A friend in need

The USAID, the United States Government’s international development assistance agency, announced an additional $ 40 million in assistance to help farmers purchase fertiliser. Its administrator, Samantha Power is currently on an official visit to Sri Lanka and the announcement is in addition to $ 20 million in assistance announced previously to support a school nutrition program that will feed 800,000 children.

Previous visits by Power to Sri Lanka had been under more pleasant circumstances. In 2019 she visited in her personal capacity to deliver the keynote address at a ceremony to mark 30 years of parliamentary politics by former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera. In November 2015, Power visited in her official capacity as the cabinet ranked US Permanent Representative to the UN at a time when there was great promise of Sri Lanka turning a page on autocratic rule and its problematic history on human rights violations.

Things are very different now. Mangala Samaraweera, the man who Power called “a great patriot and statesman, advocate for democracy and human rights, and a treasured friend,” is no more and the promise for reform and system change that seemed tangible in 2015 have disappeared in the wake of populism, ethno-nationalism and corruption. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who was in 2015 a leading agent of change has now taken a more cynical avatar as the executive president wielding anti-terror laws against protesters.

Much of the work done by Mangala Samaraweera, first as the minister of foreign affairs and then as minister of finance in close cooperation with Samantha Power and others to enhance bilateral cooperation with the United States has by now been reversed due to opportunistic politics. Key among these is the cancellation of a $ 480 million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact. The MCC compact was finalised in 2019 after extensive consultations between the then Government, MCC representatives and numerous local stakeholders including civil society. It was cancelled in 2020 by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration.

Under this program, Sri Lanka identified a $ 350 million public transport modernisation and traffic management system for Greater Colombo and a separate land project – also identified as a priority by the Sri Lankan Government – was allocated $ 67 million, aimed at expanding and digitising the country’s land registry and increasing the availability of spatial data and land rights information. The disbursement of funds was to take place over a period of five years.

The malicious and often borderline ludicrous campaign to vilify the MCC agreement was led by none other than the current Prime Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena while he was a leading member of the Joint Opposition. He was ably supported by senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who later went on to receive high positions as reward to these covert actions. During Gunawardena’s tenure as Foreign Minister the Government formally withdrew from the MCC. If implemented, the MCC would have not only been a half a billion dollar outright grant that created thousands of local jobs, but it would have also been a vote of confidence in the stability, transparency and the democracy in the country. Such an indicator would have played a crucial role in attracting foreign investments and enhancing business opportunities.

As she engages with numerous interlocutors who are directly responsible for severely undermining the cordial relations between the US and Sri Lanka, Power must ensure that the visibility of her high-level visit and the significant assistance granted are not used to prop up an administration that lacks popular legitimacy. She should not shy away from holding the administration accountable for its excesses, especially those that curtail democracy and freedoms of the people. At this tragic moment in history Sri Lanka needs all the goodwill and assistance from the international community but this assistance should not be at the cost of the will and aspirations of the people.