We brought in a Government; what do we have now?

In the Daily FT of 21 October, R.M.B. Senanayake and Bert Gunawardena have given vent to the mounting frustration and incredulity of many, about the immature conduct and unbelievable utterances of many who are holding high office through our vote. Some of them seem to be mouthing these incredible statements while standing on their heads with their arms and legs splayed.

One which surely takes the hat and the bulbous nose is the trumpeted blanket amnesty which will be given to those whose millions and billions, ill-gotten or otherwise, are brought into this country to fill the ever-widening deficit, with no questions, none whatever, being asked now and forever. There’s good governance for you, at its best. 

Then the Daily Mirror of 21 October on its opening business page quotes an authority as having said that Swiss banks had asked Sri Lankans to close their accounts and transfer their money back to Sri Lanka! (So, even international banks are under the baton of this authority?!)

Then in the same vein, the IMF and World Bank are reportedly giving a blank cheque to Sri Lanka with no conditions whatsoever for draw-downs, and any conditions being those laid down by the borrower and not the lender (!) , and banks are being warned that their days of being a ‘protected’ lot are over and that the whole banking industry will be “shaken up” (and also  made to stand on their heads?) as reported on page 1 of the Daily Mirror of 21 October, with the reference to the “umbrella is not only for the sunshine” being an obvious implication that banks must take more risks. Banks know how to mind their business; they are bound by internationally accepted frameworks on the extent and quality of risk they can take if they are to be considered as banks.

Then we have a cup case, who was so pristine and pure that he wanted nothing to do with the previous nepotistic Government, joining the good governance team and thereafter handing over the chairmanship of an authority to his brother with a shrug of the shoulders and a “so what?”, besides which that other person taking his son on a big jaunt at our expense doesn’t stink as much (although it still stinks like hell).

The Tourism Authority appointed a certain upstart to trot the world stage to kick-start the inflow of tourists but all he started up was himself so according to the media he has been asked to step aside (to appoint an equally incompetent person?) and a recent commissioning of advertising agencies to jump-start the industry which needs to be milked to the maximum if we are to avert a crisis in the Foreign Exchange Reserve, which has plummeted ever since the Yahapalanaya Government took over the reigns, has been put aside at the 11th hour on the most feeble of excuses by an equally feeble individual whose only claim to fame is the period over which he has lingered with the party while of course openly running with the hares and hunting with the hounds.

A big bank has had its staff morale plummet to the lowest depths because of mass-scale lightning transfers effected with one sweep of the hand by a person who doesn’t seem to know that one’s own nose has to be clean if one’s decisions are to be respected. But that ‘cleaning’ will be done through a parliamentary select committee; that select committee will examine the workings of the bank over the past 10 years. As if we don’t know!! It’s not wool that is being pulled over our eyes in the belief that we are all fools, it’s steel.

Looking back over the past 10 months, nothing worthy of good governance has happened to make the life of the average Sri Lankan any better; it’s only got worse. The cost of living is increasing, rape and murder and brazen robbery like never before, the debts are mounting with the cupboards remaining bare, and those who bled this country through blatant corruption and embezzlement are swinging around happily, as if with a wink and a nod from those who are supposed to be chasing after them. All we have to live on are words, delicious words of the wonder that this country will be in five years. For daily entertainment, we are treated to certain people being asked to be present at the FCID for questioning, nothing else materialises.

Immature, incompetent and inefficient is how I would rate this lot. And that’s being kind. 

The previous lot made the people furiously angry with what they did to this country; this lot is making the people laugh for the absurdity and naivety of their ‘governance’. But the anger will follow and on the back of it, maybe a return of what we rejected 10 months ago.

The light at the end of the tunnel is an approaching train but till it hits, let’s enjoy the circus. 

A voter who is about to pay more taxes