Courtesy The Daily Mirror

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Our government is battling it out on many fronts in regard to the promises it made while campaigning for the presidential and general elections. It spoke of bringing down the cost of living and lessening the burdens on the worse-off section of our people.

Unfortunately though four long months have passed, our people are finding it difficult to find rice these days. To make this situation worse, the price is way beyond the means of the consumer. While salaries have remained stagnant, unfortunately, the price of most basic foods keeps increasing.

One cannot blame the present government especially for being suddenly faced with the problem of missing rice. After all, it was this newspaper which broke that piece of news days after Anura ‘sahodaraya’ or President Dissanayake came into power. 

One does not need to be in parliament to know that a large section of workers, especially those referred to as ‘daily paid hands’ lost their jobs with the onset of the COVID pandemic. Even the then Central Bank Chief said that over 500,000 temporary workers lost employment.

With an average family numbering four individuals, it means around 2 million had lost their means of purchasing even the barest necessary food. The half-constructed buildings which dot the roads bear witness to the fact that many of these folk are still unemployed.

The World Bank report of April 2023 reveals poverty has risen since 2019; from 11.3 to 12.7 in 2020 with an addition of over 300,000 ‘new poor’ in that period. It continued to increase in 2021, and it then doubled between 2021 and 2022. This increase has added an additional 2.5 million people into poverty in 2022.  

With the recent shortage of rice, coconuts and the price of eggs (which was forcibly lowered recently) householders are in an even worse situation today. Though the present government was not responsible for the present problems, governments are voted into power to find solutions to these problems. 

The people knowing who was responsible for the dreadful situation confronting the country voted the NPP into power at two elections held within a year. They are looking for solutions.

To put the situation in perspective there are 40 odd students of school-going age at an estate in Batalagoda in Ibbagamuwa. Due to limited earnings of parents, the general tendency has been for children to drop out of school! According to reports, it was only in 2023 that a single student from this estate sat for his ‘A’ Level Examination.   

While this situation is very bad, an even bigger shock was in the making. Government, during its election campaign promised to ‘clean the system’. Many had great hopes of seeing corrupt old leaders and their hangers on, being brought to justice. 

One and all were in for a rude surprise therefore, when the Attorney General (AG) suddenly announced that he was recommending suspects in Lasantha Wickrematunge’s killing to be released! Wickrematunge was, if any have forgotten, the then Editor of the now defunct ‘Sunday Leader’ and a fierce critic of that government.

Wickrematunge’s murder, was one of the most high-profile killings in the country. He was killed in broad daylight in the vicinity of an Army camp when road blocks and other security measures were at their peak. 

The killers vanished without a trace and investigations were swept under the carpet by subsequent governments which came to power after the killing. 

Making matters even worse, was the fact that the accused had been incarcerated for a long period of time. This was apparently without sufficient evidence to charge them in a court of law. 

The question that is arising in most people’s minds is whether the new regime, which vowed to ‘drain the pond’ -if one does not mind using the terminology of US President Trump- was about to be swallowed up by the pond.

It’s time this government comes clean with the people. Open up to them… the truth won’t kill us, but secrets do. They corrode our souls.