The ‘Aragalaya’ to fight corruption and assert political sovereignty

Sadly our newly elected leaders have not been able to bring down the cost of living. Around 55 percent of our people are still in poverty according to the World Bank

Three years ago –- on 13th July 2022 – Gotabaya Rajapaksa, president of Sri Lanka, fled the country as the economic crisis spiralled out of control. You were there, I was there, as were around a million or more persons who answered the call to assemble in Colombo and drive the president out of office.

It wasn’t only  the shortage of food and a variety of other problems which roused the people’s ire; there were 12 hour rolling power cuts,  shortages of fuel, gas and medical supplies which brought the middle classes onto the streets and, along with them, most of the country.

A roar that was heard around the country, went up as it was announced the president had fled. For a single moment in time we were all children of Mother Lanka, rising up against those whom we saw as being responsible for leading our country into bankruptcy.

Fortunately, ‘Gota’ fled the country, unlike Bangladesh premier Sheik Hasina who attempted to use the military to cling to power.One may be excused for thinking Gota was perhaps not as vicious as some of his actions made him out to be. After all he fled rather than turning the country into a battle field.

What none did expect, however, was that the ‘Aragalaya’ would in the end bring into power Ranil Wickremesinghe. Yet, the fact remains it was the ‘Aragalaya’ which two years later brought President Dissanayake and his National People’s (NPP) group into power.

This was the culmination of a struggle which had, at least for a short few months,  united the country as never before. Gone were the differences of race, religion and ethnicity.

That struggle three years ago was against corruption which many felt was the reason for Lanka’s falling into bankruptcy. It was a demand to put the country’s economy back on track. A demand to bring down the cost of living and an end to galloping inflation.

Slowly but surely, corruption is being tackled. For the first time, ministers have been sentenced to terms in prison. High officials in the Motor Traffic department, as well as those in the Immigration and Prisons Department have been detained. The ex-IGP is under investigation and more are expected to be brought to justice.

Sadly our newly elected leaders have not been able to bring down the cost of living. Around 55 percent of our people are still in poverty according to the World Bank. These families are unable to have two square meals a day.

To tackle this problem,  Minister Bimal Rathnayake revealed the government will on the 22nd of this month introduce a minimum wage scale for private sector workers. He added more funds have already been budgeted for education, building rural roads, and improving hospital infrastructure.  But the results/ benefits will not be felt immediately. 

Today, a number of small and medium business enterprises (SMEs) are on the point of closure.While the government may have put in place measures to help these units, the measures are yet to take effect and more jobs are on the line.

While our NPP government is looking at long-term benefits, the US administration is threatening to impose a huge 30 percent tariff on Lankan produce entering the US market. What’s worse is that the US is Lanka’s biggest export market. 

Making matters worse,  the US is demanding/proposing we take restrictive measures in trading with China. In other words the US is demanding servility from Lanka in exchange for ‘a better tariff deal’! It demands we sell our soul for a mess of.

While the government needs be congratulated for its refusal to sell Lanka’s soul for a ‘few dollars more’, it could lead to more hunger as Lanka may lose a large part of its US market. 

Fortunately,  the UK is offering to open up its market. Government needs to move speedily to grab this offer. But as we have mentioned earlier, it’s time to stop the dependency on single large markets. The need is to diversify markets and join international market chains.

This is the only way to protect our country from over dependence on a single market, which as in the present instance, is attempting to undermine our political sovereignty.