PB’s plea to all Govt Servants: Give us this day your monthly pay

Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundera has made the most extraordinary gesture three weeks ago on April 17 of donating his entire May salary, the Presidential Secretariat’s website revealed this week.

The donation, which includes his allowances for May, has been made to the Government’s Widows and Orphans Social Security Contributions.

He joins the exclusive club of Lanka’s greatest philanthropists who have rushed to donate their meagre livelihood to save the cash strapped nation in her dire hour. In fairness to others who made such supreme sacrifices, it must go on record that Minister Dulles Allahaperuma donated his entire ministerial salary on April 7 while Minister Gamini Lokuge donated Rs 10 million on the same date. On April 23, it was announced that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had agreed, together with the rest of the cabinet, to donate his salary with the entire cabinet.

Ah, as it is said, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man should sacrifice his monthly wages for his government.’

So far, so good. After all, it’s understandable that the donor should brag about his most noble and exemplary act. But when he, as the secretary to the president, asks all public servants to donate their monthly pay or even half of it to the Government, it causes a sudden rush of goosebumps. Especially when he starts reeling facts and figures to justify his plea. You realise then, he is not asking for charity but for government survival till the next full moon.

Read what he has to say when he asks more than 1,500,000 government servants for their pay packet for May.

In his letter he has requested all government servants to donate their salary for May, fully or partially, to the government, taking into consideration the crisis faced by the country.

‘If all public servants do so by half of their salary to their own widows and dependents, the Government revenue will increase by about Rs.50 billion and expenditure will decline by Rs.50 billion, thereby budget deficit by Rs.100 billion in one month.’

On 5 May, the plea was sent to all ministry secretaries, provincial, district and divisional secretaries, heads of department, corporations, state banks, state owned enterprises and statutory bodies. The letter implored all government servants to donate their salaries or half of it stating, ‘the current crisis has dried up government income and the government is under great stress to pay back foreign debt.’

On Friday, Minister Bandula Gunawardena of ‘dengue is no different from COVID’ infame, attempted to gloss the issue by stating: ‘Jayasundera had made this request, during the Vesak week, with good intentions. The Secretary to the President, in his letter, had clearly shown the dire economic situation faced by the country and government servants have the right not to donate their salaries.’

First, Vesak has nothing to do with it, since the plea was first made on 17 April. Second, the Mass Media Minister was stating the obvious when he said ‘government servants have a right not to donate their salaries.’

Or have they still? Has the coronavirus crisis cast its shadow on that right too and darkened it? And, following Jayasundera’s letter, the Miltonic question on the public lips:

‘Doth the Government exact month labour, salary denied?’