Reliability and secret agreements

The New Democratic Party candidate and the leaders of political parties, groups and individuals supporting him are going all out these days to say that there is no agreement between them. Fonseka says he was invited to contest the Presidential poll. He does not divulge, however, when it was done and who invited him first.

The JVP is on record as saying that they were the first to pick Fonseka. The UNP, on the other hand says the decision to field one candidate against the incumbent President was taken a year before the proclamation of the Presidential Election. The contestant says it did not take much time, just four hours or so for them to agree.

Let us analyze all these sayings and see what they amount to. Given the benefit of doubt to them let us presume that all of them agreed to field the retired General without any conditions what so ever. That means there is no agreement, written or verbal. It implies that the contender has managed to get the support of all these parties and individuals by giving his word of honour. How much that word of honour is worth is another point, however relevant it may be.

Would experienced political parties like the UNP and the JVP agree for anything without a minimum agreement? It would be naive to conclude so. It would also be unfair by the leaders of both parties to say that they have mortgaged their parties to a complete stranger to politics.

Some time ago, there was talk about a common minimum program to be agreed upon the parties that support Fonseka. Now no word is expressed about it. It is normal for political parties to arrive at such common minimum programs when entering into electoral alliances. Why has this practice been ignored? Either they cannot agree on anything or the contender would not like to be bound by any such conditions.

Looking back on the history of the UNP and the JVP we could see that this was not their behaviour on earlier occasions. The UNP and the PA had a series of discussions during the time of the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga presidency in the early years of this century.

They even went as far as to propose the formation of a national government. The talks went on and on but failed at last. The party was not giving in. Today, it has given in like a meek lamb before a wolf. The JVP, likewise wrangled over for several weeks before agreeing to the formation of the parivaasa anduwa. They are not the type to give in.

There are only two possibilities here. Either all of them have lost their senses and propriety of their parties or they have come into a secret agreement. The greater probability is that the latter possibility may be true.

There is nothing politically or ethically wrong for political parties, individuals and groups to arrive at common programs, temporary or otherwise. Therefore, there could be nothing secret. Political deals for coming into power too should be transparent and open just as deals made by political parties or governments in power.

If these politicians start their election campaign in a non-transparent way what transparency could anyone expect in the event of them coming to power?

To make matters worse the TNA has also expressed their solidarity to Fonseka. Have they also done so without any agreement or understanding? Were they also so naive to trust a former Army Commander who had openly proclaimed his racist intentions? At the rate he has retracted his earlier sayings could anyone trust what he says now? It is almost impossible to believe that the TNA would fall for the word of honour of such a person.

In such a context how reliable is the promise of his reliable change?

Even the so-called manifesto of Fonseka is presented as an individual essay. The UNP and JVP among others have not owned it. Either they could not agree or they agreed but want to keep it a secret. Secret from whom?