News.lk - The Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka

Exactly three years ago to this date the people of Sri Lanka decided to reaffirm their commitment to democracy by giving a mandate for the formation of a National Unity Government based on the principles of Good Governance.This marked a turning point in the country’s history as the two main parties – the UNP and the SLFP - opted to govern together for the first time. Two statesmen deserve the credit for this unprecedented transformation – President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The National Unity Government has many achievements to its credit, but the main achievement is ending the atmosphere of fear and suspicion.The Government has ensured the freedom of expression, media freedom and the right to live without fear. One of the salient features of good governance was that President Sirisena as pledged in his political manifesto took measures to prune down the powers of the Executive Presidency while the enactment of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution helped re-establish independent commissions which function outside the influence of the Executive and handle key areas of governance like elections, public service, Police, judiciary and others. In addition, the Government fulfilling yet another long felt overdue appointed members to the Constitutional Council. However, as much remains to be done, the incumbent Government which assumed office in August 17, 2015 has taken several praiseworthy initiatives to ensure good governance in the country.

President Sirisena contested for the presidency in January ‘15 elections which would bring political stability to the country and embark on a much-needed reconciliation process among political and ethnic groups. The Government has already achieved remarkable progress when it comes to freedom and good governance. Under the National Unity Government, Sri Lanka has improved many places in the world media freedom index and it was a clear testimony of the democratic space enjoyed by citizens at large. The Government has shown that it is willing to listen to the citizens’ collective on controversial matters. The Government had adopted a tough stance on corruption – a Presidential probe was conducted into the Bond issue while another Presidential Commission is probing SriLankan and Mihin. Special courts were recently established to expedite the hearing of pending corruption cases. An anti-graft campaign is on islandwide.

The Government during its span of three years has been able to make comprehensive constitutional reforms in the country. The enactment of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and Right to Information Bill have facilitated to make significant changes within the country's socio, economic and political fabric.The Parliament adopted the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on April 2015 by two-thirds majority. With the enactment of 19th amendment, the powers of the Executive President were reduced and the task of making key Government appointments was entrusted upon the Constitutional Council. The 19th Amendment ensured an independent judiciary. Under the 19th Amendment, the President cannot dissolve Parliament by using his power. It brought a two-term limit for a President.

The new political culture also created an environment conducive for the journalists to perform their duties in a free and fair manner. State-orchestrated attacks on journalists and white van abductions have come to an end and the journalists have been provided with the opportunity to engage in a balanced media reporting. No journalist has been subjected to harassment since January 2015. This is bolstered by the Right to Information laws that foster a culture of transparency and accountability in public authorities by giving effect to the right of access to information and thereby promoting a society in which the people would be able to more fully participate in public life through combating corruption and promoting accountability and good governance.

The Government has also embarked a massive development drive during the last three years. The government had very rightly decided to continue with the Colombo Port City programme with a new favour as a financial hub. The Hambantota Port and Airport will be developed with overseas assistance. Colombo and the suburbs will soon be connected by a Light Rail Transit (LRT) project under the Megapolis programme. The Central Expressway linking Colombo, Kandy and later Dambulla is nearly complete. The biggest Mahaweli project, the twin Moragahakanda-Kaluganga project was recently commissioned by the President. The Government’s new Grama Shakthi and Gam Peraliya programmes will herald in a rural transformation.

The Government is on track to achieve ethno-religious reconciliation. The minority ethnic groups enjoy freedom compared to the situation under the previous Government when extreme nationalist forces threatened the multi ethnic and multi religious character of our society. There is also an improvement in the field of democratic atmosphere of the country.

The National Unity Government that came to power on January 8, 2015 has taken a genuine interest in achieving reconciliation among all communities and religious groups in the country. Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have been personally committed to fostering reconciliation among all communities from day one. Both of them have visited the North several times, meeting the ordinary people and solving their problems.

In fact, this Government has taken upon itself the task of implementing most of the LLRC recommendations which were either neglected or ignored by the previous one.Its commitment to reconciliation and lasting peace has never been in doubt. Unity among different communities will be one of the main planks of the new Constitution which is slowly but surely taking shape with the participation of all Members of Parliament and other stakeholders.The Government has allocated vast resources for health and education. In the health sector, the prices of many medicines were reduced, cancer patients get treatment for life, stents and cataract lenses were reduced in price and more facilities were given to all hospitals.

There has also been a dramatic decline in tobacco consumption in the last three years. The Government is allocating more resources to the education sector and there is a programme to provide tabs to senior students. The Government has also done a lot for the country’s labour force and targets one million jobs for the youth, which is likely to end the problem of unemployment.The Government also ended the country’s international isolation, gaining victories at the UN Human Rights Council and fostering good relations with all friendly countries.

The Government is not flawless and there have been disagreements among the two ruling parties from time to time. It is still a new experience for the country, but we must admire the commitment of the President, the Prime Minister and many others who have been unwavering in taking the National Unity Government forward. Politics has often been described as the bane of national growth and development – hence we should strive to continue this political unity for the sake of the nation.

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

Most of the developed countries, as well as rapidly developing middle-income countries have stable national policies to guide development in various sectors. These national policies ensure continuity of the development process, despite the change of government due to electoral politics.

Our neighbour India, despite a multitude of problems and abject poverty, succeeded in overcoming many challenges because of its consistent national policies, starting with five-year plans implemented from the time of independence. The first five-year plans were implemented by the Congress Government, which ruled India from 1947 to 1977.

However, even after the changes of government since 1977, the national plans were implemented without any hurdle, despite the changes in government. Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, too, implemented a series of five-year plans to ensure continuity in the development process since 1947, 1952, and 1972, respectively.

To fill the national requirement of a long-term national plan, the ‘Sustainable Sri Lanka: Vision and Strategic Path’ was launched last week.

As President Maithripala Sirisena explained, this document is a guideline for a national discourse to shape Sri Lanka’s collective future and make the country a sustainable, upper middle-income Indian Ocean hub that is economically prosperous, competitive and advanced, environmentally green and flourishing, and socially inclusive, harmonious, peaceful, and just.

The draft national policy covers every aspect from economy, finance, industry, agriculture, environment, health, education and similar other things. It provides policy guidelines to strengthen fiscal consolidation and improve tax collection efforts, adopt prudent monetary and exchange rate policies to achieve internal stability, increase export earnings and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to achieve external stability, through supply-side reforms that improve export competitiveness, and a strategic approach to trade agreements, promote sustainable agriculture through productivity improvements to address persistent poverty in the rural areas, rationalize wasteful expenditure, particularly by ensuring the precise targeting of social welfare programmes for poor households, create more job opportunities, especially for women and youth,

to address inequality concerns and make growth more inclusive, provide better opportunities for the growing senior citizen population to contribute their experience towards sustainable development and improve their retirement social security safety nets and continue with ongoing efforts to review and restructure strategic State-owned Enterprises (SoEs), by strengthening professional management and accountability, and minimising political interference, the focus should be on efficient performance of the SoE, rather than on ownership.

Doing Business Indicators

It also aimed to improve Doing Business Indicators, specifically with regard to enforcing contracts, paying taxes, registering property, and getting credit, to improve economic efficiency and enact and enforce necessary legislation to promote transparency and accountability, and thereby minimize corruption.

The report also listed out several recommendations in the environment sector, such as implementing urgent short, medium, and long-term measures to reduce vulnerability to disasters like droughts, floods, landslides and adapt to climate change, take early action to prevent air pollution due to heavy traffic congestion in major cities and introduce smart and sustainable transportation systems, including non-motorized transport, electric vehicles and electrically operated public transport systems, implement participatory approaches to control deforestation and increase forest cover, and reduce soil erosion, land degradation, and enhance soil fertility and introduce environmentally friendly waste disposal methods.

It also addressed preserving ecosystem services and improving ecosystem health, and minimizing adverse impacts on human health (such as chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology and dengue), by reducing water pollution from all sectors, especially industry, agriculture, and waste disposal, through better enforcement of laws, regulation and pricing policy, replacing fossil fuel based power generation for national grid by using modern renewable energy and promoting application of renewable energy in industrial and commercial applications.

Reducing taxes on vehicles and machinery running on renewable energy, such as electric cars, implementing circular economy principles in all resource consuming enterprises to eliminate wastage, and encouraging recovery of resources and implementing organic and biodynamic agricultural practices to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and agrochemicals, to prevent long-term health impacts and enhancing soil properties are some other recommendations.

While it is necessary to recognize the intricate inter-connections between economic and environmental issues, social sector issues need to be recognized in their own right and policies and strategies need to be developed to address them.

The achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the next thirteen years would depend as much on progress on the social front as on the economic and environmental fronts. In this regard, the sound management of the country’s human resources is critical. There are serious issues in the labour market that need to be addressed urgently. An increasing exodus of labour may not be sustainable in the long run and could damage the economy and society.

While migrant workers and their families, as well as the country at large derive considerable benefits from overseas employment, in particular from remittances, it is also necessary to recognize its negative outcomes, in particular loss of skilled labour and wage inflation, resulting in higher cost of production and labour shortages.

The development of evidence based policies in the areas of education, skill development, research and innovation, employment, social security, protection of vulnerable groups, income distribution, food security and similar other things is an urgent step that needs to be taken. Policies also need to be developed on governance related issues mentioned above.

Diversification of economy

The diversification of the country’s economy away from the present urban-based service sector domination will help to create more balanced productive employment in both rural and urban areas. Promotion of rural industries based on agricultural raw materials is an important step that can be taken to narrow the present rural-urban disparity in terms of employment and income.

Other effective measures that are necessary to reduce income inequalities include progressive income taxation, improvement of public educational services to cut down private tuition, introduction of a contributory health insurance scheme to minimize out of pocket medical expenses, adequate income support to the poor and vulnerable groups on the basis of a reliable and fair means test and the improvement of public transport services.

Persisting ethnic tensions that threaten national unity and peace need to be defused through effective educational, language and decentralization policies and programmes. Social cohesion should be promoted through school and community level programmes.

It is also imperative that Sri Lanka integrates its economy closely with the global economy through strengthened trade and financial relations, to maximize the chances of realizing the set targets. A simultaneous focus on providing adequate safety nets to safeguard the poor and vulnerable will help in ensuring that growth is inclusive, as recognized in Vision 2025.

Also essential are reforms in fiscal, trade, investment and labour market policies, as discussed in previous sections, to remove existing impediments to achieving higher rates of economic growth. This will facilitate the next step of making the transition by 2030, to high middle-income status, and becoming an Indian Ocean hub, built on a knowledge-based, highly-competitive, social-market economy.

For a long-term national policy, the cooperation and commitment of political leadership, policymakers, technocrats, and educators are essential. As President Sirisena stressed at the launch, to achieve the expected outcomes of this futuristic agenda proposed for the education sector by 2030, everybody will have to join forces.