Stop the prestige battle in WPC

There is no end in sight to the on-going battle for the chair in the Western Provincial Council. As was reported on Saturday, violence has now erupted in the council with council members going in for one another’s jugular. On Friday at the ugly scene of violence where the councillors exchanged blows (true to form?), one councillor lost a tooth.

What are these councillors fighting tooth and nail for? The ruling PA, which has formed a minority administration and needs the cooperation of the main opposition party, the UNP for running the council, has stated that it will not oppose the appointment as chairman of anyone other than Mr. Dixon J. Perera, who is the UNP’s choice. The dispute in the council smacks of a prestige battle: Mr. Perera, bete noire of the PA, is one of its former parliamentarians who crossed over to the UNP and contested the last general election on the UNP ticket. He was not returned and the UNP appointed him to the western provincial council. Hence the PA’s fierce opposition to his ascension to the chair.

With the two parties equally determined to take their own ways, the dispute has prompted the Chief Minister, Reginald Cooray to threaten to dissolve the council and call for a fresh election. The UNP has taken up the challenge and demands the council be dissolved and an election held.

Does the country need another election at this hour because of a petty political battle in the council? The economy is being mired in a crisis and the LTTE is opening new fronts in its war against the state. An election is also a frightening proposition for the general public in that it is the time when the electorate is turned into a veritable battlefield where spectres of the underworld are conjured up by politicians.

The battle in the council strengthens the hands of those who advocate that provincial councils be abolished. Provincial councils, the progeny of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, it should be recalled, were meant for the north and east of the country. Nobody asked for them in the south, where they were foisted. It was the setting up of these councils that led to a JVP instigated blood bath in the south. Politicians of all mainstream parties who dared defy the JVP and contested the elections to them in 1988 were killed by the JVP in their numbers.

Ironically, the north and east is now under the governor’s rule.

Have these councils baptised with blood served any purpose for the general public? Many will answer in the negative. One main criticism against the provincial councils is that they have led to duplication of administration. For example, today we have schools under both provincial councils and the government. The so-called national schools come under the purview of the government while others are under that of the provincial councils.

Then what about the massive expenditure incurred by the state to maintain these councils. There are 380 sitting councillors, including seven chief ministers and eight governors. Thousands of government servants are attached to these councils. State expenses on councillors’ vehicles, fuel, perks and the like further burden the country’s emaciated economy with an additional cost.

Does the country need these councils? The conflict for the resolution of which they were intended persists. That the people have not benefited from the councils is evident from the growing dissatisfaction in the electorate. They have been in existence for well over a decade and both main parties have been in control of them. Yet a sizeable section of the voting has moved towards the ultra radical JVP, which secured 10 seats at the last general election and also has a considerable presence in the provincial councils. The emergence of the JVP as a strong factor in mainstream politics besides being an indictment on the two main parties that are at each other’s throat in the western provincial council and outside goes to prove that there has been no development despite devolution in the form of provincial councils.

Instead the country is heading for far worse economic times. Prices of essential goods are skyrocketing. More and more complaints are heard from the public about bureaucratic lethargy and attendant hardships. Poverty is engulfing the populace. Going by all this, it may not be too cynical a view that provincial councils have come a cropper.

It is against this backdrop that the on-going battle in the Western Provincial Council should be viewed. What the warring members of the council must bear in mind is that the country can do – or will do much better – without provincial councils.

If they fail to amicably settle the dispute which is nothing more than a prestige battle, then serious thought should be given to the possibility of dissolving the council and bringing it under the governor’s rule. The people must not be made to suffer unnecessarily by thrusting another election on them.

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