The burning topic of the day is the massive hike in the electricity tariff effective from this month. Even the Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, has gone on record saying this matter needed further consideration in the context of the massive burden that has been heaped on the people. It is obvious that the Ceylon Electricity Board cannot come out of the financial morass it is bogged down in without an increase in power prices. Its problems have been aggravated over a period of many years spanning the tenures of different governments for reasons as varied as the indefensible delay in getting coal power generation started in this country (the Catholic Church too must take a fair share of the blame for this for its resistance to Norochcholai), endemic corruption and poor management. While an ordinary consumer falling back on the payment of electricity bill has his supply cut forthwith, state institutions including the armed services run up bills going up to the billions with neither penalties nor service discontinuance.

While there is yet some hope that the government, in the face of the massive public opinion that is self-evident and likely agitation including a threatened general strike may, as is its wont, climb down somewhat on the announced tariff, we would strongly urge that there is one way in which it can demonstrate its good faith to the people. We suggest that all occupants of official residences, ministers, deputy ministers and sundry others favored with accommodation whose value at current market prices run to tens if not hundreds of thousands of rupees, pay their own electricity bills. Time was when occupants of official bungalows paid their own utilities but those days are long gone. Today most of these bills are charged to various government votes and various panjandrums and their families enjoying comforts they never knew at home do not have to pay for the power consumed in these mansions. If these worthies, some of whom mouth inanities like the ``national good’’ and ``we can’t live forever on subsidies’’ without in any way feeling the agony of ordinary folk struggling to keep their heads about water, are made to pay for the electricity that power their air conditioners and other luxuries, the people at least can feel that their rulers too are feeling the pinch and carrying at least a part of the burden heaped on their countrymen.

Profligacy, unfortunately, is very much the style of government. Grandiose projects are undertaken without adequate attention paid to the various cost benefit aspects of investments funded on borrowings to be repaid by generations to come. Was there any serious study done on the viability of a third runway at Katunayake, already equipped with much of the needed infrastructure, before the Mattala airport project was undertaken? Mihinair from the word go has been reporting massive losses. We are not a country that can afford these whimsical flights of fancy to suit those elected to office on the promise of developing the country and giving all its people (not just supporters of the ruling party) a better deal. Dew Gunasekera has rightly said that government needs to set the right example by doing away with unnecessary projects as well as perks and privileges granted to various people, including politicians, at the taxpayer’s expense.

These are all home truths that need expression and we are glad that a senior politician had the guts to make such views known at this time. Whatever his detractors may say, President Rajapaksa, however unpalatable such words may be, is not the kind of leader who will shoot the messenger. But whether he will take due note of what has been said, assess the situation as it stands and adopt the essential correction course remains to be seen. There has to be a stop to adding to the already bloated state sector already carrying thousands of passengers as a response to the demand for jobs and placating political supporters. There is not even a semblance of fairness in making selections for state sector employment, quite apart from the fact that there is no work for many of these recruits to do.

There was a recent report of what the duty free car permit perk bestowed on politicians, senior public officials, academics and some professionals have cost the cash-strapped revenue coffers of the state. The numbers ran into the billions. Shamefully, the concerned authorities had over the years permitted the blatant trafficking of these duty free permits and vehicles imported under the scheme were sold at fat profits under so-called `open papers.’ Now even the veneer of propriety has been done away with and the sale of such permits legalized! The original intention (at least ostensibly) of granting this facility was that the beneficiaries needed transport to perform their official functions. But even that fig leaf has now been removed. At this time when the people are being asked to carry the hardship of a massive electricity price hike, it is essential that the rulers demonstrate that they themselves assume at least some burden. One way of doing that, as stated above, is for occupants of official residences to pay their own electricity. It is often said that the various perks and privileges VIPs lavish on themselves costs only a fraction of a percentage point of GDP. That is not the point. The people must see that the rulers get less kiri when the populace has to make do with kekiri.