Editorial - Mathata thitha: cheers or jeers?  

For several years the Rajapaksa regime appears to have been politically intoxicated with its ‘Mathata thitha’ campaign, claiming or boasting that it has significantly reduced the number of people who are abusing or addicted to tobacco, alcohol or narcotics.

The National Authority set up for this purpose has indeed been doing an excellent job. So much so that Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena last week received an achievement of excellence award from the World Health Organisation mainly for his work in curbing the abuse of these addictive substances which are known to cause grave if not fatal consequences to the health of the people enslaved to them.



While the minister had the political will and gave full backing for this mission, much of the credit for the practical operations needs to go to the National Authority’s Chairman Prof. Carlo Fonseka, one of Sri Lanka’s most eminent physicians and a man who is widely respected not only for his deep understanding and commitment in such issues but also for his integrity, high values and principles.

While the ‘Mathata thitha’ policy is good in spirit, a front-page news report in our sister paper  the Sunday Times yesterday reveals another shocking side where the intoxication is not political but personal or physical. According to a report tabled in Parliament last week, the Excise Department has renewed the licences of five big liquor companies though they owed more than Rs. 1.6 billion in taxes by the end of last year.

The defaulting companies are Globe Blenders, Wayamba Distilleries, Wayamba Spirits, W.M. Mendis and Co. and McCallum Brewery, according to the Excise Department’s annual report which was tabled in Parliament. All the money owed by the liquor companies is not so much to the government but to Sri Lanka’s people, millions of whom are struggling for daily existence to provide three meals, health care, education and other essentials for  their families. 

Explaining this diluted attitude to the giant liquor defaulters, Excise Commissioner General D. G. M. B. Hapuarachchi told the newspaper that the licences were being renewed on condition that the companies would settle the tax arrears. He said the concessions were given after obtaining the advice of the Attorney General. The question that millions of people, opposition parties and independent analysts could ask with much validity is why such tax defaults were allowed and what guarantee there is that the huge amounts would be repaid to the people because the wealth of the country  belongs to the people while the government is expected to be a good steward of this public wealth.

Pouring more drinks and adding one for the road to the political cocktail and concoctions, is the disclosure that last year 55 new liquor licences were issued, most of them probably to politicians or business patrons of VIPs. This is the highest number of liquor licences in a year issued since 2006. Forty one were issued in 2011, 51 in 2010, 40 in 2009, 36 in 2008, 42 in 2007 and 35 in 2006.

Even a drunken person reading these figures would know that something is going wrong  somewhere and the government needs to tighten the stopper if the high spirited ‘Mathata thitha’ is not to turn into ‘Thithata Matha’.