The Island Editorial

Please, no more MPs

Many years ago, Mr. George Rajapakse serving the Sirima Bandaranaike government as fisheries minister, observed that the appointment of boards of directors to the various state corporations that had proliferated at that time added to the baggage that such institutions have to carry. Given that each of these directors have their own friends and relations, and the propensity of those holding such appointments to dispense patronage from the resources of the institution they were supposed to serve, there was obvious substance in the point that was being made.

However, if public servants subject to directions of ministers run such institutions, the picture will be not much better. Ministers too have favours to repay and supporters to look after and, whatever their political hue, they regard their fiefs as instruments of dispensing patronage. The bottom line is that passengers are added to public sector payrolls and the taxpayers have to pick up the tab. Writing for our business pages recently, the Analyst who examines economic matters, agreed that the sale price of petroleum products must reflect crude oil procurement prices. But he pertinently harked back to the early days of this government when the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) added a lot of fat to its belly by recruiting many new employees.

All that obviously added to the corporation’s costs. Despite a significant increase in the number of security staff at the CPC, the terrorist attack on the Kolonnawa Oil Installation that caused huge damage could not be thwarted. Most institutions, and this is true not only of the government but also of many big private sector organisations, carry more staff than they really need. All that adds to operational costs and consumers must pay the price. Where the private sector is concerned, shareholders will at least theoretically want an accounting. Nobody really cares about public sector waste and politicians have for too long enjoyed free rein to feather their political nests using public resources.

We say all this in the context of an emerging suggestion that the new parliament Lankans will elect later this year would be bigger than the incumbent House. MPs cost a great deal of public money and there are many who argue that the legislature is already too big for a country of our size. With the talks between the PA and the UNP now proceeding cosily, there is speculation that the next election will be a mixture of the old first-past-the-post Westminster system and proportional representation under which the present parliament was elected. The media has reported that this may mean fifty more MPs.

As it is, the provincial councils are proving to be a huge expense and it is highly debatable whether they are worth their keep. Ironically, the northeast where such devolution was a real need has long been administered by a governor while PCs reign elsewhere in the country where there was no demand for regional autonomy. In such a situation, politicians must not be permitted a self-serving bloating of the legislature. If at all parliament should be made a leaner and tighter institution with fewer members. But there is absolutely no chance that such desirable economies will be implemented by the politicians themselves. Even if that is inescapable reality, there must be strong public resistance to any move to expand the legislature.

While our leaders repeatedly spout assurances that elections will be held by the due date, the recent spate of price increases hardly suggests that those who call the shots plan to test their popularity at the hustings. Does this mean that popular measures like a wage/salary increase intended to at least partly alleviate the impact of the increased cost of living is being considered whatever the consequences to the budget and the economy? We don’t know and only time will tell. What we do know is that the real impact of the recent devaluation has not yet hit the market place as it must. Government obviously sought to dampen consumption of imported goods by making their prices higher via a devaluation. While desirable, whether it will work to the extent sought remains to be seen. But for the present, a cursory look at the new vehicles on already overcrowded roads and the goodies offered on supermarket shelves is evidence enough that we are not living under austerity conditions.

No doubt the challenges mounted in the courts over matters like the censorship and the sealing of the Sunday Leader have influenced the relaxation of some of the relevant regulations. The lifting of the censorship on the foreign media was an obvious step to take. It was never effective and given today’s means of communications, was never enforceable. The government’s own past experience on this score points to the futility of such measures and why it was ever resorted to is a mystery. The further relaxation of the prevailing local censorship that is now forecast is also essential. It is ridiculous that a constitution making process should continue with a press censorship in force and the sooner those concerned open their eyes to this anomaly the better for democracy.