Printer, Treasurer, Commission; between devil and deep blue sea

Election phobia crippled polls in 1975 [SLFP]; 1982 [UNP] 

The Independent Election Commission has been under pressure from the ruling party to postpone the LG elections, says Prof. G L Peiris. The group of SLPP dissidents led by GL,Vasu, Dullas, Wimal, and Gammannpila who had been “your obedient servants” [some became famous for picking crumbs under the Madamuulana dining tables], while giving the family generous support for all their destructive acts committed against the economy, are now desperate. They turned a blind eye while Rajapaksas wasted exorbitant amounts of borrowed funds on white elephants over the years for self-aggrandizement and commission earning. 

Several opposition parties pleaded with Supreme Courts too. In its judgment, the Supreme Court stated that the Commission had given the undertaking to conduct the elections, and as the authority had already declared their firm resolve, there was no need for the court to make an order as envisioned by the applicants. As wrongly interpreted, was it a victory for the parties that agitated? The SC ruling is clearly a ‘no winners or losers’ one. 
Decades of thoughtless strategies and halfhearted restructurings worsened our base. LG Elections for whose benefit?  Is it a panacea for all ills collectively created by successive governments over the years?

The highly unpopular Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa regime have cunningly disrupted postal voting. A contest at polls, according to all surveys conducted by local intelligence and foreign agencies over the past six months indicate a strong swing towards the opposition, to be precise, surprisingly and overwhelmingly in favour of ‘Red comrades’; [the opposition leader’s poor attempt to mimic the JVP leader serves to realize the extent to which the above fact has influenced his mental state.] 

Are the country’s economic difficulties just an excuse or a reality?  The noisy expression of disapproval by vociferous Health sector trade unions, doctors and pharmacists, especially at Cancer and children’s hospitals on the shortage of drugs and medical equipment are crucial as exposed by them. [Apeksha hospital Pharmacist-couple has been arrested for pilfering all expensive drugs] Malnutrition among children is increasing day by day at disturbing levels, while a government doctor was arrested in Badulla for distributing ‘ice’ to school children. The TUs should put their houses in order. The plight of the farming community who pawned their little assets and cultivated crops and the manner they are struggling to find a reasonable market for their sweat and blood is disturbing. 

The government is struggling to collect funds to meet the priorities has imposed ‘unfair taxation’ on upper-level public/semi-government servants making some of them take home a measly balance salary.  In mid-1980s the writer paid Rs. 2,340 at 35%, as PAYE out of a total salary of Rs. 6,700 [without making a hue and cry]. Poor fellows, after exceeding the maximum allowable loan facilities on numerous extravagances [vehicle/housing/luxury household utensils] are left with a meager balance. One of them at a recent press conference exposed his [nakedness?] salary slip with a negative figure after paying ‘TAXES’.

A government that wastefully spent Rs. 200 million on Independence Day celebrations with mobile toilets costing Rs.15 million, claims that it has no money to pay for printing ballot papers, while the opposition, who are not least bothered about the untold misery of the poorest of the poor, but only interested in gaining some votes

However, the academics and some senior government affiliated institution heads needs a revised structure. The high-end remuneration earners [Rs.700,000 to 800,000 a month] in loss making CPC/CEB, who pocketed handsome bonuses a couple of months ago,  in addition to ‘mandatory gratifications’ from private power plants for their role in releasing precious waters in reservoirs out into the mighty ocean were seen parading streets against the tax structure. 

However, If the Wickremesinghe/SLPP alliance is allowed to use the ‘NO MONEY’ as an excuse for postponing elections or ‘strangle people’s democratic rights’, then it or any future rule can stay in power indefinitely, without holding elections for the current economic catastrophe is unlikely to go away in the conceivable future; even if IMF talks succeed, it will only continue to add to the debt bill. Dr. Harsha de Silva, the only hope in the SJB camp did not mince his words on Tuesday at the launch of SJB’s economic policy, when he said the problem cannot be solved in a hurry. He has suggested alternatives with a 10-point design for economic stabilization and reasonable development. A government that wastefully spent Rs. 200 million on Independence Day celebrations with mobile toilets costing Rs.15 million, claims that it has no money to pay for printing ballot papers, while the opposition, who are not least bothered about the untold misery of the poorest of the poor, but only interested in gaining some votes [fishing in troubled waters?] in preparations for the big one due in future. The pohottuwa dropouts who thought the 6.9 million could be hoodwinked by them in achieving their goals are desperately trying to drive the masses onto the streets, a highly unlikely scenario.  All surveys indicate, a good portion of the 6.9 million are going to experiment with ‘Malimava’. 

Some are warning or threatening the public officials who are caught between the devil and deep blue sea, “that they will be taken to task in the future for failure to provide necessary funds and that when that happens, their political bosses will not be there to protect them.” They never threatened them over lack of medicine, nutrition for infants etc. They must explain, on what grounds, [rule, regulation, or law] that they are going to fix the hapless public officers, unless coming from an equally desperate/disgruntled set of politicians impatiently waiting to grab power and continue the drama. Some talk about ‘independent commissions’—nothing is independent, everything is interdependent
and intervowen.

The JVP has conveniently dropped the ostracized three letters which had reduced them to 3% has branded themselves as “Malimava” and is making inroads into fame as a force to be reckoned with. People have forgotten how they tried to sabotage PC elections in the late 1980s with death threats for those who cast their vote; though stands naked for its duplicity, and also helping the Ranil-Maithri Yahapalana government to postpone the PC elections indefinitely in connivance with the SLFP and a few minority parties in 2017. One can argue ‘that’s history’; in fact, all of them who cry foul today voted in favour of a bill which became, Provincial Council Elections [Amendment] Act 2016, while the so-called saviors of ‘Democracy and Sovereignty’, and the NGO-backed election monitors were in deep slumber. Yahapalana followed a non-transparent process to amend the PC Elections Act on September 20, 2017, without making them available for public debate or scrutiny.  The ultimate objective of the Act was to postpone PC elections!

 If only the JVP had respected the people’s franchise in the late 1980s when they unleashed violent terror to destroy the conduct of elections, killing hundreds who exercised their sovereign rights. They have never regretted the past crimes, nor tender an unreserved apology for their ferocious passion and fierce efforts to interrupt holding elections in the late eighties when the reigned terror.  

The Government’s interference in polls could create a precedence that can be used in future to cripple elections. It is not legitimate for the governments to obstruct with processes to overcome their own tactical blunders. The rescheduling of elections is a serious abuse of sovereignty and should only occur in exceptional situations, like in an economic catastrophe as experienced by the country at the moment.  There is no bigger threat to Democracy/Sovereignty than keeping the poor in hunger. Priority should be the suffering masses; and not political expediency. Let better
sense prevail!  

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