Warped messages won’t take Sri Lanka anywhere

Inconsistencies and contradictions and the resultant confusion and uncertainty seem to overshadow the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government since assuming office in 2019. A few examples will help clarify this point. 

The Daily Mirror in a front page news item on September 29 carried a report on co-Cabinet spokesman Ramesh Pathirana publicly contradicting State Minister of Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID Prevention, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle’s statement on the unfeasibility of vaccinating children aged 12 years and above. Would it not have been better for the spokesman to have consulted the State Minister prior to making such a statement?  He told the weekly news briefing that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended the vaccination of children above the age of 12 on the basis that its benefits far outweighed any harmful effects and added that vaccinating children with co-morbidities began at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) in Colombo on the recommendation of the WHO and under the supervision of paediatricians.

Meanwhile, Dr. Fernandopulle said scientific research carried out globally had revealed that COVID-19 vaccines may pose a greater threat than the coronavirus itself on children above the age of 12 and that several countries including Sri Lanka were still undecided on vaccinating children in that age bracket. She said the Technical Committee on the vaccination of children was still on the fence and has to carefully study the scientific research carried out on this matter before arriving at a decision. “Globally, scientists are of the view that children are more likely to be diagnosed with vaccine-related myocarditis than ending up in hospital with COVID-19,” the State Minister said.

The latest position on this matter was carried on Monday in a Daily Mirror online news item where Army Commander Shavendra Silva was quoted as saying that the President was likely to issue a directive this week on the vaccination of children between the ages of 15 and 19. Amid the foregoing indecisiveness and confusion among the relevant authorities; how long will they take to arrive at a definitive decision on a sensitive matter such as the vaccination of children? 

Now the PCR tests at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). It began with Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunge making a public announcement on September 17 saying that in consultation with the Health Minister and the State Minister of Civil Aviation, the Government had decided to expedite the PCR testing process at the BIA for arriving passengers. He said they would be allowed to leave the Airport, within a few hours, if the results of the expedited PCR tests, conducted at the upgraded laboratory being set up at the BIA, proved negative and provided the arriving passengers had obtained both doses of the vaccine. So far so good!

A week later, the tourism minister told the Daily Mirror that the rapid PCR testing facility established at the BIA, which was to begin operations on September 25, had broken down because of a technical failure. He said it would be repaired in a day or two, and in the meantime, incoming passengers would be directed to pre-arranged hotels.Then came another set of guidelines issued by the health minister. He said fully vaccinated passengers whose PCR tests done 72 hours before departure were negative, would not be required to undergo another PCR test at the airport on arrival. Can you imagine the confusion and the uncertainty in the minds of arriving passengers and those planning to visit Sri Lanka?

Next is the arbitrarily imposed ban on the use and the import of chemical or inorganic fertilizer. Currently, the absence of either inorganic or organic fertilizer has left the farmers and their crops high and dry. There is no grouse or argument about the ban; it is just that it should have been implemented gradually and in stages with sufficient time allowed to switch over to organic fertilizer. Visuals, more than words, show the plight of suffering farmers standing beside their withered crops, pleading with the powers-that-be to be relieved of their misery with the provision of sufficient quantities of fertilizer. Was neither the government nor its advisors aware that the successful outcome of any project, especially a drastic change-over, depends on well evaluated plans?

We conclude this column with a short take on one among the many ‘still-born’ gazette notices; that of revoking or reversing the gazette notice which imposed a ceiling on the selling price of rice. Soon thereafter the rice mill owners not only fixed the retail price of rice but also assured an uninterrupted supply of rice. Contradiction and confusion will, without doubt, fast erode the people’s confidence in this government. Can we afford such a calamity to descend on Sri Lanka?