Daily News Editorial

Bandula exposed

21 October 2016

It is the norm in Sri Lankan politics that the government and the Opposition which go for each others’ jugular in and out of parliament close ranks when it comes to the little matter of pay hikes and privileges for their members. The recent move for salary increases to members is a case in point. Even the rathu sahodarayas who howl from the roof tops about waste and profligacy of the government only made feeble attempts at protestation. Only the intervention of VAT forced the government to shelve the proposal.

The same scenario was reenacted by the Joint Opposition with regard to the transfer of duty free vehicle permits by members. JO firebrand Bandula Gunawardena who once famously stated that a family of three can subsist with an income of Rs 2,500 a month, nevertheless felt the lavish salary plus perks he receives as an MP was hardly sufficient to make ends meet. He therefore saw nothing wrong in MPs bartering away their duty free vehicle permits, which some 20 odd MPs were exposed to have done just that recently each pocketing a cool Rs. 25 million. The excuse Gunawardena trots out is that MPs in the present day run into additional expenditure unlike in the past, what with the PR system and all that. He said there was nothing illegal in transferring one’s duty free vehicle permit which had been the practice since JRJ first introduced the measure.

True, the Old Fox did indeed contend that the best way to keep MPs out of corruption’s way is to keep them well heeled and shower them with huge salaries and perks and make them qualify for a pension after only serving five years as parliamentarians. What he did not know or chose to ignore was that salary increases to MPs alone would not keep them out of temptation’s way and there were commissions, kick backs, tenders, liquor licenses and a whole gamut of avenues to keep our erstwhile people’s representatives on the gravy train.

Be that as it may, the comment made by Gunawardena sheds light to another aspect; that is, the cavalier attitude shown by MPs to the squandering of public funds. His argument that MPs need extra money to cover a whole district under the PR system holds no water, given that many MPs who entered parliament through the National List too have transferred their duty free permits, going by the list put out by a former Customs official. Besides, Gunawardena’s JO colleague Kumara Welgama was more forthcoming when he said sometime ago that all MPs “sell” their duty free vehicle permits and he too had done the same. He (Welgama) was candid enough not to take cover behind PR, or any other ruse.

One can only imagine the level of corruption that is indulged in by our parliamentarians in this single effort to justify a swindle by the likes of Gunawardena and when considering that these are our lawmakers, is it any wonder that the cancer of corruption had seeped down to all levels of government nay, society? Gunawardena is after all an Opposition MP and one shudders to think that if a member representing the Opposition can speak in this cavalier fashion about what is after all an act of corruption to what levels would a government MP descend to justify all acts of corruption, not forgetting that Gunawardena is one those always in the media spotlight highlighting real or perceived acts of corruption in the government. Here, we have an extraordinary situation where, when the primary duty of the Opposition is to speak out against excesses of the government and expose acts of corruption, an Opposition MP, who is also a recipient of largess, justifying such a move. Which begs the question, does parliament need an Opposition?

The entire country is aware that our MPs are a pampered lot. In addition to the lavish salaries, perks, luxury vehicles, accommodation, foreign junkets etc. they also partake of gourmet fare in parliament free of charge, the tab picked up by general public. We have never heard of our MPs taking a pay cut during times of natural disasters or other calamities in the country to empathize with the victims, as they do in other countries. On the contrary what the public see are the familiar antics of our MPs in parliament that even make schoolchildren in the Public Gallery run for cover.

It is time our peoples’ representatives act with circumspection and justify their keep at the expense of the public purse. No one will begrudge their privileges and opulent lifestyles, if only they act with responsibility and a sense of duty. Pocketing millions, by the transfer of duty free vehicle permits, is hardly the exemplary conduct one expects from a member of parliament, whatever the justification. It is not only a breach of trust, but a daylight robbery, protestations of its legitimacy notwithstanding. And, when a member of the Opposition, especially one disporting himself as a spokesman against financial impropriety of the government, justifies such an act, tantamount to larceny, it is not difficult to fathom what is wrong in the State of Denmark, read Mother Lanka.