Listen to the people; they want a responsible Govt . not partisan politics

The government is now driving the ordinary people of Lanka to desperation and the edge of anarchy. The people deprived of the basics such as energy, power, transport, medical supplies, food at reasonable prices are also being denied the freedom of expression and right to gather for peaceful demonstration. Curbs, later removed, were imposed on social media last weekend. Arbitrary arrests and detention of young men, women and others engaged in protests within democratic rights brought out volunteers from the legal fraternity, some with high credentials to offer their services in their defence.

As widely acknowledged, it is the worst socio-economic crisis since Independence in 1948. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country is in a state of solvency with unsustainable public debt and double digit inflation galloping to an all-time highest in Asia. A loose monetary policy, gross mismanagement of the economy has led to the sovereign debt crisis where gross reserves have been allowed to reach a critically low and insufficient level to cover even near term debt service needs and imports.

The Government is entirely to blame for the immediate series of policy blunders in the crucial areas of agriculture, debt repayment, foreign exchange management, prepandemic cuts to taxation and revenue, lack of timely recourse to debt re-structuring, domestic economic restructuring rationalization, IMF negotiations etc.

What else could the people expect when around 75% of the Government budget and important portfolios pivotal to the development of the country were managed by one family who are not in the least qualified for the job.

Can this nation afford to wait another couple of years for a General Election and a Presidential Election under continued misrule and mismanagement? What should the people of Sri Lanka do? Should they not unite against a common cause and erect a stronghold of solidarity for a common purpose? Changing the political pillow from time to time and finding that each party betrays its trust is the proverbial experience of the electorate.

Let us not deceive ourselves. As patriotic citizens, we must eschew partisan politics.

In the run-up to the last Presidential Elections, there were those who sought political patronage for themselves and their kin. And it is a fact that prior to the last Presidential Election none of the candidates of the two major parties had the courage and political integrity to tell the people where the country lay in its path towards solvency and propose measures however unpopular to gain financial stability! Today Sri Lanka would not be in this parlous state, if they had not engaged in populist policies and declarations, each trying to woo the masses with wasteful promises and entrenching the nation further in a vicious debt cycle and mounting inflation.

Today, the call of the ordinary people, across the island is plain. They want a responsible government which can restore the basic amenities, manage the economy efficiently, and cease frittering away the country’s resources on foreign powers and corrupt deals.

Playing partisan politics in this game will set us back at zero. If we are to give democracy a chance, let the people march to remove the Rajapaksa government and put in place instead a representative interim government: a National Government that will only take into account the restoration of the freedom, dignity and glory of our Resplendent Island and not plot and employ narrow partisan interests to gain political power. Sonali Wijeratne Via email