Sri Lanka has everything going against it. Its economy has melted down. Its money earner, the tourism industry, had collapsed due to the Covid-19 & the country is about to default the loans. It is now seriously thinking of an IMF bailout. And above all, the ‘no love lost’ situation between the Sinhalese and the Tamils still continues!
The country is fully under the control of one family, the Rajapaksa’s. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is its President, his elder brother Mahindra (formerly country’s President) is the Prime minister, younger brother Basil is the finance minister, eldest brother Chamal is Irrigation minister, Mahinda’s son, Namal is the Sports minister and Chamal’s son, Shasheendra is the minister for Organic fertiliser production, vegetable cultivation and advanced agri technology!
That is not all, Mahinda’s second son Yoshita is the PM’s Chief of Staff on ministerial rank and the nephew of the President, Nipuna Ranawaka is the member of Parliament.
The Rajapasa family holds 9 ministerial berths that includes 7 cabinet posts. It is estimated that about 75 % of the Country’s budget is under their control, a feat not even the monarchs of Saudi Arabia could claim!
The first thing that President did after coming to power was passing the 20th amendment of the Country’s constitution that gave the President unlimited powers, an act that was nationally (by the namesake opposition) and internationally condemned. But who bothers?
The huge debt that the country has with China, taken for building the Hambantota port and other infrastructure projects, had resulted in China taking over the port and at this rate, no one will be surprised if China monopolises the sea cargo movement of Sri Lanka by controlling its ports.
Post the civil war and the military (excess) action, the Tamils are still demanding a fair deal from the Government and there is no progress made on it, getting the attention of the world bodies, including the United Nations, all cajoling the government to do something for the Tamil minority at the earliest.
The collapse of tourism industry, something which Sri Lanka ever depended on progress and forex, had struck the last nail to the country’s economic meltdown. It confirms the adage that ‘when somethings start going wrong, everything goes wrong with it‘
Added to that are the challenges brought in by the agriculture reform by the government, advising organic farming and withdrawing fertilisers and chemicals from paddy (Lankan staple diet) & vegetable cultivation, resulting in considerably reduced agricultural output, thereby taking the country into a famine situation.
A famished country, unabated Covid, inflation shooting up, internal ethnic strife, unemployment and; ruled by the thumb of an autocratic family, everything is taking Sri Lanka, our neighbors, down the road.
It is Thomas Jefferson who said, “the government you elect is the government you deserve”!
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