Give heed to the cry of a people in pain

How often are the great interests of society sacrificed to the vanity, to the conceit and to the obstinacy of individuals -- Alexander Hamilton

In the aftermath of all the available stocks of fuel being used up and as usual, different dates being mentioned by government spokesmen as to when the next fuel shipment is due; Sri Lanka is currently on an unprecedented shutdown or paralysed mode. The absence of fuel has severely affected the transport sector, the plantation and industrial sectors, the health and employment sectors, the education, the power and energy sectors and the agriculture and fisheries sectors among several others compelling most Sri Lankans to remain at home or languish day and night in kilometres-long queues to buy petrol, diesel, kerosene or cooking gas. If the foregoing is not bad enough, come the power cuts at various times of the day 

No matter how many millions voted for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019 and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in 2020; these votes are no longer of any worth when considering the prevailing political and economic crises, for which the President and his government are solely responsible. Of what use is a President and a government, which have time and again proved to be incapable of solving the burning issues that have resulted from the series of irrational, arrogant and capricious policy decisions taken by the powers that be since assuming office some 30 months ago while people, far removed from the seats of power, are continuing to pay a heavy price. A case in point was the short-sighted ban imposed on the Qatar Charity in 2019 over cooked-up allegations that it was promoting terrorist activities. 

The Charity formerly known as the Qatar Charitable Society is a humanitarian and development non-governmental organisation in the Middle East. It was founded in 1992 to serve the thousands of children orphaned during the Afghanistan War. The Charity opened its first office in Sri Lanka in March 2018 under the policy framework of overseeing the Qatari-sponsored construction, development and relief projects in the country.

Between 2012 and 2017, the Qatar Charity is reported to have spent more than US$1.3 Billion on humanitarian projects providing assistance to more than 178 million people in more
than 50 countries. 

Following the 2019 Easter Sunday attack, the Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies named Qatar Charity as an organisation funding terrorist-related activities in Sri Lanka and it is in such a backdrop, that fuel-starved Sri Lanka made a complete U-turn and sheepishly offered to lift the ban imposed on the Qatar Charity hoping this move would help Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera to convince the Qatari authorities to provide the fuel, which Sri Lanka desperately needs.

The main charitable arm of the Qatar Government, the Charity in June 2020, also embarked on a partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) donating US$2 million to the agency.

Meanwhile, in a media report, the CNBC news agency said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had ended 10 days of talks with Sri Lanka having failed to conclude a deal for a bailout package for the near-bankrupt nation. Nevertheless, it had assured it would continue the talks, which began on June 20. “The discussions will continue virtually with a view to reaching a staff-level agreement on the extended fund facility or EFF arrangement,” it said.
However, an Economy Next report quoted the United States Foreign Relations Committee as saying the IMF agreement with Sri Lanka must be contingent on the Central Bank’s independence, strong anti-corruption measures and promotion of the rule of law.

“Without these critical reforms, Sri Lanka could suffer further economic mismanagement and uncontrollable debt,” the committee said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

Be that as it may, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life -- the rich and the poor, the elderly and the youth are continuing their protests across the country asking President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the government to step down from office without destroying Sri Lanka any further. Never before have such a large number of women and youth taken the forefront in these street protests now being described as the ‘Kussiye Aragalaya’. In one voice they are crying out, “enough is enough, please go”. We ask the President and the government to give heed to the relentless cry of a people, who have suffered enough and are calling for a new political system and an efficient and competent political leadership which will restore and renew our bruised and battered Sri Lanka.