Do or die moment for Sri Lanka

Monday, 21 December 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

This was the title of an article in last Friday’s FT. Similar articles have appeared before this on the same lines and one in particular on the same lines, was ‘Reform or Perish.’ All pertain to the latest budget which was presented less than a month ago and which renown economists have decried in one voice as sounding the death knell for Sri Lanka’s economy. (Trade unions and govi raalas are also baring their all; but no one takes them seriously because we all know who the clowns are behind that particular circus.) But the severity of the admonishments and warnings of respected economists obviously cannot be brushed aside because we all know that they are voicing what we all know: the budget is a disaster, so much so that many of its proposals have had to be scaled down, deferred or even withdrawn, to the extent that one wonders what remains! And, the Prime Minister broke new ground by telling parliament the other day of how the budget will be sweetened by new flavours and toppings. Why he did it and not the person who should have done it, is obvious.

The article in question quotes one Professor Razeen Sally who in his “scathing evaluation” of the budget has stated unequivocally that “the government needed to start putting the right people in the right places….”. He did not have to mention names; we all know whom he is referring to when he alludes that someone is, to put it kindly, a square peg in a round hole. As if that were not enough, Professor Sally goes on to say that even the Rajapaksa government had a better grasp of fiscal and monetary policy. Now, we all know how slippery that grasp was and that it is precisely that frail grasp that has landed our country in hot water today; so to have someone say that even that lot was better than this, is indeed saying a mouthful.

Why the Prime Minister gave precious portfolios to persons whom we, the public, knew had no capacity, capability or credibility to deliver, is best known to him. However, the Prime Minister also knows that the longer such people who are standing on their heads and performing with their hands and legs splayed, are allowed to continue, the noose tightens round his neck and obviously that of the Yahapaalanya government that we brought in, to restore our mother land to the glory that is hers. If the Prime Minister is unwilling to take the steps that are necessary to restore equilibrium and confidence, locally as well as internationally, immediately, then perhaps we got the government that we deserve. But our spirit and fervour for good times for our motherland will be undimmed, and next time, we shall avoid such howlers.

A patriot who wants nothing but the best for Sri Lanka

PS

On a related matter, if the Mayor of Colombo has stopped dressing to kill and dining in massive tents at our expense to ‘celebrate’ 150 years of the Colombo Municipality (we are agape at what he is celebrating about that defunct institution), will he please deign to have those offensive cut outs that are dangling at various angles from every lamp post, announcing that celebratory event and about which the homeless and the hungry are not at all amused, removed??