Transparency key in unsolicited proposals

In an unusual move, 11 political parties affiliated with the Government, represented by several Members of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers, have voiced their concerns over a decision made by the Cabinet to transfer 40% of the shares of the Yugadanavi Power Plant to New Fortress Energy (NFE), a company based in the United States. According to news reports, the company is also due to supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for a period of five years to Sri Lanka. The agreement may be expanded to build an offshore Floating Storage Regasification Unit and a pipeline to supply LNG to the power plant in the future.

Minister Wimal Weerawansa is leading the charge against the move from within the Government. Weerawansa claims that Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa had obtained approval for this agreement without following due process. He alleges that there was hardly a discussion within the Cabinet before the deal was approved. Leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, Minister Udaya Gammanpila, alleges that the agreement to purchase LNG from NFE was entered into by the Government while a tender had already been opened for the same purpose with several bids being evaluated. In effect, the allegation is that NFE, which submitted an unsolicited proposal, had managed to circumvent the tender process due to interference by the Finance Minister.  

There is much to unpack in these latest developments. Undoubtedly there has been a lapse in due process for approving the deal. However, the bona fides of the ‘champions’ now rising against the decision are also suspicious. They seem more motivated by anti-American sentiment than ensuring transparency and addressing corruption. During a press event by the 11 Government affiliated parties termed as the ‘People’s Council,’ Minister Weerawansa called the United States an “inimical country” while Gammanpila, true to form, linked the commercial agreement to yet another international conspiracy. “If they (Americans) keep Sri Lanka in the dark and demand action to be taken against our war heroes, what can we do? If they demand that we bring in a federal constitution, what can we do?” Gammanpila said. Such assertions are ludicrous and do not merit rebuttal here. It is no secret that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a US citizen until at least April 2019. His immediate family members are American citizens who live and work there. Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and his family are all US citizens.

These are undisputed facts in the public domain, and it is to this almost ‘All-American’ family as it were, that Weerawansa, Gammanpila and other Government insiders opposed to the LNG deal, happily hitched their wagon to attain political power. It was for this all-American family that Ministers Weerawansa and Gammanpila rallied the masses to vote.

If the US is an enemy state, then why was it not inimical to Sri Lanka’s interests to openly campaign to make a recent citizen of the US the president, and allow a current citizen to be appointed Finance Minister?

It is further understood that there are other interested parties and countries involved in the deal to provide LNG which also begs the question regarding the selective outburst of the Weerawansa-Gammanpila group against this particular agreement. It is therefore wise for the public to view these latest champions of transparency and due process with some suspicion.  

Irrespective of motives in this particular case, however, there are glaring issues concerning the manner in which public finances are being handled by the Executive. In order to handle such unsolicited proposals, a few years ago it was proposed that Sri Lanka adopt the ‘Swiss challenge’ procedure in Government procurement. Under a Swiss Challenge procedure, an innovative unsolicited proposal made by a company to the Government is made public, and other competitors are given a chance to match it. The original firm itself may be allowed to give a lower bid in some countries.

Rather than debate the merits of this particular case, it would be wise for the Government, whose reputation is grievously, if not fatally, ruined by massive corruption scandals at the highest levels, to devise a transparent system to deal with unsolicited proposals in the future.