“YES SIR”  DEALS OF YAHAPALANAYA

The now famous “Yes Sir” telephone call of the IGP has more to it than meets the eye and says a lot about hitherto suspected deals of the Yahapalana government involving the crooks of the former regime.

The ordinary voter has not forgotten the grandiose promises of Yahapalana team during the elections that they will take stern action against the wrong-doers of the previous government regardless of their status and that all those culprits will be locked-up for ever.  But, unfortunately for the common man, the converse is true in that the hunters have entered into dirty deals with the hunted and both are living happily ever after – most probably laughing at the poor voting public who went out tooth and nail to see that justice is done.

First we had the sorry episode of a Yahapalana minister having to resign from the cabinet for his defence of  the Avant Garde arms and ammunition ship which was a pet project of the ex-Defence Minister and some retired navy officers and which actually denied valuable foreign exchange to the country.

Then, we had an explosion of a time bomb with the Central Bank Bonds issue in which none other than the Governor of the Central Bank himself was involved along with his son in law : a perfect case of corruption and nepotism, the very same themes which the Yahapalana politicians mouthed at every turn to eliminate totally from this country.

So much was made of the Independent Commissions including the Police Commission that there will be no interference by politicians on the independent functioning of government bodies including the Police, but we now have this classic case of the IGP bending over backwards to do the bidding of a “Sir” who called him on his mobile phone during a function and which went public with the telecasting of a snippet of the incident.  Although the Chief government whip, Minister Kiriella, tried to make fun of this incident, the whole country now knows that this “Sir” is none other than the Minister in charge of Police himself. Now, one can see the Yahapalana advocates going helter skelter in a vain attempt at damage control but for all purposes and intents, the Yahapalana politicians stand exposed very badly. 

This obviously gives rise to the rumours circulating in the country that no action at all had been taken against the once very powerful VVIP family of Rajapakses for any of their purported misdeeds with the result that the Joint Opposition have started to taunt the Yahapalana advocates with the challenge “Catch me if you can”.  The Yahapalana politicians who have messed up the situation so much with the Bond scam  are behaving like cats who have defecated on a stone!

“Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country “. Karl Kraus

 

THE LOTTERIES GAMBLE

 IT is said that the “Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”.  That’s exactly what happened with the Yahapalana government’s ambitious (greedy?) target to earn some quick money with a simple plan by just increasing the price of a sweep ticket by Rs. 10.- and get a neat net gain at the cost of those who buy and sell the tickets.

One can now witness almost all lottery ticket sales points with shutters down and suddenly the road side sweep ticket sellers have gone missing: a classic case of consumer resistance at its best which was what was lacking in this country so far, with everyone on the street silently bearing whatever burdens heaped on them by all governments so far.

It is really funny that with plenty of brilliant brains and financial “Osthars” in this government, that they have miserably failed so far to even present a workable and practical budget without subjecting it to so many cuts and changes since its presentation.  This sudden increase in the lowly lottery ticket came like a bolt from the blues and one can really understand the reaction of those involved in the trade as the government’s intention was to take it all without passing any benefit to those who really sweat it out to generate the income.

Besides, with this steep increase in the price of a ticket, the agents and road-side sellers would have to exert additional pressure and redouble efforts to market and sell the tickets at the increased price whilst facing obvious resistance, at least during the initial period, on the part of the buyers, as there is no chance of even an increased price money to compensate for the extra money they have to pocket out to buy a ticket.

One wonders what will finally happen to the lottery tickets already printed with the additional price being mentioned and whether there will be any draw during the first couple of weeks at all.

It would be interesting to see how this battle between David and Goliath will end.  After all, People’s Power in many other countries have resulted in great victories.

It is not for nothing that they say “Lotteries are a tax on the mathematically challenged”

POLITICIANS AND CHAOS

“ A story is told of three men -- a doctor, an engineer, and a politician--debating which of them belonged to the most honourable and ancient profession.

 The doctor said: “Mine is easily the oldest. Don’t you remember that in the beginning Eve was made out of a rib from Adam’s side? Well, there’s a surgical operation for you.”

 The engineer said:“Yes, but before that happened, don’t you know the whole world was created out of chaos in six days? Now, there’s an engineering feat for you.”

 “Ah! But who created chaos ?” said the politician.”.

Reader, Walter Fernando from Ratmalana (DM, 25.05.17) hit the nail hard where it actually belongs with his thought-provoking letter “Scrap the perks given to MPs” which was really food for thought.  It is really tragic that some ageing and also not so old female film stars who just served one term of 5 years in the previous Parliament are now enjoying pensions – without contributing anything positive to the task of governing .  Another thorny point is duty free permits to the politicians – who at the end of the day enrich themselves by selling those permits, thus denying the customs duties due to the government.  Not to talk of the sumptuous meals enjoyed by the parliamentarians at highly subsidized prices – getting fatter and fatter in the process. When they enter parliament, the MPs develop so many sicknesses such as body aches etc. where they cannot travel in ordinary cars but need luxury cars to go all over the country in order to “serve” the people who voted for them. By and by, what the politicians have created for themselves is a Shangri La or an Utopia where they feel that they are a super breed, which in fact they are not. 

Those who volunteer to come forward to “serve” the people cannot be classified as “professionals” who are entitled to so many benefits much more than the actual professionals who render yeoman services to the country on pathetic salaries and have to put in about 25 years service to get a meagre pension in their twilight years.

Chaos, Indeed !

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF

JUDGING by the actions of the GMOA, one wonders if any of them have actually taken the HIPPOCRATIC OATH which requires a physician to swear by a number of healing Gods to uphold specific standards.

The thoroughly politicized members of GMOA (stands for Gold Mining Opportunists’ Assembly!) who seem to be having a hidden political agenda appear to be attempting to take over the functions of the Ministry of Health in making decisions with regard to policy matters.  If this is encouraged even slightly, then there will be no end to such interferences even by other trade unions in making decisions which should be the exclusive domain of the duly elected government.

It was pathetic to see poor patients suffering in more than 1500 hospitals whilst the doctors decided to resort to trade union action on several occasions during the recent past.  The funny thing was that those who were on “strike” actually “worked” in private hospitals offering channel services.  That really shows their dishonesty, leading one to doubt whether the oath taken by them was not Hippocratic but of Hypocrisy.

These members of the GMOA who were undoubtedly beneficiaries of free education at the expense of the poor tax payers and who already earn fat salaries and benefits, in addition to opportunities provided to them to engage in private practice in various private hospitals; should at least spare a thought to the less privileged members of the society.

To quote a para from the Hippocratic Oath – in case they have forgotten it by now:

“ I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligation to all my fellow human beings; those sound of mind and body, as well as the infirm”

One cannot really understand their obsession with private medical colleges except to assume that all they are worried about is their impending loss of income if more and more doctors come out of private medical colleges thus denying or limiting their opportunities to make money through private practice whilst at the same time enjoying the best of both worlds in continuing in government service and also serving the private hospitals.

Hopefully, these doctors who are now threatening more strikes of longer durations in the coming days, should revisit the Hippocratic Oath and examine their conscience before they resort to such cheap tactics.  Like one reader suggested recently, if this practice of resorting to trade union action by the doctors continues, the day is not far away when the ordinary public including the impatient patients resort to agitations and boycotts against the greedy members of the GMOA.

“GONE TO JOHN BAAS!”

 

From time immemorial, Sri Lankans have been very familiar with the phrase “ Gone to John Baas!” whenever something goes wrong drastically, although it is of unknown origin.

However, having recently seen the antics of one senior cabinet member of the Yahapaalana government, one could be excused for thinking that this particular person is none other than the one who had been referred to as the original “John Baas”.

The recent incident where this particular Minister was seen by all and sundry over television screens screaming and even uttering unprintable words at some journalists who were only doing their job in providing information to the public, is indeed deplorable by any standard.  In fact, this is not the first instance of this minister behaving in such indecent manner in public.  It is really tragic if not funny when one considers that the subject of Christian affairs comes under this minister : very Un-Christian-like and an insult to the religion as well.

The main partner of the Yahapaalana government, the UNP, was making such a ha-ho about the palace joker aka Dutugemunu-incarnate in the previous government who behaved in an uncontrollable manner in public.  Unfortunately, the very same UNP has now come up with their own version of a palace joker in the form of this particular ageing minister and one wonders if such a joker is an integral part of any government in order to provide free entertainment to the long suffering members of the public.  Perhaps this is a tradition which dates back to the time of the ancient Sinhala Kings who kept clowns and jokers to keep them in good spirits.

But, we the public, are definitely not amused. 

 

 

DISASTERS GALORE

The recent deluge which brought so much misery to the country exposed the crass mismanagement by those in authority. 

The Disaster Management Ministry proved to be the biggest disaster with its Minister winging back from a conference in Mexico where he boasted in a speech to an international audience about preventive and corrective measures taken by his Ministry in Sri Lanka to minimize natural disasters.  The same Ministry later had to shamelessly admit that they were unprepared, with the result that the government leaders had to beg neighbouring countries for basic needs such as blankets, water etc.

Whilst the government was more or less sleeping, the ordinary public took matters to their hands and volunteered for donations heeding calls by media institutions.  The TV stations meanwhile got massive publicity for their institutions by distributing the stuff donated by the public, which gave reasons for people to question if at all there is a government here in spite of having a Jumbo cabinet.  Even the prisoners were magnanimous enough to donate a day’s lunch.  It is a shame that not a single cabinet minister had thought of skipping their meals and donating the money to those affected, especially when one considers that they are privileged to have sumptuous meals below cost in the Parliamentary canteen.

In the midst of all this misery, all what the MPs were thinking of was how to get monetary allocation passed to import new luxury vehicles for themselves whilst the country was reeling with disaster. 

Whilst some politicians came out to hand over relief materials to those affected beaming to television cameras and other media, there were a handful such as MP Palitha Thevarapperuma who genuinely assisted the hapless victims out of sheer love to the people.

The lesson learnt here is that ordinary people have to learn to live by helping each other at times of disasters and forget that there is a government elected by them and the so called people’s representatives are only interested in their own welfare and enjoyment of luxuries. 

The biggest Disaster here is that the voter who is considered to be sovereign (the Boss) and the elected MP (the servant) have got their roles reversed.

That is the real tragedy that we are forced to live with.

CABINET “RESHUFFLE” aka COMEDY OF ERRORS !

The serious manner in which the impending Cabinet Reshuffle was being talked about by the President keeping the general public in suspense for quite some time ended up as a big disappointment and a joke, just like the saying “laboured a mountain and brought forth a little mouse”.

To say the least, the so called reshuffle is an utter failure.  Even the allocation of portfolios and institutions to some ministries create a big confusion.  It is downright ridiculous for the Foreign Ministry to have institutions such as Development Lotteries Board, National Lotteries Board, Mahapola Scholarship Fund, and (hold your breath), even the national carrier Sri Lankan airlines.  There is also talk of bringing the SEC, (which is hitherto under the Prime Minister)  under the newly constituted Foreign Ministry !

The comedy gets funnier and crazier.

What is the great idea behind allocating Mass Media to the Finance Ministry.  Is it to compensate for the loss of institutions such as NLB, DLB etc. which traditionally were under the Finance Ministry. 

If Sabaragamuwa and Central Province deserve to have dedicated ministers, then how about the other provinces.  Perhaps, more “development” ministries are on the pipeline to satisfy other trouble-making ministers.  On top of all this, there is also a Minister for “Regional Development” already existing. Wonder what his actual would be now.

All what this long awaited cabinet reshuffle has done is obviously to satisfy the egos of some super ministers and not to achieve the end result that the President must have had in his mind to give more meaning to the so called “Yahapaalanaya” thus eliminating corruption.

What is really laughable is that a powerful minister who was really worried about losing his very powerful ministry has ended up in a win-win situation and having the last laugh.

So much for the much talked about and publicized “ scientific allocation of subjects to Ministries” which was one of the boasts of the Yahapaalana advocates prior to the elections.