President Gets his Sums Wrong; MP’s Drop Bogus Doctorates

Less than four months ago,, the results of this country’s Presidential election brought a smile to Lankan faces. The relatively young leader of the National Peoples Power (NPP), popularly known as AKD, was elected President. Until this time AKD had commanded just three members in parliament. At the General elections which followed in November, the NPP won a two-thirds majority. It left the political opposition in disarray.
Under a parliamentary electoral system, one does not expect system change. Such change occurs in the aftermath of violent political upheaval and an overthrow of the old structure. Except in rare cases as in Germany under Hitler, political change at hustings merely changes one ruling party for another.
In our case, while we believed rapid change would take place. Sadly, little seems to have changed. The NPP promised a transparent administration. 
Now we have a problem with the Speaker and some MPs with bogus degrees. AKD, like Nero of old seems to be fiddling.
At the time of the hustings, poverty was rampant. Over 24% of the population was living below the poverty line of Rs. 16,073/- per month. The most attractive among NPP’s pre-election promises, was of a corruption free regime. As December draws to a close, the ‘term test’ results of the governing party are distinctly not good. 

The cost of rice, the staple diet of the country continues to rise. The cost of coconuts, one of the most commonly used ingredients in a meal, is beyond the reach of the public. Coconuts are also in short supply. Vegetables are in short supply and costs are prohibitive. Let’s not even talk of beef or fish.
During the regime of ex-President Wickremesinghe, AKD, then an ordinary MP- and his NPP led what was akin to ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ against terms and conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The party saw IMF conditions as unfairly targeting the poor and the dispossessed. They promised to renegotiate if voted into power.
Unfortunately, it now appears, AKD and the NPP got its math wrong. Our President has been forced to eat humble pie. The IMF refused any major changes. According to inside sources, the negotiations ended almost before they began. The children of the poor and dispossessed will have to get used to eating less. 
Mental retardation may be on the cards. Will it be the future of these children to become the ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’ to political elites and social butterflies?

To complicate matters, the denizens of the wild are adding to the woes of paddy and vegetable farmers. Shooting from the hip, the Minister of Agriculture told Parliament that farmers were at liberty to resort to any method to prevent crop devastation.  
Farmers could not be blamed if they understood the minister’s advice as being permitted to kill. But two JVP insurgencies and the long-drawn LTTE insurgency resulted in all firearms being withdrawn from civilian hands. 
With poverty worsening in all walks of life, the poor may soon be driven to a point where they have to steal, to keep the wolf from the door. It may not be long before ordinary folk join denizens of the wild in raiding farms, vegetable gardens and coconut estates.
By extention, will they too be fair game in the eyes of our Minister of Agriculture?
Taking on individuals involved in major corrupt deals and bringing them to trial was a main plank of the NPP election platform. However, as yet government has been unable to net even a small-sized corrupt figure. Strangely, the US has charged two Lankan individuals of corrupt practice and imposed sanctions on them.
Our President, despite ideological differences with the US, enjoyed extremely close ties with US Ambassador Chung. Perhaps he can make use of this new-found friendship to recover evidence of corrupt practices of these two individuals and try them and their collaborators in the country.
Fortunately, we can report a silver lining amidst dark clouds darkening government’s quarterly performance. The ‘Daily FT reported on October 23 about, receipt of 7,500 passports on Saturday, easing somewhat the shortage of passports in the country.
Sadly, what the shortage does reveal is, our people do not believe in our country’s ability to rise out of the morass we are in. They yearn to leave in droves.