‘Divineguma rids poverty, PCs a white-elephant’

Country witnessing fruits of development:

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

It was only after President Mahinda Rajapaksa coming into power in 2005 that development was taken to other districts in the country. Promises were made by politicians and those promises were not fulfilled. Those promises were only dreams for many decades. Today, economic development is not only limited to Colombo and the Western Province. In 1980, there were no modern bridges and roads in the Eastern Province like today. Unfortunately, people forget the past very quickly and have short memories, said Batticaloa District Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Organizer Arun Tambimuttu in an interview with the Daily News.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: What do you think about the government’s main poverty alleviation programme, Divineguma?

A: The argument was that the Divineguma will take away vital powers belonging to the Provincial Councils (PC). But, it is questionable whether the PCs are truly alleviating poverty or doing anything effectively. The PCs have become a white elephant. For example, the Eastern PC had done a very little for the people living in the PC.

The other problem is excessive travelling. Eastern People have to travel all the way to Trincomalee to get their things done. The PC system is something rushed in during the Indo–Lanka Accord.

Provinces were created by the British as an administrative unit and then went for the district system because provinces were not effective. The PC system is not effective when it comes to devolving power. Swiss canton (small) system is far more effective than the Indian state (large) system. Why should we go back to an abandoned and ineffective system?

We need an effective administrating system. The District system is far more effective than the PC system. Not like US or UK, Sri Lanka needs a special ministry to handle economic development. Divineguma is a very effective system that will bring millions of people out of poverty. You should not deny the need of poor people of Sri Lanka just because of your political ideology.

Previous poverty alleviation programmes failed because the provincial level administrations did not manage the funds properly. The governments allocated large amount of funds to them. Divineguma will overcome those shortcomings. Tailor made programmes will be implemented according to the requirements of the specific areas.

Q:Who opposed Divineguma Bill and why?

A: The critics of Divineguma have failed to realize the truth and they have a huge misunderstanding about it. The Divineguma Bill should not seen as a tool of devolving power but as a system of poverty alleviation. But unfortunately this has not been understood.

This government had spent billions of dollars to develop infrastructure facilities such as bridges, roads etc all over the country especially in the North and East. Infrastructure for tourism has been developed. But people still have livelihood problems. For example, people in the Eastern Province have economic difficulties.

Unemployment is a big problem for them. This problem is directly linked to poverty.

Q: Poverty was one of the main tools used by separatist groups and separatist political parties. Please comment.

A: After the 2004 Tsunami, people got into a type of a dependent mentality and expected help from NGOs and similar organizations.

The government has to deal with this problem. NGOs etc go abroad and collect funds using this dependent mentality and poverty. It is for their survival.

They wish to continue it. They oppose any move to eradicate poverty. All those organizations, TNA etc have vested interests.

It is the responsibility of the government to create employment and ensure self-sufficiency. Since independence leaders concentrated their poverty alleviation programmes in the Western Province. Until President Mahinda Rajapaksa came into power in 2005, development was not taken to far away districts in the country. Promises were made by politicians and those promises did not materialize. Those promises were only empty promises.

Today, the entire country is experiencing development on an equal footing, unlike in the past when development was limited to only Colombo and the Western Province. In 1980, the Eastern Province did not have bridges, and carpeted roads unlike like today.

Look at the strides made by President Rajapaksa to make Sri Lanka a trilingual country. No other Sri Lankan leader spoke in Tamil and they even did not think about it or attempt it. President Rajapaksa set an example to the people. One of the root causes for the ethnic conflict was the language issue.

Q: How do you see the current behaviour of the TNA?

A: Ironically, the TNA was against the PC system. Now they say the PCs are not given adequate powers. Now the TNA is not demanding or at least talking about land and police powers. This is because they have understood that the ordinary people living in the North and East are not interested in them. Sometimes, the TNA says it is the main opposition in Sri Lanka and are happy to oppose anything and everything put forward by the government. They speak on ethnic lines.

They never talk about poverty and economic development, education, health or anything else. Politics and power has been their ‘Manthra’ for the last 30 years. Divineguma should not be seen in a narrow ethnic mindset. Unfortunately, the TNA sees things through a smoke screen and from an ethnic point of view. So they do not see the problems of poverty. When was the last time they spoke about poverty? They should look at things from a national prospective. The TNA’s political survival depends on the fanning the flames of ethnic nationalism.

They are being manipulated by outside forces. Earlier, the TNA always ran to India to complain about everything and sought the India's assistance. Now they have started to run to South Africa for assistance’ ! South Africa has become a centre of Tamil activism now. The South Africans are misinformed about the Sri Lankan situation.

Therefore, they compare Sri Lanka in an African context. On the other hand America is very strict about terrorism, extremists etc after 9/11. Therefore, the Tamil Diaspora turned to South Africa.

United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navinatham Pillay has been always a strong critic on Sri Lanka. She was a lawyer who went through difficulties. She sees the Sri Lankan issue from a black and white prospective. She only sees the oppressed and oppressors.

She has been misinformed about the situation in Sri Lanka, such as, Tamils have been discriminated etc. At first the US government was reluctant to support the appointment of Ms. Pillay because precisely their thought was that she could overreact and she could look at things in a blanket manner.

This has been very clearly proved today.

Today, she is so interested in the issue of removing and appointing Chief Justices in Sri Lanka.

Q: What do you think about bringing in the 19th Amendment to the present Constitution?

A: Yes, absolutely. We should bring in the 19th Amendment to the present Constitution. We should have an Executive President directly appointed by the people because we cannot have horse trading in Parliament all the time. The Prime Minister has to please all members in Parliament in order to stay in power. Every day the PM will think only about his survival in the position. Parliament lost its high standards since the days of late Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake.

Because of this we have to have a directly elected President in order to prevent corruption, instability, etc. We have experiences on foreign interference during the period between 1977 and 2009.

When one considers the process of electing the President, Sri Lanka has a more democratic process than the US. A Sri Lankan citizen has more say than a US citizen. The Sri Lankan President should have the powers to elect experts such as Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa into his Cabinet from outside Parliament. What if there is no expert on agriculture, health etc in the Parliament? The Parliament will be scrutinizing such experts.

The PC system in the 13th Amendment of the Constitution should be changed. We should introduce a district system and have 25 district assemblies. This will clearly separate powers and establish a clear and effective administrative system. This can be done through the 19th Amendment.

Q: Please comment on the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to solve the ethnic issue.

A: The TNA cannot hold the government hostage and keep it waiting doing nothing when it comes to solving the ethnic issue. The government has already shown its sincere desire to seek a solution to the ethnic conflict by appointing a PSC. All political parties have to name members, take part in the PSC and find a solution. If the PSC prolongs, the government has a responsibility to introduce an alternative system.

The TNA is living in the past. Recently, a prominent MP from Baticaloa said his dream is to see Sampanthan becoming the President of Tamil Eelam. This shows what there stand is.

There is a danger lurking as there are nexus forces which are looking to destabilize Sri Lanka. Tamils feel vulnerable without having representation in the Cabinet, in PCs etc. The government cannot afford to wait till the TNA makes up its mind to come to the PSC, because it will not happen. The reconciliation process is steadily progressing and we have to build on its success. Otherwise, it will not be visible. We need to be proactive before our enemies tarnish the image of Sri Lanka.

Q: Why did the impeachment brought against the former Chief Justice (CJ) become an issue?

A: Parliament is the Legislature of Sri Lanka. The country has three pillars. The role of the Legislature is passing laws, scrutinizing laws, ensuring the process of checks and balances the executive. The executive is the President. Judiciary is there to implement and interpret laws.

People do not exercise their sovereignty directly through the judiciary. They do it through the executive or the Legislature. The sovereignty is with the people. The Legislature is responsible for the judiciary.

Let us not deviate from that. Therefore, Parliament has all the legal right to impeach the CJ. It is a different matter whether one likes it or not and whether one likes the present Constitution or not.

The Constitution was enacted in 1978. Have the persons who opposed it now sleeping for 35 years? They are now behaving in a very highly comical way. It is the Parliamentary Select Committee which has the sole authority to investigate the CJ and not the Police or Judiciary.

What is happening now is that certain forces use anything and everything to destabilize Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka will not be able to function if we wait to please the EU, Commonwealth and other countries. If we go to please all, we won't be able to do anything and pray to god to give us everything.