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A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Getting fiscal policy right
February 10, 2015
The country is emerging from a dark age, during which the National
Budget and taxpayer’s money was treated like a virtual slush fund for
the ruling dynasty and its hangers on.
Accountability, fiscal responsibility, rational monetary policy and good governance was not in the lexicon of the ruling cohort and their bureaucratic and political collaborators. Policy was directed by political expediency, astrologers, who on their own admission, ex post facto, were afraid of telling the truth of what the stars foretold, due to the fear of physical assault, and corrupt bum sucking “ass liquors”.
The painful task of auditing the national accounts and getting to the bottom of the real parameters of the crisis has started. Legislating on the National Audit Commission and the Right to Information Law are in hand under the Maithripalanaya’s 100 day program.
In the meantime, we have to get fiscal policy right. An interview by a former Secretary to the Treasury, suitably edited to make it relevant for today, is reprinted below to indicate the parameters of what has to be done.
Accountability, fiscal responsibility, rational monetary policy and good governance was not in the lexicon of the ruling cohort and their bureaucratic and political collaborators. Policy was directed by political expediency, astrologers, who on their own admission, ex post facto, were afraid of telling the truth of what the stars foretold, due to the fear of physical assault, and corrupt bum sucking “ass liquors”.
The painful task of auditing the national accounts and getting to the bottom of the real parameters of the crisis has started. Legislating on the National Audit Commission and the Right to Information Law are in hand under the Maithripalanaya’s 100 day program.
In the meantime, we have to get fiscal policy right. An interview by a former Secretary to the Treasury, suitably edited to make it relevant for today, is reprinted below to indicate the parameters of what has to be done.
Fiscal and monetary crossroads
The nation stands at a fiscal and monetary crossroads. The individual who ran monetary policy with some incompetent cohorts at the policy level has had his passport withdrawn by the Bribery Commissioner. The Chief Justice has been interviewed by the Police Criminal Investigation
Department on his alleged role in a political coup.
Emerging out of this dark scenario, there seems to be a chance of liberation. Fiscal policy, at the official level, is at last in the competent hands of an experienced professional who isn’t bombastic. At the political level the head is an experienced businessman, a welcome change from the self-professed ‘Gamay Bhaiya’!
Don’t get me wrong, I agree totally with Robert Knox, that you wash the mud off a Lankan villager working in a paddy field and he is fit to be King. But there are always exceptions which reinforce the rule!
The nation stands at a fiscal and monetary crossroads. The individual who ran monetary policy with some incompetent cohorts at the policy level has had his passport withdrawn by the Bribery Commissioner. The Chief Justice has been interviewed by the Police Criminal Investigation
Department on his alleged role in a political coup.Emerging out of this dark scenario, there seems to be a chance of liberation. Fiscal policy, at the official level, is at last in the competent hands of an experienced professional who isn’t bombastic. At the political level the head is an experienced businessman, a welcome change from the self-professed ‘Gamay Bhaiya’!
Don’t get me wrong, I agree totally with Robert Knox, that you wash the mud off a Lankan villager working in a paddy field and he is fit to be King. But there are always exceptions which reinforce the rule!
‘Resplendent Lanka’ once more?
Monetary policy is now in the hands of an experienced professional banker. The National Audit Commission, the Constitutional Council and the Independent Commissions for the Public Service and the Police and Judiciary, etc., will at least bring in a respect for the Rule of Law and principles of good governance including the Dasa Raja Dharma. The Right to Information Act must be exploited in full by a motivated civil society to keep politicians and official on the straight and narrow.
There is the outside chance, against all historical and legacy odds, that Lanka may once again actually achieve the status of being the
‘Resplendent
Lanka,’ if not that of ‘Serendipity’ or ‘Granary of the East’ of the
past! Or a high-tech hub of South Asia of the future – if not the late
lamented ‘Wonder of Asia,’ that of the infamous five hubs!
Monetary policy is now in the hands of an experienced professional banker. The National Audit Commission, the Constitutional Council and the Independent Commissions for the Public Service and the Police and Judiciary, etc., will at least bring in a respect for the Rule of Law and principles of good governance including the Dasa Raja Dharma. The Right to Information Act must be exploited in full by a motivated civil society to keep politicians and official on the straight and narrow.
There is the outside chance, against all historical and legacy odds, that Lanka may once again actually achieve the status of being the
‘Resplendent
Lanka,’ if not that of ‘Serendipity’ or ‘Granary of the East’ of the
past! Or a high-tech hub of South Asia of the future – if not the late
lamented ‘Wonder of Asia,’ that of the infamous five hubs!
The price of libertyBut remember, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance”. The space must be provided for civil society activists to play their essential role in society – no white vans! Mistakes must be exposed and admitted. Flaws must be corrected in time. Frauds and criminal acts are prosecuted to the full force of the law, quickly and completely. The misled put back on the correct track, pulled by their ears if necessary!
The law must rule. Bribery and corruption must be crushed out of sight. Performance must be transparent. Information freely available, subject to genuine public security concerns, of course. Freedom of speech provided and defended. At the same time the law of defamation respected. There is no freedom of the wild ass – or even the Mannar donkey.
As his Holiness the Pope has recently pointed out, in the context of the Parisian Charlie Hebdo related issues on religious freedom and free comment, there are responsible, reasonable, moral and legal limits to freedom. Nothing in this world is unlimited or unconditional.
We have seen in the recent past the full vindication, in operational terms, unfolding, in all its plethora of manifestations, before our own very stunned and dumbfounded eyes, Lord Acton’s timeless dictum – “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”. No sane person, in his right mind, would request an encore!
(The writer is a lawyer, who has over 30 years of experience as a
CEO in both State and private sectors. He retired from the office of
Secretary, Ministry of Finance and currently is the Managing Director of
the Sri Lanka Business Development Centre.)
