Increasing public burden 

Financially bankrupt Sri Lanka added 37 new State Ministers this week, expanding its already bloated public sector spending. It also demonstrated the blatant disregard towards public opinion by the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration during these exceptional economic difficulties. 

Many of the newly appointed State Ministers are tainted by allegations of corruption and political violence. Several of them have pending court cases, especially regarding the violence unleashed on peaceful protesters in recent months. 

Adding insult to injury Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga claims that the new State Ministers will not become a burden on the country and that they will be drawing a salary entitled to a member of parliament. In the very minimum each State Minister is entitled to three cars with fuel, State housing, bodyguards, salaries for personal staff and their respective ministries would be incurring numerous other costs both directly and indirectly.

Whatever the nuts and bolts of the exact expenditure of these new appointments, it sends the worst possible message to the general public who are suffering under the weight of the economic collapse. In August, inflation for food items reached nearly 94% on a year-on-year basis, and transportation costs had increased by nearly 150%, according to data released by the Central Bank. In addition, the Government has increased taxes on goods and services while also increasing rates on utilities. Significantly more painful economic reforms will have to be made in the coming months in order to keep Sri Lanka afloat. Loss-making State sector enterprises will either be privatised, reformed or shut down. Subsidies and welfare would have to be curtailed. Hundreds of thousands of people are at the risk of losing their jobs and their livelihoods.

The current economic disaster was not caused by the public but due to the mismanagement and incompetence of elected leaders and public officials. Yet the general public are made to suffer and carry the burden of these mistakes. There is naturally resentment towards those who created this crisis which was amply demonstrated during protests to oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The demand from a vast majority of the protesters was not only the removal of Rajapaksa and his family but a comprehensive system change in governance. 

This included holding public officials accountable for their actions, reducing waste and addressing corruption. All these demands have been discarded by the current administration. The very individuals who are accused of phenomenal corruption, political violence and incompetent governance under the Gotabaya administration have now been given ministerial posts. This is in addition to the 20 Cabinet ministers who count among their ranks convicted criminals.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe does not have a people’s mandate to hold his post. Despite being legally elected by Parliament in 2022 he was comprehensively rejected by the people in 2020, losing his own seat in Parliament only to appoint himself through the National List. Such a leader should be particularly conscious about public sentiment and popular will of the people. By expanding his Government, for what are clearly political reasons to appease members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the President has further undermined his own legitimacy. 

Expanding State sector expenditure at a time the Government should be doing the very opposite and winning the confidence of the public who are enduring enormous economic hardships, is the worst example that is possible at this juncture. The consequences of disregarding public sentiments can be painful for the political leadership and catastrophic for the country in the difficult months and years ahead.