One is Santa, other promises to be

By Namini Wijedasa

In recent years, electioneering in Sri Lanka has boiled down to two rather crude happenings - the making of often unattainable promises and the dishing out of often expensive incentives.
This election is no different. Only two candidates are worth watching and one is an incumbent president with immense resources at his disposal. The other is a former army commander with no political track record but with a supporting team well versed in the art of making impossible promises.
In the incentives department, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is at a distinct advantage. Not only does he have the capacity to spend copiously on populist initiatives, he can time them to get himself mileage. But in the promises department, Fonseka is as well placed as anybody else and has tapped into that with gusto. We took a look at how both candidates have wooed the public - one with incentives and the other with pledges.

Massive project

It was on November 23 that President Rajapaksa told his cabinet he would hold an early presidential election in January 2010. Just three days later, the government decided it would no longer close roads in Colombo during VIP movements. The morning after, President Rajapaksa inaugurated a massive project to construct a second international airport at Mattala in Hambantota. It had initially been promised in his Mahinda Chinthana manifesto.
On December 1, all internally displaced persons who had been enclosed in camps at Chettikulam since the defeat of the LTTE in May were allowed to go free. The same week, President Rajapaksa laid the foundation stone for a new 30-storied office building for the Employees’ Provident Fund. The government chose to continue providing a 30 per cent fuel adjustment concession to hotel and industrial sector electricity consumers. (It had been due to expire on December 9).
The requirement that state employees and state-owned vehicles obtain security clearance before travelling to the North was removed to expedite the resettlement of the displaced and to facilitate administrative work. The government opened three large-scale trading complexes for vegetables, textiles and garments and plastic items at the Dedicated Economic Centre in Narahenpita to sell consumer items at concessionary rates to the public. And in the north, the Kilinochchi district hospital was opened to the public.
On December 5, Resettlement Minister Rishard Bathiyudeen promised that Muslims displaced from the North twenty years ago would be resettled in their original homes from the third week of December. (Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa later corrected this by saying the resettlement would take place in May 2010). The next day, security checks at the sprawling checkpoint in Medawachchiya were relaxed while on December 7, the Kottawa-Kerawalapitiya highway was inaugurated and President Rajapaksa opened a new Bhikku hospital in Galaha. State media revealed that the government would import basmati and ponni samba to reduce prices for the festive season.
On December 8, over 5,000 persons who did not own land were gifted title deeds to 20-perch blocks of land by President Rajapaksa. On December 9, travel restrictions between Mannar Island and mainland Mannar were lifted. The same day, President Rajapaksa visited the troops at Puthukkudiyiruppu and internally displaced Tamils in Chettikulam, Vavuniya. On December 12, state media announced that a special “budget pack” will be provided at Rs 490 to consumers during the festive season. It would include a kilo each of rice, dhal and sugar, 500 grams of gram and tin of canned fish.
The following week, the A9 road was opened to allow free passage to all people without approval from the ministry of defence and the Sri Lanka Transport Board’s bus service between Kandy and Jaffna was restarted. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake instructed the highways ministry to finish rehabilitation of the Colombo-Horana road in two weeks - before December 30. And the Naguleswaram kovil in Kiramalai was reopened for worship and a free bus service for pilgrims launched. The ancient shrine is within a High Security Zone and earlier could not be accessed.
Still that week, a second rail bus service between Trincomalee and Gal Oya in the East was also launched and all restrictions on civilian travel on the A9 road are lifted. On December 21, state media says the customs duty on the import of wheat grain has been completely lifted.The customs duty imposed on rice and sugar imports is reduced by one rupee. A day later, it was announced that the government has relaxed security zones around schools in the Jaffna peninsula. At midnight, the price of a loaf of bread was reduced by three rupees as a result of the government removing customs duty on wheat imports. Rice prices stabilise following imports.
During the last week of December, the government said the Kilinochchi district secretariat was functioning for the first time in two decades. The Central Bank took steps to draft measures to implement a 20 percent bonus interest scheme for senior citizens from January 2010. And Trade Minister Bandual Gunawardene said the prices of several essential items — sugar, dhal, big onions, potatoes, red onions, dried chillies, garlic and milk — were reduced to benefit the consumer.
The price of petrol is reduced by 15 rupees with effect from midnight on December 30. On December 31, the “unofficial” curfew imposed on the Jaffna peninsula was lifted. From midnight of the same day, the price of a domestic cylinder of 12.5 kg Laugfs Gas was slashed by Rs 60. This was announced by Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardene who said the reduction was effected to grant relief to the public.
In January, the lending rates for three agricultural credit schemes operated by the Central Bank were reduced by four per cent. Two days later, President Rajapaksa launched the modernization programme of the Torrington Grounds and presented awards to three sports personalities. The same week, five schools in the Kilinochchi district were opened for the first time for academic activity. Teachers at these schools were provided free transport.

Cash payments

Education Minister Susil Premajayanth said the salaries of teachers will be increased between Rs 1,005 and Rs 2,685 with effect from July 2008 (with arrears). Coincidentally, teachers around the country were issued cash payments on the day before postal voting for the presidential election was held.
It was announced that the ministry of finance and planning has decided to approve a total cost of living allowance of Rs 5,250 for all state sector employees - to be added to their January salaries. On the same day, more than 500 families are resettled within a High Security Zone in Jaffna. Each is provided Rs 100,000 while 1000 bicycles were also donated. The Palaly transmission station was opened to allow Jaffna residents to view Rupavahini Corporation and Independent Television Network channels and FM radio stations of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation avowedly for the “betterment” of the Jaffna people. President Rajapaksa symbolically handed out pension policies to retired employees of the cooperative sector. He also inaugurated the Pannipitiya flyover. He later inaugurated the Gampaha flyover. A ceremony was held to hand over salaries and allowances of 266 families of war heroes at the Panagoda army base. And it was announced that the Kerawalapitiya Combined Cycle power generation plant will come into full operation from January 15.
On January 9, over 700 former LTTE cadres rehabilitated in Vavuniya were handed over by President Rajapaksa to their parents at a massive ceremony. Meanwhile, starting January 14, the government sold white raw rice from Pakistan at Rs 50 per kilo through cooperatives around the country - to “provide relief” to the people. The same week, state media revealed that the government has allocated Rs 2,900 million to provide the midday meal for schoolchildren in 2010.

I WILL GIVE!

President Rajapaksa’s pet peeve, Sarath Fonseka, has inevitably stuck to the time-tested peddling of promises. The mother of all pledges is his undertaking to increase the salaries of public servants by Rs 10,000 and to resolve all pension anomalies. He also says he will increase the lowest Samurdhi payment to Rs 500 and bring all deserving families who have been politically excluded into the social safety net. He hasn’t explained how he would achieve all this.
Fonseka has undertaken to ensure that for the 2010 Maha season samba will be bought from the farmer at 40 rupees a kilo and nadu at 35 rupees a kilo. He will make sure that dairy farmers receive a minimum of 45 rupees a litre of milk.
If elected, Fonseka also says he will negotiate with the private sector to increase salaries by helping to eliminate “unwarranted” taxes and payments that increase the cost of doing business. He insists that he will follow up on the negotiations to increase salaries of estate workers to Rs. 500. Not only are these expounded at public meetings, they are published in his manifesto.
He will also, we are told, slash heavy taxes on essential food items, remove all duty on diesel and kerosene; “significantly reduce” taxes on LPG and “other essentials as required”; and implement the prices for petrol prescribed by the Supreme Court. (It would seem that while drafting his manifesto, somebody decided to go the whole hog by throwing in the “other essentials as required” part).
Fonseka promises to remove the payment for emission certification for school vans and three-wheelers and to provide spare parts at concessionary duties for private buses and three-wheelers. He promises to increase the resettlement grant for internally displaced persons to a minimum of Rs 100,000 per family. Young people between the ages of 17 and 25 can hope to join a programme that pays them a monthly allowance of Rs 2000 while receiving vocational training. Another programme will apparently see the government and private sector finding jobs for young people who complete some sort of challenge. Any unemployed graduate involved in the latter project will be paid an extra Rs. 3,000 a month.
Having not run a government before, Fonseka is able to ladle out promises with a generous spoon. But Rajapaksa has matched him by going heavy on populist initiatives in the run up to the election. The decision on which strategy scored more among the public is only two days away.