The Island Editorial

For the love of people

15 November 2016

 

All government leaders are overflowing with the milk of human kindness. After all, they are the champions of ‘compassionate governance’ whatever that means. They are living for the people and spending long days and sleepless nights to improve our lot. The same is true of their Joint Opposition counterparts who are even ready to lay down their lives for the masses. They are generously spending part of their wealth painstakingly amassed through various deals while they were in power, on thousands of coconuts they smash in a bid to come back to power and serve the public again. When the present-day rulers lose power it will be their turn to spend some of the funds they have raised through treasury bond purchases etc on coconut dashing projects.

Our Rathu Sahodarayas, too, not to be outdone, have taken up the cudgels for the people who are struggling to make ends meet. They were instrumental in facilitating last year’s regime change and the installation of the incumbent government; they were even represented on the National Executive Council set up early last year to prepare the blueprint for what they described as revolutionary changes to usher in good governance. They are also seeking a popular mandate to serve the people.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, one of the government grandees with altruism oozing from every pore, has come up with a strategy to ensure the safety of road users. Deeply moved by the alarmingly high rate of serious accidents which snuff out about 2,400 lives a year and leave tens of thousands of others injured, he has, through the budget for the next year, proposed a remedy. He wants the minimum fine for traffic offences increased to Rs. 2,500!

Successive governments have sought to tackle the problem of traffic accidents through measures such as road development, increased police presence on roads, better training for drivers, action against corrupt officials of the Department of Motor Traffic, etc. But, the present government does not seem to believe in such remedies. Instead, it thinks if the budget proposal for increasing fines is implemented, hey presto, the number of road accidents will drop overnight!

The Finance Minister’s detractors may say the IMF has made the release of its loans conditional to the draconian measures the government is under pressure to adopt, including enhanced fines, to boost its revenue. What the politicians out of power say is not to be taken seriously. When the present-day rulers were in the political wilderness they asked for a mandate to take into custody a ‘golden horse’ belonging to their opponents in power at that time and recover as much as USD 18 bn which had been stashed away in offshore accounts. But, they have not yet been able to seize those ill-gotten assets, have they?

Lanka Private Bus Operators’ Association (LPBOA) has threatened to launch a strike against the hike in fines for traffic offences. LPBOA President Gemunu Wijeratne, who helped engineer the 2015 regime change and sang hosannas for the leaders of the present government, has got an overdose of ‘yahapalanaya’. But, he should not rock the boat, should he?

Meanwhile, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne has been in the forefront of a campaign to reduce the extremely high national sugar consumption linked to the Non Communicable Diseases on the rise, especially diabetes. He has made a very bold proposal that the sugar price be kept high so as to discourage people from consuming the ‘sweet poison’ in large quantities. But, the Finance Minister Karunanayake is convinced otherwise; he has reduced the sugar price. Isn’t he, unwittingly, helping increase the incidence of diabetes by promoting sugar consumption though a price reduction?

The government says it has once again amply demonstrated its love for the masses through Budget 2017. If so, its fear of the much-delayed local government elections is unfounded. It does not have to hide behind the delimitation review committee and keep postponing the mini polls any longer.

People are waiting to express their gratitude.