Fuel shortages, spiraling costs, falling wages and corruption - EDITORIAL

Sri Lanka is in the grip of simultaneous fuel and food crises, brought on by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused a downturn in tourism and led to a shortage of foreign currency. To make matters worse, President Gotabaya in his wisdom suddenly decided to ban the import of chemical fertilizer, weedicide, herbicides et al on the pretext of greening the country.
Everyone realized the president’s decision was based on a belated realization where the country was not in possession of sufficient foreign currency.
Rather than taking his countrymen and women into confidence, he thought of fooling them one more time by making grandiose statements of immediately making the country’s agriculture green. Sadly, the president had not realized that even the country’s biggest exchange earner – tea and rubber - are dependent on agro-chemicals. He also failed to realize that rice, the staple food of the masses is still dependent on chemical-based fertilizer.

Resultantly, today we are faced with an additional problem – a chronic shortage of even basic food items.
To make a bad situation even worse, last month (mid-June), the government abruptly restricted fuel supplies and told residents to stay home, amid a severe fuel and gas shortage, also caused by a lack of foreign exchange and bringing the apparel trade, another of the country’s main three exchange earners to its knees. It has also resulted in the education of children being brought to a halt – as a result of lack of transport caused by a shortage of fuel.
In early June (June 21 to be exact), the ‘Daily Mirror’ quoting statements of the government’s own Petroleum Corporation exposed how underhand deals and irregularities are creating shortages of fuel in all parts of the country. The expose also showed how blatant corruption in the form of demands of exorbitant sums of money were imposed on factory owners by a mafia.

Over a week has passed since the expose, we have yet to see any concrete action taken to fire corrupt officials, or, if this has happened neither, the public or the media are privy to it. Instead, all we see are ever lengthening fuel queues across the country. Some fuel stations have not received fuel for weeks while some have a supply of fuel daily.
Just yesterday, a single bowser with a limited stock of fuel arrived at a petrol shed at Bulugaha Junction in Kelaniya where vehicles queued since June 27. Military personnel issued tokens for a number to vehicles, however, on the 28, the expected fuel trucks never turned up, nor did the anticipated fuel bowsers. Finally a truck arrived by noon yesterday. 
In the meantime, the queues of vehicles with permits were miles long and with the arrival of the bowser pandemonium broke out. The military and a gathering of 3-wheeled vehicles helped bring the situation under control.

Then the unexpected happened, police personnel began issuing permits to their ‘friends’ (whether these were persons who had purchased friendship is not known). In addition to police vehicles, other vehicles too arrived and staked a claim before the hundreds who had stayed in queues for over two to three nights.
Ultimately, large numbers who had permits were not able to purchase fuel. The situation turned ugly and fraught with violence as the public demanding fuel, argued with the personnel who are expected to keep the law. Police personnel on duty completely failed to do their duty. Unless the authorities, from the president downward, take action to ensure that ‘law keepers’ abide by their task and not seen as the law breakers, something is bound to give.

The corruption needs to be stopped. The newly appointed prime minister has so far kept his promise to print money, but little else.
Thousands are hungry, thousands have lost their occupations, students are bereft of an education and hunger stalks the streets. This country has seen bloodbaths in 1971, 1989 and a thirty-year ethnic war. We do not need food riots caused by a few politicians who never knew what hunger is.
Our countrymen, women and children do not deserve this.