Sunday Observer Editorial

Civic Responsibility to the fore

The Government has rightly decided to relax the curfew in all areas from May 4 as continuing the daytime curfew for another month or so could result in an economic catastrophe. The economy has already suffered immensely as a result of the curfew and subsequent suspension of almost all economic and social activities. However, this was deemed essential to control the coronavirus pandemic. We have now seen over 400 infections and seven deaths, which is much better than developed countries such as the US, which just passed the grim 50,000 deaths mark.

But it would be naïve to think that the battle against the coronavirus is over. Far from it. Now is the time to be even more vigilant. This is why civic responsibility is even more and ever more important at this juncture. The Government has done its part, though not 100 percent perfect given the limited resources available, but now it is the turn of the public to heed the Government’s call and behave responsibly at all times, regardless of whether the curfew is in force or not. Parents have a special responsibility to apprise their children, even the young ones, about the dangers of the coronavirus and making sure that they follow health guidelines.

On Friday, DIG Ajith Rohana appealed to the public to do their duty and avoid unnecessary travel and maintain social distancing during the periods the curfew is lifted. In some areas the curfew has already been lifted and other areas the curfew is still in force. However, the SLTB and other private bus owners and drivers and conductors should adhere to the regulations and not carry over 50 percent of passengers. If the passengers are rushing into their buses and they feel it is over half their capacity, they should refuse to board them and make them take the next bus. This is their responsibility to society. Indeed, our sister newspaper the Daily News reported yesterday that drivers and conductors have been warned by Police in several areas against overloading.

These safety measures extend to the workplace too. Employers should only get the employees whose services are vital to attend office while wherever possible employees could work from home. “In every instance that the Police, PHI and health authorities visit your offices or factories, I urge the authorities of these offices to cooperate with them and adhere to their instructions,” he said.

However, the conditions put in place for the farmers and those engaged in agricultural activities remain the same. This was to ensure that the economic lifeblood of the country – agriculture – could be sustained without interruption even during the curfew period. This has by and large succeeded. With the Government actively stepping in to purchase vegetables, rice and fish on behalf of the consumers, the farmers and fishermen as well as the consumers benefited. Granted, there were certain deficiencies in last-mile distribution but no person had gone hungry. The Government and many other organisations looked after the daily wage earners as well.

It is now up to the people to determine if they would follow the proper health advice and overcome the danger of the coronavirus threat or go back to a full blown threat of the coronavirus spreading. Hence, it is vital for the public to act responsibly and assist the authorities to overcome the coronavirus threat.

At this moment, we should again recall with gratitude the immense sacrifice made by Health, Security Forces and Police personnel in the battle against the coronavirus. They always faced the dangerous prospect of contracting the virus. That was a risk they knowingly and bravely took. Unlike in some other countries, they did not demand any special payments, PPE kits and other facilities. They did and are doing their duty. It was reported that some had not gone home in over a month.

It is in this context that we should all pray for the swift recovery of all the Naval personnel at Welisara Navy Camp who had contracted Covid-19. The Welisara Navy Base had detected 60 coronavirus cases so far.

Accordingly, the Navy said that nearly 4,000 naval personnel and their families (194 married quarters are located in the Welisara Naval Complex) have been isolated within the camp.

Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Chief Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva said PCR testing for Naval personnel in the Welisara Naval Base has been expedited and the base has been completely locked down to prevent the spread of coronavirus further. More than 400 tests are done per day.

The Navy has since requested the public not to be unduly worried about this situation as the SLN has already taken immediate steps to contain the spread of coronavirus to any person or areas outside the camp.

It is indeed pertinent at this moment to provide whatever extra facilities and protective measures are needed by the heroes in the frontlines of the battle against the deadly COVID-19 pathogen considering the immense risks they face. They are our best hope against the more widespread infection scenario. The other hope is that the public will fully comply with the health authorities’ guidelines without disregarding them. This is essential if we are to put this contagion behind us and move ahead as a progressive nation. The President, the Prime Minister, the Government, health and Security Forces/Police personnel as well as essential services personnel can only do so much to protect us. The rest is up to us – the public. We must rise to that challenge.

The Island Editorial

Firing at a moving target

Whether the curfew will be lifted tomorrow as previously announced, in Colombo and the other districts where it has continued for several days, was unclear when this was being written. Decisions to relax the curfew have been announced before and changed subsequently. Nobody could be blamed for this as the responsible authorities are confronted by a moving target with the ground situation changing not by the days but by the hour. There is no escaping the reality that the general public has been severely affected by what is happening around us. It is not a matter of windfall holidays or almost traffic-less roads for those who can venture out of their homes armed with a curfew pass or other identification establishing that they are working for an essential service. All of us are greatly affected, many more so than others.

As is the way of the world, the better off are less hurt than the vast majority. Armed with laptop computers and smart phones, they can shop online from supermarkets that will deliver their groceries to their doorstep. Many banking facilities that modern technology has delivered in recent years offer them the convenience of online banking. Business can done with pharmacies and drug stores without physically presenting themselves ensuring they are not starved of essential medication. Their pockets are not empty like those of the daily wage earners who live by the day and are faced with a fearful predicament. There are millions of such people in the country and despite the best efforts of the concerned authorities, what relief that has been offered is a fraction of actual need.

The evening news bulletins of the different television stations bring vivid pictures of what is happening at various offices paying out the meagre five thousand rupee allowance. The queues are long and the people in them are angry. Hot words are exchanged with officials who can offer very little redress. Given the galloping inflation which has been rampant in this country for the past several years, five thousand rupees will not go far in purchasing essentials to feed even a small family. It will not be long before a cash-strapped government will have to make another round of payments if the lockdown continues. Given the difficulties that those lining-up for the dole must suffer to draw what is really a pittance, the question can be asked why a ten thousand rupee allowance was not paid in the first instance. The answers are many, the first among them being that the exchequer is not a bottomless pit; and paying even the five thousand rupees has strained the Treasury to near breaking point. Also, if ten thousand rupees is paid as a first instalment, there will be expectation of a similar payment the second time round.

With a general election scheduled for June 20, what is most galling is that there are credible allegations that even these payments have been politicized. It has been alleged that the symbol of the front-running political party has been printed on some of the forms on which the applications must be made. There have also been an allegation that these forms have been distributed from the homes of local politicians. How many of these are factual and how many fictitious we do not know. But we live in a country where much of what the state does is blatantly and brazenly politicized. Even letters of appointment to the state services are handed over at expensive tamashas by politicians who act as though the salaries paid to the recruits come out of their own pockets. We all know that meritocracy in obtaining state appointments has long been subordinated to political ‘pull.’ Too often these state sector jobs are simply not there or are most redundant in the context of salary expenditure. They are created by politicians who want ‘jobs for the boys’ – of course in return for their votes. As a result the state sector is bloated beyond belief with tens of thousands of passengers paid at the taxpayers’ expense.

There has been wide acclaim that Sri Lanka has faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge reasonably well. For a country of our size and population the numbers of infected persons have been contained with an efficient system of contact tracing to which military intelligence has contributed much. The number of deaths has been a handful and the number of recoveries satisfactory. The frontline comprising health care personnel, the military and the police together with the often maligned public service have risen magnificently to the occasion. Obviously, we like the rest of the world cannot afford any kind of complacency and put our guard down. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is on record saying that while he would like the stringent restrictions to remain in force for another month, nearly half the country’s national product comes from the Western Province. That implied that the government, perforce, must get the country working as quickly as possible. Our regular columnist, Kumar David, has socked home that need in his contribution this week. The impact of the virus is human, social, political and most importantly economical. There has been vigorous debate on whether the impending election be held as scheduled or postponed indefinitely. Both proponents and opponents on both sides of the fence are sadly making their case from a political and not a national perspective. The president has ruled out invoking the consultative jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to get an independent opinion. Who can be blamed for thinking that this reluctance is rooted in the belief that he may not get the answer he wants. That’s perhaps Sri Lanka’s greatest tragedy – that even at a time such as this, the national interest is not held paramount. 

Sunday Times Editorial

The inherent danger in the Doctrine of Necessity

The legality or the lack thereof of the ongoing curfew was briefly taken to a Court of Law this week during a bail application on behalf of an actor turned politician turned attention- grabber. The Police was not ready to challenge the defence counsel’s argument that the curfew was illegal and while the accused got bail, the question of the legality of the curfew was not what was adjudicated upon.

The curfew has been imposed under the provisions of the 1897 Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance and not by the declaration of a state of emergency under the Public Security Ordinance or by any other means like a Gazette notification.

The declaration of a state of emergency would require Parliament to approve it within a month, and every month thereafter but Parliament now stands dissolved. This provision was introduced in the 1978 Constitution after the Sirima Bandaranaike Government brought in emergency rule in 1971 to counter the JVP uprising and kept it active till 1977, long after the insurgency was quashed. With the Government showing no willingness whatsoever to re-summon Parliament, the option of a state of emergency is out of the window even though the tri-forces are out on the streets under the provisions of the Public Security Ordinance.

All the Police headquarters announcements; the curfew violations and confiscation of vehicles, even orders to wear masks are open for legal scrutiny. However, no one is really complaining because the public is aware of how serious the situation is with the rapid spread of COVID-19.

The prevalent danger is whether the Government wishes to continue administering the country in this legal vacuum. It is not limited to the curfew. The Vote on Account that permits the Government to spend money without a budget approved by Parliament expires in the next few days. Not extending it is a textbook case of constitutional validity coming into question.

The Opposition has raised this question and the Speaker has said he does not want to precipitate yet another constitutional crisis by summoning Parliament when the President shows reluctance in doing so. The Prime Minister argues that it is within the Government’s powers to draw from the Consolidated Fund without a budget or a fresh Vote on Account. The legal validity is being argued through statements to the media.

The general public may be less than interested in these constitutional niceties in the face of a deadly virus. That does not remove the fact that the Government is bound to do what is right.

There is already the danger of pro-Government persona trotting out that exceptional circumstances require exceptional remedies. The Doctrine of Necessity is one of these arguments. This is based on an ancient legal maxim; “that which is otherwise unlawful is lawful by necessity” and that the welfare of the people is always supreme.

This Doctrine has very bad precedents. In 1954 Pakistan, the Chief Justice at the time validated the extra constitutional use of emergency powers to dissolve a Constituent Assembly that was drafting a new Constitution on such a principle. It paved the way for martial law. Under military rule the same doctrine was used to justify the judicial murder of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The people of Pakistan have struggled ever since to restore democracy in their country. In Fiji, the superior court upheld a military coup that overthrew the Prime Minister and his Cabinet in 2006 (Qarase vs. Bainimarama 2009) on the grounds that the Commander of the Fijian Military was stepping into a “vacuum of power” to protect the existing legal order of the Republic. Both Pakistan and Fiji had been expelled from the Commonwealth Group for just such judicial-military adventurism.

This Doctrine has even been argued in the Privy Council (a 1965 case involving Emergency Regulations in Rhodesia) where a Judge held the regulations were necessary for “the ordinary orderly running of the country”. It was a minority dissenting judgment. There are such cases from Grenada, Nigeria and Nepal.

These are, however, unholy precedents to follow and dangerous arguments to advocate in Sri Lanka. And especially so when there are alternate constitutional remedies and mechanisms available to resolve outstanding issues.

The former President was fortunate to have got away lightly for tinkering with the Constitution back in October 2018 — an impeachable act on his part. Those who advise Presidents must see that their ‘client’ does not end up on the wrong side of history.

Covid-hit May Day for cash-strapped workers

Next Friday is May Day when the world celebrates — or is supposed to celebrate the day of the workers. COVID-19 will, however, make it a far cry from the slogan shouting, street marching show of solidarity with the workers of the world. For those countries that spend trillions to showcase their nuclear tipped warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles on this day, they will be better served to parade a cake of soap and some hand sanitisers to save themselves from extinction.

Usually, this is the time of year that we focus on two categories whose plight needs to be addressed more than others — the thousands of Sri Lankan workers abroad and the thousands of unemployed waiting to join the ranks as workers of the world.

COVID-19 has now thrown a huge number of Sri Lankan workers abroad into an uncertain future, many trapped in foreign lands alone, others who have returned and are unsure if they will have a job to go back to. Here in Sri Lanka, even the employed, especially the self-employed and the daily wage earner is in limbo.

Millions of workers around the world are expected to lose their jobs, and those fortunate to keep theirs are certain to receive smaller pay packets as a global recession looms. The world economy is going to haemorrhage, at least in the short run.

The Sri Lankan economy being what it is — in shambles, and deep in debt — is hardly in a position to offer a substantial relief package to sectors that need to lay off workers nor able to shield workers who will be left with pecuniary burdens.

It seems inevitable that the Government will need to rely on foreign assistance to shore up the local economy and provide workers with a safety net. This week the newly appointed president of the World Bank spoke of the Bank’s intentions to infuse cash directly into the hands of ordinary people who need it in economically developing countries rather than channel it through Governments. How this mechanism works will have to be seen.

Just recently, a US grant of USD 500 million plus was put on hold on the grounds that the programme impacts on this country’s sovereignty. But a Chinese loan for about the same amount was accepted without a hum. There’s hardly any argument on the country’s independence being paramount. To oppose foreign grants on misplaced ideological grounds needs a fresh look when the country’s economy is sliding down a slippery slope.

This May Day is going to be arguably the worst one for the workers of the world in contemporary times.