Govt. missing the wood for trees 

Cabinet Spokesman Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa announced this week that the Government plans to lease 24 bungalows and official residences formerly used by Government Ministers to private investors and international organisations. Based on recommendations from a special Officers’ Committee, these prime properties will be repurposed for embassies, diplomatic missions, international organisations, and high-end boutique hotels or restaurants, Dr. Jayatissa announced.

The properties will be offered on a 30-year lease basis under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. 

There is no clarity what these bungalows are, but it  is easy to guess they will mostly be those located in prime locations in Colombo where most of the official residences are.

The JVP-led ruling NPP is averse to any kind of lifestyle they feel is too extravagant and hence the obsession with doing away with salaries, pensions  and official residence  etc.  After doing away with the pensions and official residences of  the former presidents,  there is a bill pending  to do away with the pensions of Members of Parliament. 

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake obviously feels safe and comfortable lodging at the JVP’s head office  in Pelawatta and that is his personal choice but official residences which belong to the State and not to any political party, are there for high ranking officials, elected and in the bureaucracy, military etc. to reside in while they hold office. There is a reason for this, particularly the security of such persons as well as providing them with lodging that is befitting of the position they hold. Not every person who becomes the country’s president or prime minister or a minister in the future can live in their party headquarters so handing over officials residences for a 30-year

 period  by a party that has been elected for five years and has only four more years in office is not a wise or right decision.

Look at the plight of MPs under this Government. Many in the ruling side, a majority first time MPs, are forced to share lodging at the Madiwela MPs hostel  and have been denied an official residence where they can live with their families. There are many  former JVP MPs drawing pensions and with the Government plans to abolish that, many will be left with no income. The hypocrisy in all this is that the 

current President and many in his Cabinet who were MPs were all drawing salaries and pensions all these years. For all its preaching on austerity, never has any one of the JVP MPs said no to a salary, pension, duty free vehicle permits or the official residences at Madiwela when in Opposition. 

Now this decision to hand over official residence to private sector entities. These are some bungalows which are over 100 years old and hence come under the Archaeology Act. Hence there could be legal issues regarding these. Some houses are located in high security zones where senior military, police, judicial and administrative sector officials reside and hence there is the need to be mindful of such concerns as well. 

The NPP, so far, is a Government that is missing the wood for the trees.  After more than a year in office, it is still dragging its feet on repealing  the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Online Safety Act. Talk of a new Constitution gets dangled before the public from time to time as a distraction. Its education reforms are a mess while the health sector is  struggling. Electricity price hikes are on the cards while there has been no reduction in fuel prices despite promises. And amidst all this the public are expected  to be happy because the new set of ministers don’t live in an official residence.