The ceaseless chatter of demons mock people’s sovereignty

Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectful, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
- George Orwell

Since the day the Local Government election results were out, the entire political landscape has assumed the form of a circus or a roadshow, with politicians from the national level to the LG level itself, engaged in an exercise bent on either grabbing or securing power , based on which side of the divide they are in. If universal franchise was one of the main components of the sovereignty of the people as the Constitution envisages, by all means it has little role to pay in what has unfolded so far.   

It has been a ceaseless chatter of bragging, threatening, defaming, belittling etc. on the part of these characters who crowd Sri Lanka’s political stage. Media, to boot, has joined the fray, some times forgetting that they are there to report what unfolds and not to make things happen according to their whims and fancies. Needless to say that no other LG election ever had this type of fallout since we became a representative democracy. Yet what it clearly signifies is the quality of the democratic or representative systems in operation in this country.   

The mandate lost

The very people who claimed that they could not govern with rogues, in turn, were caught with rogues of a different banding in scheming out ways of consolidating power. While those who seemed to be precariously hanging by a thread in power, had very little in their minds in terms of upholding the good governance mandate that brought them to power in the first place. Despite the bravado and the smokescreen of decency employed, the politicians of this country have stripped themselves naked and shown that they have no integrity or interests of the people in mind when they engage in this stinky process of politicking.   

After 70 years of independence as well as representative democracy , what the people are left with a choice among the ugly , uglier and ugliest as has been sarcastically put by many a commentator; a choice of the lesser evils. Yet the word ‘lesser’ itself becomes questionable when the alleged evils amount to murder, suppression of rights, deceit, and plunder running up to billions of rupees.   

The dog fight 

We do not have a political discussion of any sort; what assails us is a dog fight for the bone of political office that the contenders fully know is a jackpot of ill gotten wealth. Political as well as public office has become possessed by a clan of demons whose greed and avarice has no limits. When the farmer who has obtained a meagre loan for his cultivation commits suicide , when the school student who cannot pay school fees opts to steal coconuts finally landing in remand prison and when mothers commit suicide with their infants due to starvation , these demons carry on merrily drawing blood from the nations wealth.   

A parliament which did not reflect the mandate of the people at that particular time continued for yet another 6 years.

They carry on merrily, with their amusing witticisms and garrulity, twisting what they said night before to what suits their interests the day after. The farce that was played right after the election results in the hill country with one of the traditional leaders of the estate Tamils embracing a politician from the former Presidents bandwagon and pledging support unconditionally , only to pledge support to the current President a few days later is a case in point. The question as to what the intention of the voter who voted for them is and whether it could be twisted and turned according to the greed of the politicians looms large.   

Making light work of sovereignty of the people

The sovereignty of the people has, indeed been denied, mocked and taken lightly time and again. In 1982 , the referendum ruse , or commonly known the kalagedi lampu sellama, denied the very basic right of the people of electing their representatives on a periodical basis. A parliament which did not reflect the mandate of the people at that particular time continued for yet another 6 years. The will of the people thus smothered found expression in the brutal Black July and the violent insurrection of 88-99. The 13th Amendment which thereafter became a pivotal point in relation to the ethnic issue was loaded on the people without their mandate and amidst violent protests. The elections held in 88-89 period was a caricature of the will of the people as the reign of terror kept hundreds of thousands of people in their homes without being able to express their will through their ballot. Again in the 2005 Presidential election , the denial of the Northern Tamil voter to express their will in electing a President for the country was yet another instance where the sovereignty of the citizenry was violated in broad daylight. The 18th amendment was brought about by fishing representatives in the Parliament to make up the 2/3 majority required by the constitution for such a change.   

All these instances stink with outright and blatant denial of the sovereign power of the people in governance through their ballot. The politicians who are responsible for these treacherous deeds against the people have not been held accountable for their misdeeds; worse still, the people have not called them in question as to how their sacrosanct right has been defiled and demanded restitution.   

Accountability, a figment of imagination 

The aftermath of the LG polls brings in to question the way we have been engaged in representative democracy; entrusting our sovereignty to individuals who are not accountable and transparent to the very citizenry whose sovereignty they claim to yield. A cosmetic change of the electoral system from proportional representation to the ward system as well as a mix of both are not going to cure the evils of greedy politics magnified by putrid party politics which do not hinge on democratic structures. Ensuring power at any cost seems to be the name of the game, with lofty promises given to the constituency taking a back seat.   

The 13th Amendment which thereafter became a pivotal point in relation to the ethnic issue was loaded on the people without their mandate and amidst violent protests

As things are unfolding , the voice of the people expressed through their ballot did not seem to be given expression in the choices the elected representatives and their party leaders are going to make; rather they seem to be egged on by all other motives but the interest of the people! Until and unless the civil society dares to defy the political power wielders in confronting them, demanding that they are held accountable and act in a manner that reflects the will exercised by ballot , through consistent and systematic pressure , the ceaseless chatter that mocks the citizenry is not going to end.   

Both in content as well as in form, what transpires is a ceaseless chatter of demons indeed!