Commission of Inquiry and is also the son-in-law of former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.
For his part, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is well aware of the damage that the alleged Bond scam has done to the standing of his party. He was also conscious that his own reputation as the ‘Mr. Clean’ of Sri Lankan politics- no mean feat after 40 years in Parliament- could be at stake here. That is why he has offered to present himself before the Commission of Inquiry personally to give evidence. This is likely to take place in the coming weeks.
It was in such a volatile political environment that the Budget was presented. That the government is keen to provide concessions to the electorate was obvious, what with the public already burdened by a fuel crisis for which Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranatunga had to take a lot of flak although, in reality, there were a series of co-incidences that led to the disruption.
The shortage was brought about by a shipment of petrol imported by the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) being rejected due to poor quality in mid-October. A fortnight later, another shipment imported by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) was delayed. The cumulative effect was a countrywide fuel shortage.
The CPC accounts for about 85 per cent of local fuel market and the LIOC supplies the balance fuel. While there was an unfortunate confluence of events that led to the crisis, it has been pointed out that, had there been better contingency planning, the shortage could have been avoided. The causes for the shortage are now the subject of a separate inquiry.
That it was not only the mainstream SLFP and the UNP which had an eye on elections was evident when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa tried to exploit the fuel crisis to score a few political brownie points with the electorate. Forever media-savvy and belying his age, Rajapaksa and a few other parliamentarians from the Joint Opposition (JO) cycled to Parliament on budget day to protest the fuel shortage, knowing that the media will be out in force.
‘Blue Green’ budget
Rajapaksa did get his share of publicity but the move backfired because Rajapaksa’s security detail followed him in a convoy of vehicles, raising questions as to how that would contribute to minimising the fuel shortage. Others lampooned the JO parliamentarians on social media asking how such physically fit MPs fall sick overnight when they are taken into custody.
Although not an MP, among those taken into custody was Gamini Senarath, Rajapaksa’s former Chief of Staff and two others. They are accused of misappropriating Government funds allocated for the construction of Hyatt Regency Hotel in Colombo. Senarath’s detention, following that of former Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, suggests that, for all the speculation in the media, rapprochement between the two factions of the SLFP is probably many years away.
The budget itself was generally well received. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera called it a ‘Blue Green’ budget alluding to the partners in the National Unity government. While it provided some concessions for essential food items, there was an emphasis on long term gains and environmental issues, with a target being set for all vehicles to be powered by electricity by 2040.
Minister Samaraweera has however come in for some criticism for reducing taxes on canned beer with even his colleague Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne expressing his disapproval. This proposal might be reconsidered in light of widespread censure from professional bodies allied to the medical profession.
Despite the current state of flux in UNP-SLFP relations within the National Unity government, no one is losing sleep over whether the Budget will be approved. Despite a few defections from the mainstream SLFP to the JO in recent weeks, the Budget is likely to sail through Parliament comfortably suggesting that, for all the rumblings of dissent within the government, it is still very much in power and in charge.
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