By Rajan Philips –

Rajan Philips

“After me, the deluge,” is the widely used English translation of the notorious French expression, “Après moi, le deluge,” attributed to the 18^th century King Louis XV of France and his indifference to what might happen after him. What happened afterwards was of course the French Revolution that led to the birth of the Republic amidst the carnage of a people. The expression was quite common in the Sri Lankan parliament when it had quite a contingent of ‘Oxbridge purists and London practicals’. It was a favourite phrase of Dr. NM Perera, in particular, to deride the last budget of a government on its last legs before an election. The phrase takes a different meaning now, as the year 2025 ends and 2026 begins.

2025 was the year of the deluge, and 2026 is the year after it. The NPP government is not a falling regime before a deluge, but the regime that is at the helm to steer the country after the deluge. As many have said many times before, the JVP, which is the NPP’s creator and command centre, was the cause of two political deluges in Sri Lanka with far few benefits and far more griefs. It is now the epicentre of state power with the responsibility to restore the country’s habitats and infrastructure that have been devastated by Cyclone Ditwah and never ending rains. Engels called history, “the most cruel of all goddesses,” but even as it repeats history does give more than a second chance for political comebacks. Will the JVP/NPP take this second chance literally ‘at the flood’ and lead the country on to restoration and normalcy, if not fortune itself? That is the question.

The NPP government has been in power for more than a year now – after its preferential win in the presidential election and a historic landslide victory in the parliamentary election. Its performance to date has been moderately good, but not spectacularly great. As the old hard tasking schoolmaster would say: Not too good, not too bad! At the same time and in fairness to the NPP government, it is pertinent to ask which Sri Lankan government past has been spectacularly great at any time? How many have been even moderately good? Which government or country anywhere in the world now has fewer crises, less chaos, no state oppression, or greater public goodwill than the NPP government in Sri Lanka?

Such a situation is elusive to most countries in the world, and more so as the world waits for the second year of the second term of the Trump presidency. No one has to wait any longer as President Trump has once again demonstrated his unbridled capacity to exercise super bully power anywhere in the world. In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 3, the US Army’s Delta Force launched lightning strikes in Caracas, Venezuela, and spirited away Venezuelan  President Nicolas Maduro and his wife to stand trial in the US on drugs and weapons charges.

Trump’s second year likely will have more external escapades, such as the ones in Nigeria and Venezuela, if only to divert from the political besiegement he is facing at home in America. For starters, the Venezuelan adventure has punctured the US media coverage of the rousing swearing in of Zohran Mamdani on New Years Day, as New York City’s new Mayor. Attention diversions and flooding the zone are Donald Trump’s proven modes of operation. The world will see more of them even as pressure builds up against him within America.

Police Vanities

In Sri Lanka, whatever general goodwill that is now there for the NPP government, it is almost entirely due to the satisfaction among a large number of people in all walks of like that this government is virtually corruption-free in comparison to any and all of its predecessors this century – which were all laden with corruption. But in fighting corruption, the government should be careful not to let the police forces go rogue and overboard, arresting people at their whim.

What is the point in arresting someone like Charitha Ratwatte over some warehouse tendering ten years ago? Or taking Douglas Devananda into custody for a pistol that went missing more than 15 years ago? What was the earthly purpose in a police team travelling to the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom to investigate the university’s invitation to the Wickremesinghes? Did they go for fingerprints, and who authorized the expenses? What is it they could not have found out by communicating from Colombo.

No government anywhere has unlimited resources to arrest and indict everyone who has violated a law. Limited resources must be spent on pursuing and apprehending criminal people who are a clear and present threat to society, and for solving serious crimes. Are Charitha Ratwatte, Douglas Devananda or Ranil Wickremesinghe any threat to any one? When will there be answers to the Colombo murders of Lasantha Wickrematunge (2009), Wasim Thajudeen (2012) or Dinesh Schaffter (2022), or all the other killings that UNHRC calls ‘emblematic murders’? When there are so many mortal crimes waiting to be solved, wouldn’t it be a crime to waste scarce resources on political peccadillos to satisfy petty police vanities?           

A goody-goody report card alone at the end of five years is not good enough to win a repeat election. There is never going to be another massive majority as there was in the 2024 November election. That history is not going to be repeated. But even to win a modest majority the NPP has to show results – not spectacular, but solid and that touch the people.

Major reform initiatives, such as in education and electricity, do by nature take a long time to consummate, but if there are no tangible results, there will be no vote dividends for the government from its two hitherto signature initiatives. Near term tangible results from these two initiatives will be – easy school placements in urban areas and improved school facilities in rural areas, and steady electricity supply at affordable rates. Any reform initiative without such results will be a pie in the sky for the voting people.

Growing List of Discontents

The government is also creating a growing list of disappointments and criticisms for want of action on campaign promises and foot-dragging on routine matters. The indecision over the timing of provincial council elections and playing selection games for appointing a permanent Auditor General are not signs of sincerity or transparency, but they are reminding people of the games that President Ranil Wickremesinghe was playing in postponing local elections and avoiding the appointment of a permanent IGP.

There is nothing to be gained by these games and it is important for the government to realize that the person it nominates to be the Auditor General should be palpably acceptable to all for competence and experience. No one should be appointed to a high position in government as reward for low loyalty to the governing party. Otherwise, people will be reminded of the high post appointments that were routinely made by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

While I have been critical of the somewhat over-the top criticisms of the government on the abolition of the PTA, the government is not doing itself any favours by drafting a new replacement law that includes the main flaws of the old PTA. It is unconscionable that someone could be held in custody for as long two years without being indicted with criminal charges even under the proposed new law.

There is also concern that with the government’s proposed nominees for the Office of Reparations, three out of the five members of the Office could be former defense officials. The purpose of these appointments should not be to reward retired defense officials for their support of the government, but to ensure that victims of war are given a sympathetic hearing by the Office, and that they are not made to feel intimidated by the presence of war veterans as members of the Office of Reparations.

Speaking at a Ministry New Year ceremony, Harshana Nanayakkara, the Minister of Justice and National Integration (a joint portfolio pregnant with promise), promised that the government will begin early in the new year, the long awaited “investigations into the complaints of enforced disappearances will commence.”

This is welcome news and the Minister has also added that when all citizens begin to feel that they are  “acknowledged in their own language, treated fairly by the law, and safeguarded irrespective of their identity, it signifies that national integration is in progress.” We applaud the Minister’s noble sentiments for the New Year, and would hope that he will ‘operationalize them’ in the establishment of the Office of Reparations and in the annulling of the PTA.   

After Ditwah and the Deluge

The elephant in the NPP cabinet room now is the aftermath of Ditwah and the deluge. Through an Extraordinary Gazette issued on December 31, the government has established a Presidential Task Force for Rebuilding Sri Lanka that will oversee all activities relating to post Ditwah rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction operations. The Task Force of 25 members will be headed by Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, and will include another 10 Ministers (virtually half the cabinet), seven deputy ministers and senior officials, the Governor of the Western Province, as well as six civilian members. The Task Force will set up eight Committees that will be headed by sector ministers on subjects including Needs Assessment; the restoration of Public Infrastructure, Housing for Affected Communities, Local Economies and Livelihoods, and Social Infrastructure; as well as Finance and Funding, Data & Information System, and Public Communication.

The Committee on Finance and Funding has already been appointed on December 1. Led by Anil Jayantha Fernando, Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, the Committee includes the Governor of the Western Province, four senior officials and five industry captains from the Hayleys Group, John Keells, Aitken Spence, Brandix and LOLC Holdings. Three members of the Committee are also on the main Task Force, viz., Minister Fernando, WP Governor Hanif Yusuf who is also the President’s Special Representative for Foreign Investments, and Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma of the Ministry of Finance.

When the Finance Committee was first announced in early December there were concerns about the five civilian slots being exclusively assigned to business leaders. The sprawling composition of the new Task Force, including six civilian members might be intended to address the earlier concerns. There are other matters as well which are appropriate for the government’s consideration.

First, the Task Force does not seem to include anyone with technical or engineering background. Even among the Ministers and government officials in the Task Force, ministries and departments overseeing, irrigation, roads and bridges, power, plantations and food and agriculture do not seem to be represented at all. Most noticeably, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) does not seem to be given the technical prominence it deserves to be given at the highest level.

Second, the lack of inclusion of technical expertise and experience on the Task Force is all the more inexplicable in light of the criticisms of inclusion of others with backgrounds in election monitoring and journalism. This is similar to the silly appointments of fashion and clothing lines people to the Tsunami task force by President Kumaratunga twenty years ago.

Third, technical expertise will invariably have to be brought into many of the eight Committees that the Task Force will be setting up. As such, it is necessary and appropriate that the technical presence in the committees is reflected in the main Task Force itself.

Fourth, the descriptions of the Committee on Public Infrastructure and the Committee on Housing make references to ‘disaster resilience’ and ‘safe zones.’ These are NBRO’s bailiwicks and both are associated with the main technical cause of Sri Lanka’s recurrent disasters, namely landslides. The importance of  highlighting this in the composition and the mandate of the Task Force should be obvious to every minister on the Task Force.

Fifth, the Committee on Data & Information and the Committee on Public Communication should include and disseminate all accurate information about landslides and the warnings about them. For this reason, NBRO experts should be given a prominent role in these two committees as well.

And sixth, none of the committee descriptions carry any allusion to tapping external resources both for technical expertise and for funding assistance. Sri Lanka needs both, and needs them badly. However, this matter is hardly addressed in the mandate of the Task Force and the committee assignments that flow from it. For what it is worth, I will repeat what I wrote earlier that it would be worth the effort for the President and his Task Force to reach out to the countries that undertook the projects of accelerated Mahaweli scheme, and ask for their support for the new restoration work that has now become necessary in the catchment areas where they undertook projects earlier.