Opposition stalwarts say Govt. faces dollar crisis and bankruptcy
Ranjit Madduma Bandara, the General Secretary of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), the main opposition in Parliament, responded to questions on some of the current issues which his party says are “heaping heavy burdens on the people.” Here are edited excerpts:
STATE OF THE ECONOMY:
The
Government is cash strapped. It does not have the money even to purchase fuel. It has banned the import of fertiliser. The agriculture minister is yet unaware that a ship containing fertiliser is anchored at the Colombo Port. It is a shame the Government has not been able to efficiently carry out the vaccination campaign for COVID-19. There is an acute shortage of medicinal drugs. To cover up its shortcomings, the Government has begun to oppress people who carry out peaceful protests.
FIRE ON BOARD X-PRESS PEARL: It has caused enormous environmental damage. We raised issue in Parliament. We are suspicious of the Government’s actions. There is now an envelope of secrecy over this incident. Are there persons wanting to make commissions out of this disaster? What about the sad loss of marine life? What about the loss of the livelihood of fishermen.
ON PUBLIC COMPLAINTS THAT THE SJB IS NOT PLAYING ITS ROLE AS A MAJOR OPPOSITION PARTY:
We are the ones speaking out. We are championing causes on behalf of the people. This is both in Parliament and outside.
Edited highlights of JVP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s comments:
THE CEYLON PETROLEUM CORPORATION: It had a monopoly of importing, refining, mixing, storing and distributing fuel. But in 2003, under a special provision act, the Government gave the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) a licence to import, store and distribute fuel for 20 years. That licence period ends in December of 2023; then IOC will be unable to bring or distribute fuel. Now Minister Udaya Gammanpila wants to remove that monopoly and to give licence to companies.
Selendiva was gazetted under the Prime Minister? We have a fair suspicion about it. It was created through a cabinet paper issued by the Finance Ministry, but currently the Selendiva instituion comes under the Prime Minister’s purview. I think that Sri Lanka’s money they illegally amassed and took abroad would be called through the Selendiva institute. I suspect this because foreigners would not make a big investment in that. A Sri Lankan would buy it, but foreigners have no interest in buildings such as York Street buildings or the old General Post Office. If many institutes that are currently operational are to be handed over to Selendiva, those institutes should be given through a parliamentary act. However, this was established through a cabinet paper. Some of the powerful state institutes such as the Investment Logistic Institute were established from a cabinet paper. However, Ratna-Lanka was established through an act.
To this (Selendiva) we are handing over state property, those are the buildings that to date belong to state Hotel Corporation and the Urban Development Authority. Those are state institutes that had been created through parliamentary acts. The State Hotel Corporation and the Urban Development Authority were created under an act. Now the property that came under the act has been handed over to other institutes via a cabinet paper. If so, that new institute should also be established through a parliamentary act.
FUEL IMPORTS: The fuel consumption increased due to lack of public transportation during to pandemic. According to their (government) next scheduled-term contract petrol (fuel) ship arrives on July 22 or 23. However the Petroleum Corporation said petrol stocks would be over by July 19. Therefore, it called for a spot tender to bring 20,000 metric tonnes of petrol. There were no dollars, therefore tender was cancelled. Then the Government had talks with the scheduled term contract fuel ship that was to arrive on July 22 or 23 and arranged for the ship to come on July 19.
According to my knowledge they have spoken to the chairman of Reliance Company in India to bring the secluded ship earlier. This shows that Sri Lanka is in a risky situation.
LETTERS OF CREDIT PILING UP: According to information received, The Bank of Ceylon and the People’s Bank have large amount of letters of credits to be opened, yet they have not been opened. There are a lot of goods to be brought into the country. Businessmen are making requests but approval is granted some three months after the requests are made.
The next biggest issue in the economy is regarding the interest. The Government is only providing a four percent interest for deposits. The rate of inflation is 6.3 (the highest rate). When the situation is such, the money deposited in banks loses the real value. The people who understand this learn that depositing money in banks is useless. This has caused the people to take money deposited in banks. Therefore the bank economy also faces a risk.
Therefore, our country’s economy is in a sinkhole, where change of persons in charge of the ministry cannot do much of change. What actually should be done is that the Government should make an announcement in parliament about the country’s situation. Then get into to general discussion and find solutions.
This is not a crash of a family business but of our country. Therefore the general discussion must take place, or the country may face an economy crash.
We think that if that doesn’t happen, they (government or regime) would again sell more national resources and take more loans under different conditions.
The Government is carrying out a repression campaign against trade unions. To repress trade unions, it is using the Covid-19 pandemic and the Quarantine Act which comes under the Director General of Health Service. Under the act, travel restrictions can be implemented while giving health advice to people. But the Act is now being used to suppress protests staged against the Government.
The police media unit recently claimed the Director General of Health Services had said that the protests and protest marches were contributing to the spread of Covid. Therefore, they should be stopped. But, the health authorities claim they have not given such advice to the police. There is no advice given specifically on protests, but with regard to weddings, funerals and work, there are general rules and regulations. The Government is using the pandemic to violate the constitutional right of the people to protest. In the world it is unheard that quarantining to be a form of punishment, but here they are doing that.
A person should be taken to a quarantine centre only on a Public Health Inspector’s (PHI) recommendation. Police officials have no right to take people for quarantine. However, without PHI recommendations, police are quarantining people. That is foam of abduction. Some trade union leaders have been subjected to that. Those unions have held more protests to call for the release of their leaders. Apart from that, in those sectors, salary anomalies have also not been resolved. People are protesting due to economy issues. That is part of democracy. Therefore, the Government should stop the repression. Unless the Government stops the trade union hunt, it cannot stop protests. Our trade union movement is giving leadership to the trade union action and the protests could get more serious.
FERTILISER ISSUE: If we can move from chemical fertiliser to organic fertiliser, it is good. During the presidential election campaign, the President in the first meeting promised to give fertiliser free of charge. In his manifesto it is said that the Government would convert the chemical fertiliser usage into organic fertiliser usage within 10 years. However, suddenly the government on April 28, 2021 banned the import of chemical fertiliser. The main reason was the lack of dollars to import the fertiliser.
COVID PANDEMIC: I think, the Covid pandemic must be handled by the health officials as it is their duty. They should be the main force while the military should play a supportive role. We are using the military for the full process. The health officials, therefore, did not take their responsibility seriously. Secondly, a lot of military officials are put into state institutes. This set up hasfailed.
An army general was appointed to the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), but price control or justice for the people has not come from that authority. There were reports that army was going to buy paddy, yet there was no control of rice prices or any paddy purchases. We learned there were many frauds and corrupt activities at Customs, many thought the appointment of military official would change this. Yet there is no report that it happened and there has been no increase in revenue.
The Agriculture Ministry had a secretary who was a military official. He too had to resign. Those who are appointed to top posts should have experience and talent to handle the subject. The military ideology has not given expected outcome.
Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, now the only UNP bonus seat MP in Parliament, said in a recorded statement circulated through the social media:
“We are now in the middle of a foreign exchange crisis. In the banks there are no dollars as you know the banks are in debt to foreign banks. The amounts have not been disclosed by the Central Bank,but I am told that it comes to about three billion dollars. Then debts alone come to about4.3 billion dollars.
We have in our reserves aboutthree billion dollars. Of which more thana billion will be utilized to settle the bonds by the end of the year. What are we left with?This is a major foreign exchange crisis we have. So, no imports are allowed. Parents cannot pay the fees of their children studying abroad. Similarly, we cannot bring in fertilizer. This whole organic fertilizeris just a cover for Government’s bankruptcy. There is an oil tanker in port we can't buy the dollars to pay the oil tanker. We have limited money that is why all the vaccines we have limited to those over the age of 30. Others do not have any vaccines. We are facing a serious situation. No one has given us money…”
PRESSURE ON TRADE UNIONS: APPOINTMENT OF MILITARY OFFICERS: