Mangala closes garage doors after MPs bolt with their cars
Suddenly there’s a visible change in the air. For the wind, that once blew through Caligula’s extravagant court, howled amidst Nero’s orgies, breezed through St Augustine’s monastery and peeped into the poverty clad order of St. Francis of Assisi, has chosen to visit these island shores to blow deep into politicians nostrils and recommend to them that the time had come to choose between Caligula and Augustine, between Nero and St. Francis.
The only question is: has that much-travelled wind come too late to make a meaningful change? Whether it would have been far better and more profitable for it to have lashed its gusts against the Pidurangala rock and enjoyed the Backside Boys in action or taken its breeze next door and visited the topless damsels of Sigiriya rather than let off steam and expend its energy by banging against the ear drums of ministers in a bid to blow some life and sense into their attics?
One minister it would probably have visited may have been the Hon. Mangala Samaraweera at his picturesque Bolgoda residence. But, however much it may have banged the doors or tried to creep in through some open window, it seems that it did not succeed blowing into the Honourable Minister’s ears the folly of extravagance it had witnessed at Caligula’s Court and the pathetic extreme of excessive poverty as it had seen in some reclusive saint’s ashram; and thus denied audience fled away frustrated to some other eastern shore like Singapore to receive a more welcome ear as to the virtue of moderation.
But though sagacious advise may have gone with the wind, yet one senses it may have left something of note behind at Bolgoda Lake, except it cometh belated to be of any value.
Out of all the ministers in the pantheon of Maithripala Sirisena’s cabinet the ever shining light of liberalism is, without doubt, Mangala Samaraweera. But whilst he may consider himself to be the Ganapathy of wisdom, his duty as the Finance Minister of the country to be the Lakshmi of the nation’s prosperity leaves much to be desired and has cast him in bad light.
Gas prices raised. Hoppers up. Rail fares raised. Food prices up. Cost of living up. Not good. At least the Lankan rupee was hitting six after six against the US dollar as if it was playing a twenty-twenty on an economic ground specially prepared for Lanka’s batsmen to take the scoreboard to a new high. As Trump would put it: Not good.
Mangala Samaraweera, no doubt, would have realised, that this state of affairs could not go on for long. And that sacrifices would have to be made. Realised that austerity was the call of the hour to curb this absurd run rate. And that the example had to be set from the top. Last week he announced that from next year forth, no duty free permits would be granted to any of the 225 members in parliament. Good. Jolly Good.
For far too long has this government encouraged the practice of allowing MP’s to import vehicles free of duty and sell it overnight to another and make a cool profit of thirty million overnight.
Except for one thing. By the time he strolled out to close the garage doors, all 225 cars had been taken out. Plus another three.
■As he would have found to his horror in the garage log:
■228 members have accepted permits.
■The additional permits have been for Piyasena Gamage (Galle District, in place of Geetha Kumarasinghe who was unseated.) Mohamed Shariff Thowfeek, SLMC MP who was appointed in January 2016 place of Dr. A. R. A. Hafeez who resigned from his National List seat in January 2016 after serving from August 2015.
■UNP National List MP M.H.M. Salman resigned in January 2018 having served as a MP from 2015 August and in his place A.L.M. Nazeer was sworn in as MP in February this year.
■Sarath Fonseka was appointed as a National List MP in February 2016 in place of Lands Minister M.K.A.D.S. Gunawardena who passed away. ■All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) National List MP M.H.M. Navavi reisgned in May 2018 and
■South Eastern University Former Vice Chancellor Dr. S.M.M.Ismail was an MP in June this year.
And that only the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had not made use of this perk.
So according to the Minister’s dictate, come next year, no duty-free permits will be issued to any MPs. No problem there. No opposition by any of the members of the House. For there will be no takers. For what has to be taken has already been taken and immediately converted to cash.
Well, as they say, austerity, like charity, must start from somewhere. What better place than from the august home of the people’s representatives?
In less than two years, a new Parliament will be elected. And another 225 members, most of them wearing the same mugs as they do today, will be in line for another round of duty free permits to be sold overnight and collect a cool net profit of over thirty million each.