Poverty, minority issues: Problems facing new president

For the first time in our history, on 21 September a Marxist, the son of a poor farmer, a man who understands the travails and humiliation the poor have to undergo daily has been elected as the Executive President of the country. President Dissanayake is the son of a poor farming family. He is now the 9th Executive President of Lanka. 

As a student, the new president used to sell sweets on buses to help his family. He himself has said at times when a teacher from his school boarded a bus on which he was peddling toffees and chocolates, he hurriedly gathered up his ware to avoid the humiliation of being recognised as a sweet seller.  

Coming from this background, the new president can well understand the plight of over 25 percent of our people who are presently living below the poverty line and the situation of the one in two Sri Lankan children who UNICEF records as going hungry. 

On the tea and rubber plantations workers are still paid Rs. 1,700 per day. Daily paid or casual workers elsewhere in the country -who form a majority of the country’s workforce- receive less than Rs. 55,000 per month. 
At the same time the cost of feeding a family of four, (father, mother and two children) costs over Rs. 100,000 monthly. 

Yet, life is not merely about eating two meals a day. There is also a problem with medicines in times of illness. The cost of even basic drugs has sky rocketed way beyond the means of ordinary workers. 

A recent report by Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Ministry reveals that the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) disconnected electricity to 1,063,566 customers in 2023, the overwhelming majority of these are from poor households. 

According to the ‘Borgan Project’, “...though exact numbers of the homeless population in Sri Lanka are unavailable, 1.5 million Sri Lankans do not own land”, a factor that certainly impacts homelessness. The homeless inhabit bus shelters and street corners around Colombo city. They are also located in rural areas.  
Homelessness in Sri Lanka remains one of the most visible forms of poverty in the country. 

Without an address, these people cannot claim welfare assistance. They also cannot send their children to school or vote at elections. 

Media reports show around 40 state hospitals located across the island have been closed down. Reports add another 100 state hospitals are likely to close down. According to the Ministry of Health, there is a shortage of over 100 types of drugs in government hospitals, and many vital and essential medicines in the private and public sector are out of stock. 

The deprivation is a direct result of austerity measures implemented in response to the catastrophic economic crisis that hit our economy in 2022.

However, the biggest problem facing our country is the lack of resolve among the main southern political parties to solve the ‘National Question’ which has led to our country being divided on lines of ethnicity. Unfortunately, even President Dissanayake carried out a very limited campaign in the north, having visited the area only during the later stages of his election campaign.

The then NPP leader and present President called on the people of the north to join with voters in the south to vote for a system change. But they (northern voters) did not. 

Voting patterns in the north clearly exposed this. 

The Tamil ‘common candidate’ was supported by the Tamil ex-militant groups who joined the political main-stream. He received the largest share of votes in the district.

The reason: Tamils see themselves being treated differently.

Even after the LTTE was militarily defeated, the problems which led to the ethnic conflict still remain unresolved. While the present president has promised to treat all communities equally, the Tamil people have heard such promises many times before. They were never fulfilled. 

If our country is to develop to its full potential, our new leader needs to bring about a just solution to the national question. 

Only then, will we, as one people be able to eradicate poverty and deprivation from this land.