By Lalith Dhammika Mendis –

“The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men around him”. “It is not the tiles honour men; it is the men that honour titles” ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

“Intelligence of masses could be gauged by looking at the composition of Parliament” ~ Martin Luther King

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth”. “No man is good enough to govern another man.” “According to our ancient faith, the just powers of governments are derived from the consent of the governed”. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Martin Luther King a Baptist Minister, Political Philosopher and a Civil Rights Leader who lived in the United States quoted that the level of intelligence of the masses would reflect on who they elect as rulers. His words of wisdom underscored the paramount need for masses to be intelligent in deciding who deserves to be their rulers.

Similarly, Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian Writer and Philosopher who was renowned for political discourses judiciously quoted that “The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men around him”.

Abraham Lincoln, 16^th President of the United States quoted that, Democracy is Government of the People, by the People, for the People”.

These quotes amply demonstrate the top priority for people to elect public spirited individuals who are selflessly committed to serve public needs and deserve to hold public offices, if they are to enjoy true fruits of democracy in a style of government of the people, for the people and by the people.

Fast Unfolding Unpalatable Political Saga

What is coming to light nowadays in the glare of public eye is the ugly side of the conduct of many politicos who held offices in previous regimes which speaks volumes about how some have used, misused and abused political power in a reprehensible manner to derive selfish gains. Cases of illegally assembled vehicles hidden at secret locations are unearthed on a day-to-day basis. Also, it has come to light that many politicos have shamelessly defaulted payment of utility bills causing losses running into Millions of Rupees. Moreover, as publicly reported many had been in the habit of not even paying toll charges levied by expressways signifying abominable depths to which sleazy third rated conduct of politicos could descend. How the National Water Supply and Drainage Board has been able to save nearly 30 million rupees per month in the wake of the loss of office by a former minister reported in a popular daily highlights the extent to which public offices have been sordidly misused.

Many politicos from both sides of the traditional political divide have time and again been accused, charged and even put in remand custody for involvement in wrongdoings and corruption. There had been several big scandals implicating politicos such as Sugar Scandal, infamous bond scam, Garlic Scam to name a few. This could only be the tip of the mammoth corruption iceberg remaining canceled. These cases are to be unraveled, and the current regime must live up to people’s expectations to unearth many a sordid deal to punish those responsible by walking the talk.

Sleazy Conduct behind the Façade of Public Service

Members of Parliament (MP) are entitled to monthly salaries, office allowances, transport allowances, house allowances, entertainment allowances, phone allowances, office equipment allowance, fuel allowances, free postal-allowances and other perks including life-long pension payments upon completion of a stipulated period in office. MPs are also paid allowances for attending parliament sessions as well as special committee sessions. Thanks to public offices, many of them have acquired super luxury top of the line vehicles costing Millions of Rupees availing duty free benefits. All in all, they live in the clover and enjoy opulent lifestyles. Politicos also enjoy lavish privileges like undertaking overseas visits on various pretexts at poor taxpayers’ money. Stratnews Global and republicworld.com had reported on a few costly overseas tours undertaken by two former Heads of State costing over Rs 44 million. This could only be a drop in the bucket compared to what is not disclosed or discussed here. Moreover, Politicos over the years have also been handsomely rewarding their kith and kin with attractive diplomatic postings. Although diplomatic positions require in-depth knowledge and finest of skills in negotiations, communications, international relations, leadership, resolution of conflicts, reporting and updating on host country situations, building promoting and strengthening ties, etc that require competent and experienced hands well versed in diplomacy, all these requirements seem to have been ignored in making politically motivated appointments. This shows crass abandon in which public offices have been manipulated in an avaricious manner. Such measures no doubt accompany heavy costs to public purse in monetary terms, whilst causing huge losses to the Sri Lankan nation, in terms of loss of values in diplomacy associated with far reaching consequences.

What is very much in news at present is the publicly announced initiative of the NPP regime to curtail expenditure incurred by state to maintain past presidents. Details coming to light in this respect reveal how much poor taxpayers must cough up annually to pay for the costs incurred by the state to maintain a few individuals.

Heartless Insensitivity Towards Public Wellbeing

All these luxuries relished by the politicians must be viewed in the context of the economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka (SL) where a huge debt burden to the tune 98.8% of the GDP is hanging over its head at present. The masses are taking the brunt of the serious economic crunch prevailing today. They are compelled to cough up the lion’s share of meagre earnings to meet soaring fuel prices, utility bills and mounting prices of staple foods and other necessities. Approximately, one out of every 6 persons, or 16% of the population is multidimensionally poor in SL. More than half or 51.3% of the people living in estate areas are multidimensionally poor. More than eight out of every ten people (80.9%) who are poor live in rural areas, which shows the criticality of rural poverty that persists in SL.  Moreover, the situation as regards children is even worse. More than four out of every ten children (42.2%) under the age of five are multidimensionally poor. Besides, one third or 33.4% of the children aged 0 to 4 years are underweight. These are based on the statistics published by the Department of Census and Statistics of the GOSL and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.

Prevalence of multidimensional poverty could lead to health issues, educational disadvantages, and social exclusion etc being suffered by young ones. Moreover, childhood poverty could lead to chronic issues like cardiovascular problems, diabetes, psychological complications etc. bringing about many adverse repercussions for the young ones. There could well be adverse consequences like young people being deprived of financial resources, and basic needs like health care, nutritious food,  education etc required to achieve wellbeing in their lives. Lack of proper education could result in loss of hope, helplessness, and loss opportunities for gainful career development stifling future potential of the youth. These would have catastrophic implications for the better futures many young ones are aspiring for. The future prospects of young ones being callously debilitated by the sheer brunt of the persistent economic catastrophe brought about by bungling and mismanagement on the part of political leadership and complicitous state apparatus would lead to   adversities ruinously impacting precious future human capital of SL, expected to contribute towards sustainable momentum of socio-economic progress needed to be accomplished, if SL is to extricate itself from the economic hellhole it finds itself in today.   

None of the politicians, including former Heads of State, have to date come forward of their own volition to indicate willingness to share economic burdens along with masses by foregoing some of the plum perks enjoyed by them. As it is obvious, an economy ailing under a prodigious debt burden weighing on it should not be burdened with costs associated with plum perks enjoyed by political leaders, since they cannot be morally justified although they may be in line with applicable laws and procedures. Considering the longstanding serious plight endured by the common masses who have been undergoing untold economic hardships over the years, the elected representatives should demonstrate that they truly care for the wellbeing of people and are willing to make sacrifices by forgoing and curtailing their own perks in candid display of true public spiritedness. On the other hand, expecting the state to dutifully meet all perks in their entirety and even more clearly demonstrates absolute lack of compunction, thoughtfulness and care. If politics is a service to be called honourable, it must be offered in a selfless fashion. Many in the arena of politics being addressed with the title “Honourable” have dismally failed to live up to the status of the title and proven they are not worthy of that.

Need to Eradicate Cronyism and Corruption Lock Stock and Barrel

If people are to elect a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”, it is vital that those with dubious, tainted and dishonorable track records are kept out of the legislature, irrespective of their social status and political affiliations. Politics is the only sphere where prequalification are practically not needed. The system of proportional representation that entails garnering preferential votes in sufficient measure has motivated and paved the way for many of questionable integrity but having power to wield enormous financial clout, despite possessing dubious and tainted track records to creep into the arena of politics. Many have thus been able to perpetuate a strong hold on political power by exploiting overpowering financial clout to their maximum advantage. Financial clout, among other things, has permitted contenders to employ gangsterism and hooliganism to achieve selfish ends in a manner where end justifies brutal means adopted. This situation has witnessed emergence of virtual syndicates formed by commercial Fat Cats and unscrupulous money makers in relentless pursuit of wealth, power and ostentatious social status in their quest to exploit government tenders, contracts and other sources of accumulating filthy lucre joining hands with politicos as cronies to further mutual selfish interests.

People should firmly resolve to defeat this kind political cronyism that serves as hotbed of thriving corruption. They must realise that those who are hoisted by them to hot seats of political power to serve their needs end up living in the clover having gone from rags to riches, whilst their own lot remains as depressing as ever. Politicos could be seen heartlessly relishing vulgar luxuries whilst masses struggling hard to eke out a living. They are adept at paying copious lip service for pub wellbeing whilst turning convenient blind eyes towards public woes. People have in fact betrayed their own causes by bartering their valuable votes time and again in exchange for crumps falling from the tables of politicos. Lack of education, political literacy and rampant multidimensional poverty in rural and low-income segments have enabled crafty politicians to sweet talk and swindle masses and buy votes time and again come election time. Masses over the years in fact have been naively settling for smidgens of crumbs thrown at them little realizing that what is being squandered is their invaluable democratic franchise, meant to be used to achieve legitimate aspirations. Many of those elected to office whilst engaging in profuse disservice to the masses have also been resorting to corrupt practices dealing a devastating double whammy blow on already battered bruised and exhausted masses languishing in abject poverty. Masses have in fact been squandering their precious ballots and digging their own graves by voting in unscrupulous elements naively falling for sweet talking trickery over and over, notwithstanding the fact that many holding elected offices have been engaging in thriving self-serving endeavours in the name of public service whilst causing detriment of people.   

What is actually achieved by the so-called development story (being elegantly bragged about by some political heavyweights in SL) in terms of “The Lot of the Masses” as of today is in fact quite telling. As revealed by the World Bank Sri Lanka Development Update 2024, real wages have contracted by 22% in 2024, an increase from 16.9% reported in 2021.  Whilst food insecurity continues to be very high, poverty has nearly doubled to 23.4% in 2024. This is only a glimpse of the real big picture and reveals the endless crisis faced by the man in the street.

The report card of politicians reveals a despicable story. As reported by Transparency International, SL’s ranking in Corruption Perception Index has fallen from 79 in 2012 to 115 in 2023 out of 180 countries measured. So much for Rule of Law and Good Governance. SL ranked 99 in 2019 Ease of Doing Business Index as revealed by Federal Reserve Data. This speaks volume about very low scale Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) being attracted to SL with FDIs continuing to remain below 1% of the GDP in 2023. Global Ranking in SL in terms of FDI’s was 124 out of 173 countries measured in 2023. Besides, External Debt of SL has drastically increased from $ 435.7 million in 1970 to $ 58.7 billion in 2023. Moreover, the trade balance in SL has been constantly in the negative from 1960 to 2023 except in 1977 when it reported a positive balance of $ 0.15 billion. These details succinctly demonstrate the scale of corruption and the depth of economic mismanagement taken place under successive regimes over the years, practically impoverishing this nation.

Enough is Enough

It is vital for people to realize that they cannot afford to condone corruption and wrongdoings any longer and permit those with dubious track records and tainted morality to exploit ballots to achieve selfish goals at the expense of public wellbeing. It is nothing but people’s vote that determines their own fate and hence casting the ballot judiciously is sine-qua-non.

All candidates vying for public offices at the upcoming general election representing a whole gamut of political outfits must be assessed in an objective manner purely based on merit rather than other trivial considerations which in fact resulted in unprincipled elements holding on to power despite many a stigma, blemish, shortcomings and failure attached to their performance being elected to office over and over.

Candidates’ backgrounds, education, professionalism, skills, track records, capabilities, exposure together with vital credentials such as proof of absence of corruption & foul play and adherence to principles of financial propriety and ethical conduct may certainly be of immense relevance in electing individuals worthy of holding public offices to discharge responsibilities in an impeccable, honourable and efficacious manner.

The public can exercise franchise only periodically, for example once every five years in respect of general elections. Hence, casting votes based on merit is utterly important and should be done in an objective manner that shuts the door on corruption for good, as the precious opportunity to vote should not be squandered any longer.

Come 14^th November 24, a history opportunity will dawn on people to cast their votes decisively with one voice that enough is enough for corruption.

Mass should not squander this unique opportunity at any cost.