Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesnghe is to appoint an All Party Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to identify the individuals responsible for the present economic crisis in the country that has heaped unprecedented hardship on the public, according to the main story of a weekend newspaper. This will also include those responsible for proffering wrong advice to the Government that delayed seeking IMF assistance and giving a wrong picture of the economy viz. holding that the country's finances were positive when it was not. The Prime Minister also told Parliament that the Treasury books had been ‘cooked'. No prices indeed for guessing the individual in the crosshairs who is chiefly responsible for the crash in the economy. This is the price the rulers have to pay for putting square pegs in round holes. Unfortunately it is the people who have to pay for it.
Be that as it may, the move to pull up those who lied to the Government and the public that resulted in the present crisis situation is a timely one and a move that would receive the wide endorsement of the public who have been forced to pick the tab for such deception. It would also send a clear message to those in high positions not to throw dust in the eyes of the public by painting a rosy picture of things when in fact they are not. It is clear to one and all as to the identities of those responsible for leading the country and its leaders up the garden path, both with regard to the economic situation and also in connection with the fertilizer fiasco that has resulted in the country being placed on the verge of a famine with large-scale crop failure and the farmers reduced to penury. They should not only be named and shamed but accorded the highest punishment for causing the current upheaval that has pauperized the country. Their fat pensions should be forfeited and other penalties imposed, even imprisonment, considering the gravity of their follies. By their act they have held the country and its people hostage with grim forebodings already being cast on the chances of economic recovery.
It is time for the proposed Governing Council comprising top experts in varied fields to be expeditiously formed to correctly direct the Government on the path to be followed. At least now let this experience teach a lesson to the rulers against appointing political stooges and ‘yes’ men to responsible positions. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa acknowledged that it was a mistake not going to the IMF at the time they should have. He also accepted that banning chemical fertilizer was a mistake. Former Finance Minister Ali Sabry, PC too admitted of certain missteps by the Government in relation to handling of the economy based on wrong advice. Who was it that tendered this wrong advice that had thrown the country's economy into a tailspin? Those responsible should be made to pay a heavy price particularly for making use of their privileged status to spin yarns. As already mentioned, their entitlements should be suspended and their assets seized. Parallel to the investigation by the PSC the law enforcement too should be let loose on these individuals to ascertain to what extent they have benefited financially through deliberately misleading the Government.
SJB MP Dr. Harsha De Silva had alleged that the hasty decision taken with regard to our sovereign bond repayments in one go rather than rescheduling our debts was done with ulterior motives to benefit certain individuals. The PSC too should conduct a comprehensive investigation into this aspect.
Meanwhile, the individual who campaigned for the ban against chemical fertilizer appears to have mysteriously disappeared from the public eye. The rulers should also be blamed for heeding the advice of this individual who is far removed from the subject. The agricultural sector is today on its knees as a result. The present administration under Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, it is hoped, would steer the country based on the advice of real experts as against pseudo ones. The decision taken to strengthen the Committee on Public Finance (COPE) and the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) is a sound one through which discipline would be exercised on spending by State sector organisations. No organisation should be given privileged status. In the past the bosses of the loss making national carrier, SriLankan, refused to present themselves before COPE. There can be no sacred cows any more. The financial mess that most State bodies have gotten themselves into is partly responsible for the dire economic state of the country. Hopefully saner counsel will prevail at least now and the proper remedies found to get the economy out of its present sorry plight now that the new Cabinet is almost formed with the swearing in of six more Ministers yesterday. They should get down to work right away without wasting time visiting temples and seeking the blessings of Sangha and also engaging in duty assuming ceremonies. The country cannot afford such luxuries any more. It is sitting on a time bomb.
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