Sri Lanka It's Happening

May 9, 2005

If there is one minister in this government to tell the truth, it is surely Mr. Amunugama, the minister of Finance. Around an year ago, he made a celebrated speech in which he labelled five government instituions as monsters.

The Ceylon Petrolium Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board, are among them. The CPC enjoys a monopoly in petrolium refining. The CEB has a near monopoly in electricity generation. On may day the Finance Minister once again spoke the truth about these organizations.

He stressed that they are badly in need of restructuring and by doing so a huge amount of money can be saved. The consumers will be able to obtain fuel and electricity at a reduced rate (both are heavily subsidized at the moment).

His speech can be loosely translated to say "The 14,000 wretches and rogues working at these insitutions are hampering the restructuring". He was censured by the prime minister for speaking truth. And the cabinet paper to restructure these institutions had to be withdrawn because the government bowed before the strikes by these rogues and wretches.

Curiously, the sentiments expressed by the Finance Minister about the CPC and CEB are no different from those expressed by the president some time back. It is suprising that the Prime Minister (the darling of Sri Lanka's extremely un productive labour force) didn't choose to castigate the president for her remarks.

Posted by raditha at May 9, 2005 7:18 AM