Ceylon Today Editorial

CEBEU are ‘untouchables’

09 September 2016
 

State-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) cannot be touched even with a barge pole, inferred Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage on Wednesday (7 September). Gamage was responding to a question asked by a reporter when he was asked as to why he was scared of trade unions? "CEB can blackout the whole country, then we will become unpopular," the Minister in reply had said. What he didn't say, but the insinuation of his statement was the power wielded by the CEB Engineers' Union (CEBEU) which is virtually a law unto themselves, which Union even Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), seemingly, doesn't want to upset. The occasion was the Sri Lanka-Greater Mekong Sub-region Business Council AGM which took place at a leading Colombo hotel on Wednesday (7 September). Preceding this 'question and answer' session with the floor, Gamage said it was with the greatest difficulty that he got CEB approval to fix solar panels on his house to generate electricity independent of the grid.

To be independent of the grid, for one's power supply is something that should be applauded. This is because this public sector body is loss making. It creams off billions of rupees in taxpayers' money to stay afloat. This is reflected by the mountains of debt that it owes the Treasury.

Part of the reason for this state of affairs is not necessarily its selling electricity below cost. If that may also be the cause for its current losses (which, however, is not in the present case, according to Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy due to the prevailing low oil prices, with fossil fuels being the main source of electricity generation), there are also other causes to be considered.

Of those other causes, corruption may stand high on the list. And, as far as corruption is concerned, politicos alone cannot be blamed, other CEB staffers, not least the CEB engineers too may also have to take their share of the blame. Corruption, vis-à-vis the alleged involvement of CEB engineers may not be that pronounced in the centre, but in the periphery, in the provinces, their actions or inactions, or acts of omission and commission, especially when it comes to procurement, may not necessarily be all that squeaky clean.

Unionization in the Sri Lankan context may not primarily be formed to protect the rights of one's fellow workers, but their wrongs. And the CEBEU may not particularly be absolved of this allegation.

There was only one minister who dared to 'break' the back of the CEBEU and that was the controversial Power and Energy Minister Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte who was also the Deputy Defence Minister. This happened 20 years ago in 1996, in the backdrop of the LTTE attack on CBSL Headquarters in January 1996 that was followed by a drought, that led to islandwide blackouts, due to Sri Lanka's dependence on hydro electricity to meet its electricity requirements. In the midst of this turmoil, the CEBEU struck work to obtain certain demands from the GoSL, virtually holding the State and the masses to ransom. The spectre of LTTE terrorist attacks on public places was very real during those times as reflected by their attack on CBSL Headquarters in January of that year. When negotiations with the CEBEU failed, Ratwatte, 'virtually at gunpoint', got the engineers to call off their strike and resume electricity supply to the country.

In these times of climate change and rising public debt, efforts to find alternate sources of energy such as solar energy that would alleviate these twin malaises need to be applauded. The fact that this recent exercise was seemingly opposed by the CEB as insinuated by Gamage on the basis of his long wait to obtain their approval to install solar panels to generate clean energy, which at the same time would have had alleviated the cost that otherwise would have had to be borne by the CEB to produce the energy required, shows that there is something wrong with the State electricity agency.

The government in power, such as the current regime where Gamage serves as a minister, was elected by the people of this country and not by the CEBEU.

It was knowing the havoc created by unions since independence in 1948 that made President J.R. Jayewardene to sack 40,000 public servants in July 1980 for being involved in an illegal strike and yet win the presidential election held two years later in October 1982 convincingly by garnering 52.9% of the popular vote, whereas his closest rival Hector Kobbekaduwa was able to muster only 39.1% of the vote.

Gamage and his government should know not to be afraid of doing that which is right on behalf of the masses who elected them to power, rather than seemingly be allowed to be held in ransom by unions striking for that which is wrong, not least the possibility of the CEBEU too falling in to this genre.