Rajitha smokes his war pipe over Mangala’s Chinese cigarette plan
Minister threatens to commit political hara-kiri over fag issue
rettes imported through informal channels. Therefore, it’s better to let cigarette imports through proper channels, which would also allow the government to earn revenue.”
He has a point there, of course. According to a recent research report, the government was estimated to have lost Rs. 18 billion in cigarette tax revenue in 2017, as a record 583 million illicit cigarettes were estimated to have been smuggled into the country in that year.
The same logical point can be used to justify giving legal cover to the import of drugs merely because those charged with preventing entry fail in their task.
He further said: “Sri Lanka is a free country, and if someone who is in the right legal age wants to consume foreign branded cigarettes, they should be able to do so.”
Rajitha's stance is that such an open door policy would further the hazards of the nation’s health. He said: “The government already spends twice the amount of money it received as tax revenue from cigarettes to treat those who suffered various illnesses resulting from smoking.”
But whilst the Health Minister is talking of the hazards to the nation’s health to win more accolades at World Health Forums and the Finance Minister is expounding his liberal bohemian philosophy to ‘ live and let live’ none is talking of the economic damage that is being done and will be done to the nation’s economy if Mangala opens the floodgates to foreign fags, be it Chinese or otherwise or Rajitha wills to ban smoking altogether.
First let’s consider Rajitha’s obsession with the evils of smoking. His pet hobby horse has been to warn the danger of smoking as being a primary cause of heart disease and how much it costs the Health Ministry each year as a result of it.
But is that correct. Or is it highly exaggerated. Does smoking drain the Health Ministry’s budget to the extent Rajitha wants us to believe? Or is he, disguising with statistics, blurring the real picture to promote himself as Lanka’s Vizier in the World’s fashionable elite eyes, to be the Lancelot of their admiration?
Take for instance: What was the budget allocated to the health sector in 2018?
A total of Rs. 178 billion rupees. That is not only for the Health Ministry which is under his present purview but also for the Indigenous Health Ministry. With this Rs. 178 billion, all doctors, nurses and staff salaries have to be paid, the bills for all medicines have to be met, building and medical equipment maintenance, the building of new hospitals – in short the whole gamut of Lanka’s free health service was done last year with this allocation of Rs. 178 billion, not only in the western health sector but also the Ayurvedic sector. And what was the contribution made by the cigarette industry in the same year, in 2018, to the government treasury in taxes: Rs. 125 billion.
And what’s the deficit? Rs 52 billion. People seek medical treatment anyway, whether they smoke or not. Unlike non smoking Government Ministers who take the first flight to Singapore when an attack storms their heart at Government expense, the poor of this country have to make do with the resources available.. If this Rs. 125 billion contributed as taxes each year on average by the tobacco sector was not available, will it not force the Government to seek the sum as loans from elsewhere?
It's time to call Minister Rajitha’s bluff. And drill him further to provide hard evidence as to the the correlation between the cost of smoking and the cost of the entire health service in this country. The public are peddled with this inane argument that the health service is crippled and lacks funds because people having to be treated for smoke related diseases of the heart, drain the financial fluid from the Health Budget. And that, if not for this vice, all would be hunky dory. Then say, Mr. Rajitha Senaratne what caused your woe, why the non smoker you are, made you go to Singapore?
He is on record saying that the unregulated Beedi is better for health than the regulated cigarette. Wonder on what WHO evidence he said it?
What gave him the empirical evidence to boost the humble rustic hand rolled unregulated beedi? The beedi comes without health warnings. It comes now with a ministerial certificate when the Health Minister declared beedi is better for the health than the cigarette. Perhaps it’s his preferred brand that, as far as tobacco is concerned, brings the least to the state’s coffers but perhaps fill the pockets of others. But no talk of banning that. No, that is s master’s choice. By Royal Appointment.
Now take Mangala, the Finance Minister. The egalitarian, liberal Minister whose forthrightness in many matters is much to be admired. Whilst others play to the gallery, he sings to the stalls. Unfortunately for him he has that incorrigible tendency to shoot from the hip and to miss the bull’s eye. And often end up getting his own foot shot by his own boomeranging bullet.
He said: “Sri Lanka is a free country, and if someone who is in the right legal age wants to consume foreign branded cigarettes, they should be able to do so.”
Fine. Why ever not? Bit whilst we can appreciate the Bohemian lifestyle and clap the liberal attitude the question must be posed: The nation cannot live on liberal cake however one’s fancy may take to it but has to survive on coarse bread to feed the masses gnawing hunger.
Thus as the Finance Minister of this country when he announced his willingnessness to open the floodgates to Chinese cigarettes did he not realise the immense damage he would cause to the local tobacco industry.
Perhaps, it’s time again to refresh his memory.
As the SUNDAY PUNCH commented on June 2nd, two days after his announcement of giving the green light to the Chinese cigarette invasion:
The cigarette industry contributes to the government treasury in taxes: Rs. 125 billion.
it’s not only the Rs. 125 billion it contributed last year – if one takes the last ten years it has contributed Rs 815 billion.
The tobacco industry provides direct and indirect employment to over 200,00 people They comprise the vast network of hundreds of wholesalers, thousands of retailers, leaf purchasers, local; suppliers and others down the chain whose life, whose livelihood, whose businesses are positively impacted to the benefit of the nation’s economic health.
The livelihood of over 20,000 farmers who engage in the cultivation of tobacco and face the threat of having the sod cut under their feet by Sirisena who declared his intention last year to totally ban tobacco cultivation in the year 2020 – provided, of course, he is optimistic enough to believe he will be returned as president by the masses and can execute his threat.
And this is the golden goose the Health Minister for reasons of his own swears to strangulate, the local industry the Finance Minister intends to enfeeble by opening the floodgates to cheap Chinese cigarettes whilst living off its beefy contribution to the national coffers.
But where there’s smoke there’s fire. That’s probably why cigarette packs carry a hazard warning.
Taking umbrage at the Mangala’s announcement that he intended to let the cigarette barons in to foul the island air with smoke, the newly appointed World Health Organization’s Field Marshall to the entire Asia Pacific Region, Rajitha Senaratne couldn’t stand the prospect of inhaling not only the expected smoke but suffer the insult doled out to his new fangled position as the anti smoking war lord of the region. Not even three weeks at his post and Chinese fags assail him.
And what does he do. He delivers an ultimatum to his own government and gives the order to the Finance Minister to stop the Chinese fag invasion. With his new found WHO badge of being in command of the Asian Pacific Region, he says : “There are only 6,000 Chinese workers in Sri Lanka at the moment and there are around 10,000 Indian workers in the country. What will happen if the Indian workers too demand that they need to smoke their own country brands? In addition there are Russian and many other nationalities working here. If we permit the Chinese brands then others too will demand their brands. It will lead to chaos.”
And then goes on to demand of the government: "I will not let anyone import Chinese cigarettes and if that happens, sitting in the Cabinet will be problematic for me. I will resign.”
Sadly, for him, no one cares a damn. Though many around the cabinet table would have gladly offered him the sword to commit political hara-kiri had he only but asked for one. If he had looked at the Prime Minister for support, answer came there none. That perhaps is understandable for the Prime Minister would not have wished to make a drama out of smoke between his two able ministers. He would have with patience waited for the smoke to dissipate and vanish into thin air.
But more surprisingly, when Rajitha looked to the Worshipful Master, the president of the Masonic anti smoking Lodge for support to come to the aid of his lifelong cause and vocation apart from filling and drilling teeth, neither did answer come. Both Prime Minister and President, it appears absorbed the moment in disdainful silence.
How ironic – and how sad, isn’t it - that the anti smoking champion Rajitha Senaratne who has claimed that cigarettes had led to the death of many a man should himself willingly lay down his political life and will his political death for the sake of a Chinese fag?