Heaping burning coals

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 03:57 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Government ministers heaped insult over injury over the weekend, building on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ominous speech that predicted that the people would have to brace for further hardship if the COVID-19 lockdown had to be extended beyond 10 days. The ministers in his Cabinet have taken it upon themselves to frame the kind of sacrifices the public will soon be called upon to make.

Minister Dilum Amunugama has threatened that if lockdown conditions continue, money will have to be taken from “fixed income earners” and “given” to those in the informal employment sector, who do not earn a fixed salary. Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara has urged all those who have money or capital – businessmen and others – to hand over half of those assets to the Government for COVID-19 relief. Public servants, who are grossly underpaid to begin with, are frozen with terror that the cash-strapped Treasury will slash their salaries by 50% to meet worsening economic challenges.

The main Opposition, ever willing to oblige the Government’s most inane whims, rather than hold it accountable for its devastating failures on every front, has already announced that all 54 MPs will donate their salaries for COVID-19 relief and medical supplies. There is no guarantee that these donated salaries will go towards a COVID-19 fund, especially considering how the Government has mismanaged and underutilised the Itukama fund that collected over Rs. 1 billion to manage pandemic difficulties.

The Government’s high-handed appeals come at a time when the economic data is reflecting that some 900,000 jobs have been lost in the formal employment sector over the past year based on Employment Provident Fund contributions. The collapse of the tourism sector because of the pandemic has been a heavy blow, and it has resulted in the loss of livelihood for tens of thousands of people. As Sri Lanka climbs the world rankings for deaths by population, and records the highest death rate in South Asia, hope is fast dwindling for a swift renaissance in the sector.

The pressure on the public mounts, even as the Cabinet last week approved a proposal by the Finance Minister for the import of 164 vehicles for “essential services” at a cost of $ 1.8 million. The Director General of Health blames the public for the Government being forced to lockdown the country, while an arrogant Government allowed the Kandy Perahera to continue as infections surged. Forty-five performers who participated in the pageant have now tested positive for COVID-19. Rugby matches, featuring celebrity players from the ruling family continue as planned, with the health authorities blithely granting permission for this affront against the rest of the country that remains under quarantine curfew.

The public may well ask the question – what sacrifices have the rulers made so far, towards lifting the country out of the abyss? Instead, somehow, the Government has managed to blame its failure to control the pandemic on a people already being crushed under the strain of disease and economic uncertainty. A Government that urges further sacrifice on the part of those who are already staring down the barrel of hunger shows some gall. Such a government must know its day of reckoning is near.