House of Horrors

With the political cum constitutional crisis deadlocked between the country’s two main political entities – the United National Party (and its allies) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party/Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna combine, the focus shifts next week to a resolution through the Supreme Court.

However, whether a decision by the court on December 7 after hearing submissions by pro– and anti-dissolution of Parliament protagonists on December 4-6 would be adhered to or parties would continue to stick to their guns in Parliament, remains to be seen.

While the crisis has spilled into its second month and there are desperate moves to end the parliamentary stalemate, the problems affect everyone including the man on the street.

“Hemathanama kathawenne parliamenthuwe prashne-gena (Everywhere the discussion is about the Parliamentary crisis),” said Kussi Amma Sera, bringing in the cup of morning tea. “Ehemai, ehemai (Yes, yes),” I replied, acknowledging the steaming cup of tea on Thursday.

Kussi Amma Sera, with her friends missing for their usual Thursday morning chit-chat under the Margosa tree, had got her rice and curry mix just right this morning, after weeks of messing up in the kitchen – just like the chaos in Parliament!

Was this (getting things right) a sense of the Parliamentary crisis coming to an end? Hopefully, the Margosa club conversation might have more positive things to discuss next week because no one – in their right mind – would want to see the country slide into further disaster.

In the meantime, the events next week with the Supreme Court examining petitions declaring that the Presidential order of a dissolution of Parliament and calling early elections violated Sri Lankan laws, could decide the fate of the fury and thunder of Parliament which saw many ugly scenes last week. The fights were so ugly that one bystander dubbed the legislature the ‘House of Horrors’. There have been a few videos doing the rounds on social media about how many other Parliaments elsewhere have broken out into fights and many worse-case scenarios. However two wrongs don’t make a right and this doesn’t justify what happened in Sri Lanka’s case.

Yearning for a conversation with friends on the crisis, it was with delight that I picked up the phone when Pedris Appo called. The man, whose name is short for Appuhamy, is a retired agriculture expert who does his own farming and has often bemoaned the lack of technological progress in this sector.

But today his conversation was on anything but agriculture. “I say … this Parliamentary crisis is killing the country. From what I hear, foreign investors who had plans to invest are having second thoughts while consumer confidence has also dipped,” he said.

“You are right, who will want to invest in a scenario where officials are not sure whether they are coming or going,” I said. Due to the uncertainty, the Government has decided to make a series of acting appointments – rather than permanent ones – with officials of ministries being placed in acting positions at the head of key state corporations and state-owned institutions like SriLankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Tourism.

“These are really troubled times for Sri Lanka and should concern everyone as no one, irrespective of whichever party you support, would want the country to sink,” he said, a view that I fully endorsed. We then got into a long conversation about the crisis, its beginnings and the lack of statesmen-like conduct by parliamentarians.

The crisis was also brought to the fore by an eminent panel of business professionals during a discussion on ‘Managing a business during turbulent times’ at the monthly meeting of the Sunday Times Business Club on Wednesday at the Kingsbury Colombo.

The three panellists spoke at length on managing a business during this crisis and referred to three issues plus one (coming soon) that has gripped the business community. These are sagging consumer confidence and sentiment since last year, a rapidly depreciating rupee over the past 12 months and the political and constitutional crisis. Topping this is that with 2019 going to be an election year, consumer confidence would further dampen in addition to spillover effects from the current parliamentary crisis.

Here are other key points that emerged at the Business Club discussion:

Retail challenges began last year due to falling consumer sentiment. Furthermore, just before the current crisis, people were not looking forward to 2019 which means falling consumer confidence has got affected further.

The crisis is beyond anyone’s control. But businesses have

to face up to this economic, political and social challenge. When the consumer gets affected, cash flows get affected. SMEs are suffering the most and many are closing down as they cannot sustain without cash flows. Banks and leading companies have been affected.

The crisis occurs when every 20th of the month businesses need to find money to pay salaries. The challenge is for businesses to have cash in the bank and make an effort to retain staff.

Don’t lose confidence, businesses need to be courageous

enough to face the challenges.

The next three months will be turbulent even after the crisis

is over; this is when the spillover effect happens.

Attracting FDIs? A tremendous challenge. No one is going to

invest in an environment where policies are uncertain.

Business challenges during turbulent times also bring about a social challenge. Business leaders should also take responsibility to drive social change and make politicians accountable for their actions and behaviour.

There is a need for non-political social movements to rise up like environment and save wildlife lobbies that have steered clear of political influence but are powerful in creating change.

With 2019 designated an election year – provincial councils, presidential poll and now a possible parliamentary poll -- the spillover effects of the present crisis including the impact of the depreciation of the rupee will have a debilitating influence on business and the sooner this crisis comes to an end, the better.

Just as I was winding up this week’s column, a good neighbour passing by shouted out to Kussi Amma Sera who was sweeping the front garden: “Ah Nurse Nona, kohomada-wedey … ape manthrila-ge sellung (Look at the games being played by our parliamentarians).” The reference to “Nurse Nona” was affectionately taken from an evergreen baila song titled ‘Nurse Nona’.

Thus, as politicians from all hues and shades decide whether to attend Parliament or not, the country totters from one crisis to another and is on the brink of disaster. What a tragedy for a country recovering after nearly 25 years of conflict and was on the path to post-war recovery with a long-awaited tourism promotion campaign to be unrolled next year.