Ranwala’s Title Outweighs Rice and Coconuts

 Hoodwinking people who trust you, though you did not mean it,is dishonorable

The NPP for decades has rightly been attributing all socio economic ills of this country to the moral degradation of politicians and vowed to change the political culture. Ranwala’s issue gains significance and validity in that context

The moral high ground occupied by National People’s Power (NPP) government has been threatened by the issues surrounding the title Dr. used by Speaker Asoka Sapumal Ranwala after many people started questioning and challenging the authenticity of it. 
The sudden eruption of this controversy seems to have left the NPP at a loss and even an otherwise witty Cabinet spokesman Minister Nalinda Jayatissa who is also holding the same title but in the medical field, evaded the questions posed by the journalists on the matter a few days ago. 
He failed to defend the Speaker in this regard and closed the matter by stating that he would inform them next week what the government would do in either scenarios depending on whether the allegations against the Speaker areproved or not. 
Almost all agree that the matter is not a legal one but a moral one. No qualification is specified for the post of Speaker, as only being an MP is sufficient. The qualification for an MP is in turn is the same as that of a voter, being a citizen of Sri Lanka and not serving or completed serving, during the period of seven years immediately preceding, of a sentence of imprisonment for a term not less than six months for an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term not less than two years. 

Vowed a Change

Hence, Ranwala is legally qualified for the post of Speaker even in case his Doctorate is proved to be unauthentic. However, he would not be morally competent then to provide leadership to a group of people who were elected to make up a morally strong Parliament. The NPP for decades has rightly been attributing all socio economic ills of this country to the moral degradation of politicians and vowed to change the political culture. Ranwala’s issue gains significance and validity in that context. 
Many people including intellectuals such as Professor Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri and former Chairman of the Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya who toiled to change the public opinion in favour of the NPP during the recent Presidential and Parliamentary elections have been demanding the proof of the authenticity of Speaker Ranwala’s Doctorate or his resignation otherwise, since this matter cropped up days ago. They also demand the NPP to take due action in this regard. 

Price Hikes and Fake Doctorates

Things have gone too far with the inaction on the part of the NPP. In spite of this sometimes being a temporary setback for the NPP, many supporters of it who are genuinely craving for a system change seems to be agitated and humiliated by this unexpected turn of events. They have been attempting to placate themselves in the face of recent price hike of essential items such as rice and coconut since the root causes of those problems were deep buried in the corrupt and inefficient actions of the past governments. They who have been claiming moral high ground over the supporters of other parties around them have begun to lose confidence with the delay in explanation or action by the NPP leadership. 
A famous You Tube activist a few days ago quoted Ranwala’s daughter as confirming her father’s Doctorate while in the same breath claiming that he has not used the title before his name. What she expected by claiming that her father’s avoidance of usage of his title is not clear. Similarly, his tolerance of others using his title when referring to him in that context is also questionable. The doubt on the credibility of the Ranwala in this matter was buttressed with the hesitance on the part of the NPP leaders to straightforwardly defend him.
They might have been prompted to buy time to explain the issue till next week anticipating some documentary proof of Ranwala’s title. However, the title has been used prefixed his name in various document for the past several years during which time he could have obtained such documents, if there are.
NPP, no doubt, won the trust of the people,in a way, by including a large number of educated men and women in their candidates lists submitted for the last month’s General election. And people identified these candidates as educated with the titles such as Dr, Professor and Attorney-at-Law prefixing their names. If the number of such titles really attracted the votes, using a nonexistent title is tantamount to fraud, something the NPP had vowed to eliminate. Therefore, it is not something that should not be ignored or trivialised.
This is a moral issue and one can argue against those who compromised their own morality in politics criticising Ranwala or the NPP. In fact, the argument bears a great weight. How can a political party question Ranwala’s morality after creating a situation where over 60,000 people were killed some three decades ago by proscribing another party without any valid ground? Those who defended in parliament the accused of the recent importation of substandard drugs endangering lives of thousands of people have no moral right to speak about a matter like that of Asoka Ranwala. Similarly, there are people who question Ranwala’s title whereas the Supreme Court has found their leaders guilty of postponing elections on false grounds. 

Titles offered for Money

However, the ordinary people have an inalienable right to question immoral acts of politicians whether they represent the ruling party or the opposition. If a politician uses a false title and gets undue advantage out of it, wittingly or unwittingly, he should be taken to task. Identifying oneself with a fake title is not a crime as there are institutions that offer such titles for money. However, hoodwinking people who trust you, though you did not mean it,is dishonorable and contemptible. It would be appropriate for Ranwala, to resign as Speaker or from Parliament unless he fails to clear his name and that of his party which has received a massive mandate for clean politics.
Finally, a worthless issue has outweighed the rising cost of living which should have been the top priority for the government as well as the people.