POLITICS

Birth pangs of UNF government

By Suranimala

While Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pushed the peace process forward last week in the hope of restoring stability to the country, rumblings were heard both from the members of the United National Front as well as the People's Alliance on the overall political strategy adopted by their respective parties.

For Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, ensuring stability in the country through an extended cessation of hostilities leading to a durable peace settlement was the panacea for the economic ills facing the country and he made his thinking known in a policy statement that also hinted at deproscription of the LTTE.

To achieve this objective, the prime minister not only had to convince the liberation Tigers of his bona fides with regard to the peace process but also carry the People's Alliance, hence a reluctance to take the battle to President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the various allegations levelled at her both before and after the elections.

Wickremesinghe knows only too well that if he can have a cessation of hostilities for one year while negotiations proceed, it will give him time to lure in the investors and turn the economy around.

The peace process

In this respect, Wickremesinghe has banked on Norway to deliver the LTTE, and President Kumaratunga, the PA, the latter being a bone of contention within the United National Front, a majority of whose members believe, sooner than later the president will pull the rug under the prime minister's feet derailing the entire peace process.

As the situation stands at present, the prime minister's gamble with the LTTE has paid off despite the occasional hiccup, with both parties not only extending the cessation of hostilities but also making other gestures of goodwill such as the prime minister's expressed intention of lifting the proscription and the release of soldiers in their custody by the Tigers.

However, the faith placed in Kumaratunga by Wickremesinghe came unstuck last week as the People's Alliance walked out of parliament on the advice of the president during the prime minister's policy statement debate despite a direct appeal by the prime minister to the president prior to this development for the avoidance of confrontational politics.

What a majority of UNF members believe is that if the government is to last the distance and work towards national reconciliation, it has to marginalise Kumaratunga and then work with the People's Alliance, lest she uses her executive powers to derail the administration.

Option to dissolve

Towards this end, several members including the likes of Ministers Gamini Lokuge, Jayawickrema Perera, Ravi Karunanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, S.B. Dissanayake and G.L. Peiris have urged the prime minister to move against Kumaratunga speedily before it is left too late, leaving open the option for her to dissolve parliament by December this year. They believe Wickremesinghe's faith in the president's sincerity is misplaced.

On the other hand, President Kumaratunga's confidantes have advised her to lull the UNF into a false sense of complacency and then strike when the government gives effect to the deproscription of the LTTE, making it politically difficult for the prime minister at that stage to move against the president lest he be accused before the people of attempting to marginalise her for opposing the deproscription.

This in turn would give the president an opening to dissolve parliament by December under the pretence of safeguarding the nation from the LTTE or so the thinking goes.

And the ground for this manoeuvre was laid last week in parliament on the specific instructions of the president where former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was told to extend the PA's support for the peace process while cautioning against the deproscription of the LTTE, and on the other hand telling Badulla district MP, Nimal Siripala de Silva to launch an attack on the government for post election violence followed by a walk out of the PA parliamentary group.

The message Kumaratunga intended sending to the country thereby was that she was prepared, despite the harassment her party members were subjected to, to go the extra mile to help the government attain peace subject to the proscription of the LTTE not being disturbed while the walkout was to be viewed only as a sign of protest for the harassment of party cadres and members.

That apart, Kumaratunga has also laid the groundwork for opposing the deproscription of the LTTE by stating publicly as well as privately that she is kept in the dark on the peace process and will not be a mere rubber stamp for any arrangement worked out between the government and the LTTE.

This fact, the president also conveyed to Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando last week at a one-to-one discussion but said she would be inviting the prime minister, Minister Karu Jayasuriya and the foreign minister for dinner next week to discuss the emerging problems.

The sense of urgency on the part of the president to confront the UNF sooner than planned is also due to internal problems within the PA which is threatening to tear the Alliance apart, which in the president's view could only be avoided by uniting against the common enemy, the UNF - hence the campaign against the emotionally charged deproscription issue.

In this context, the backdrop to last week's developments become relevant both from the PA standpoint as well as the UNF, whose members are also becoming increasingly disillusioned not just at the slow pace of government but also on the preference given to the constituent partners at the expense of UNPers.

Post election violence

The problems within the People's Alliance surfaced in the face of continued violence and harassment of its members at the hands of UNPers after the elections with the party doing very little to effectively counter the disturbing trend.

And though Prime Minister Wickremesinghe formed a committee and sent out word to desist from harassing PA members, not much progress was made, leading to the party members agitating against its leadership for lack of results due to weakness.

Thus, there was a growing body of opinion within the People's Alliance that Opposition Leader Ratnasiri Wickremanayake should be replaced by Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Rajapakse, to keep the pressure on the government both in and outside parliament.

Towards this end, the SLFP central organisation in Katana presided by Gampaha district MP, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle took the lead last week by unanimously adopting a resolution, calling for the appointment of Mahinda Rajapakse as opposition leader. This move is to be followed by several other SLFP organisations island-wide.

With the stage thus set, several PA MPs too started agitating openly for Rajapakse's appointment, complaining Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was too ill and ineffective to carry out the strenuous role of the opposition leader. This situation led to Wickremanayake being unable to get the unstinted cooperation of his members in parliament either.

Totally frustrated, Wickremanayake discussed the issue with the president and said there was a total lack of discipline among the members with the situation going completely out of control and that he was ready to throw in the towel.

The president however was not about to concede the post to Rajapakse for fear of the Bandaranaikes losing grip of the party and persuaded the opposition leader to stay on till the dust settles and Anura Bandaranaike returns from his vacation in the United States. This move is also receiving backroom support from several UNPers who are of the view, it is in the government's interest to have Anura Bandaranaike as opposition leader.

But the situation took a turn for the worse when the People's Alliance parliamentary group met on Tuesday with several members complaining of continued harassment by the UNP at village level and the failure of the PA leadership to take effective deterrent measures despite assurances given by the prime minister.

The president of course used the opportunity to tell the members what she had done for the SLFP and expressed the sentiment, there could be a conspiracy against her in the party similar to the one faced by her mother after the 1977 defeat leading to orchestrated protests.

Walk out

It is thereafter that the president decided to speed up on her strategy directing Kadirgamar to speak on the peace process and Nimal Siripala de Silva, the harassment of the PA members followed by the walk out.

By this time, a thoroughly disillusioned opposition leader citing ill health decided not to attend parliament, leading to more pandemonium in opposition ranks especially after Kadirgamar's conciliatory speech on the peace process during Wednesday's debate.

Totally unaware of the president's strategy to lay a trap for the UNP, the members were quite agitated, openly questioning in the opposition lobby how the PA can offer the hand of reconciliation, as spoken to by Kadirgamar, when its members were being locked up willy nilly and evicted from their workplaces, not to mention physical assault. These rumblings in the PA camp saw the president rushing to parliament and appealing for calm, pledging stern action against the UNF government.

While several members thronged president's office, Puttalam district MP, D.M. Dissanayake, who attends parliament from prison, especially made a fervent appeal for action to prevent the party cadres deserting them in hordes before the local authority elections.

"How can there be talk of reconciliation when we are beaten up and incarcerated and prevented from campaigning for the election?" he asked quite oblivious to his own record of terror and mayhem in the Puttalam district.

The president having listened to the members assured the gathering which included among others, Sarath Amunugama, A. Putrasigamani, Raja Collure, Dinesh Gunawardene, C.B. Ekanayake, S.B. Navinna, Tissa Karaliyadde and Richard Pathirana that Nimal Siripala de Silva would be making a strong statement and walking out as a sign of protest but that the right noises with regard to the peace process had to be made at this point of time for international consumption while the deproscription issue is used against the government as the sword of damocles.

While the president was thus calming the members down, MPs Mangala Samaraweera and Lakshman Kadirgamar walked in and the former foreign minister started explaining to the agitated members the tenor and rationale of his speech, especially on the deproscription issue.

Confrontational politics

Then came a knock on the door and in walked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who by this time knew of the president's arrival and the intended walkout from parliament by the PA. On hearing this news, the prime minister decided to meet the president and dissuade her from such a drastic course of action, which would have the effect of heralding confrontational politics at a time the peace process was delicately poised.

For, in Wickremesinghe's view, if he could not deliver the south, the government's position would be weakened and the LTTE would not be agreeable to a negotiated settlement leading inevitably to the collapse of the peace process.

But on seeing the large number of PA MPs with the president when he entered the room, the prime minister said he would return after lunch, only to be told by Kumaratunga she would like to meet him straightaway.

Having said so, Kumaratunga excused herself and walked into the adjoining room with the prime minister where the duo jaw-jawed for almost 100 minutes.

At this meeting, the prime minister appealed for the PA to not stage a walkout, agreeing to immediately address their grievances but the president pointed out it was too late since the MPs were quite agitated and that future cooperation could be considered on action taken on the harassment of PA members.

CBK"s reservations

The president also used the opportunity to express her reservations on deproscribing the LTTE and the difficulties she would have in convincing her party to support such a move especially in view of the fact, it was she who had to issue the gazette deproscribing the LTTE. The prime minister in turn informed the president he would address her concerns immediately and return with results obviously realising the entire peace process would be blocked if the president refuses to deproscribe the LTTE.

Such gestures however did not appease the PA members and the agitation for the appointment of Mahinda Rajapakse as opposition leader to take the battle to the UNF intensified with the president continuing to appeal for calm from her members while Rajapakse himself left the country for Saudi Arabia the same Wednesday, leaving the pot on the boil. The thrust of the members argument continued to be that Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was incapable of giving them leadership in parliament.

This state of affairs finally led to Opposition Leader Wickremanayake sending a fax message to the president Wednesday evening offering to resign from his post if that be the demand of the membership.

In his note Wickremanayake has said since he was not receiving the full support of the opposition members to execute his functions, he was ready to support any suitable person for the job and step down.

Having sent the missive, Wickremanayake took wing to Singapore throwing the party into further confusion, prompting Kumaratunga to appoint Richard Pathirana as acting leader of the opposition and Dinesh Gunawardene as acting opposition whip. Fully alive to the sensitivity of this issue, the president therefore telephoned Wickremanayake and requested him to withdraw his fax message and issue a statement to the effect that he had not resigned as opposition leader.

Wickremanayake however remained non-committal, leaving it for the PA's media spin doctors to deal with the issue and deny the resignation attempt of Wickremanayake.

But the fact remains, given the tone of Wickremanayake's note by his own admission, there is a lack of confidence in his parliamentary leadership and the president will have no option but have a new opposition leader appointed if the party is to make its presence felt in parliament and not concede the platform completely to the JVP.

It is to overcome this crisis that the ethnic issue and deproscribing of the LTTE are to be used by the president as a diversionary ploy to keep a tight leash of the party and the government from impeaching her.

Disillusioned UNPers

Be that as it may, the UNF is not without its own share of problems with UNPers being increasingly disillusioned due to their inability to take decisions even on the appointment of a corporation director coming under their purview without reference to the prime minister, a matter Minister for Economic Reform Milinda Moragoda no less has raised with Wickremesinghe.

What has irked several senior UNP members is that while loyalists who toiled for the party during the seven turbulent years of Kumaratunga's rule cannot be appointed to any post without the prime minister's sanction, the minority party leaders and the PA break-away group are having a free run in the choice of their nominees.

Thus, while those persons who enjoyed office under the PA for seven years continue to do so under the present dispensation, many UNPers are still left out in the cold leading to much heartburn.

This state of affairs has extended to the appointment of ministers as well with the likes of Keheliya Rambukwella, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene, Hemakumar Nanayakkara and Sarathchandra Rajakaruna not appointed even as deputy ministers while Milinda Moragoda, Ravi Karunanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Karunasena Kodituwakku, Lakshman Seneviratne, Upali Piyasoma and Ravi Samaraweera were deprived of cabinet portfolios.

In fact, the non-appointment of these members to cabinet rank shook the government at the very outset with at least four of them refusing to be sworn in as ministers but only after last minute assurances they would be sworn in as cabinet ministers within a month was the situation diffused.

On that occasion, the Muslim Congress leader, Rauf Hakeem, who negotiated with the disillusioned members gave a solemn undertaking he would himself resign in 30 days if Karunanayake and Senaratne were not sworn in as ministers before January 12, but Hakeem has since not been heard on that issue.

It is after this undertaking was endorsed by the prime minister, Minister Karu Jayasuriya and then Chairman Charitha Ratwatte themselves that the likes of Karunanayake, Moragoda, and Senaratne agreed to take oaths, an undertaking yet to be honoured.

Fully fledged ministers

So much so, Moragoda last week declined an invitation by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to go before the cabinet and explain the economic crisis and reforms to the cabinet of ministers stating he will only come before the cabinet with dignity as a fully fledged minister. That task finally fell on Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte and official Faiz Mohideen.

Likewise, Karunanayake due to lead a government trade delegation to India has said he too will lead such a delegation only as a cabinet minister as per the assurances given in December and not in his present capacity.

What has particularly irked the UNPers is that while their appointments are delayed, the likes of Ken Balendra, Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Lotteries Board Chairman Upali Liyanage, BOI consultant Edmond Jayasinghe and IGP Lucky Kodituwakku amongst other PA favourites continue to occupy their coveted positions with approval of the new government not to mention the deafening silence on the issue of the chief justice, which in turn has led to the impression of backroom deals being worked out.

At the same time, the likes of Minister S.B. Dissanayake too are yet to join the UNP, opting instead to continue as a constituent partner of the UNF, lest they lose their leverage with the new government.

Junior members

For, if they join the UNP now, they would be junior members of the party having to take a back seat to W.J.M. Lokubandara, P. Dayaratne, Alick Aluvihare, M.H. Mohamed, Tyronne Fernando, Jayawickrema Perera, Gamini Lokuge and the like, especially since the prime minister lays a lot of emphasis on seniority when making appointments.

In such a scenario, S.B. Dissanayake, if he joins the UNP, would not be in a position to sit with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe together with Karu Jayasuriya, Rauf Hakeem and Armugam Thondaman in deciding UNF policy or appointments, having to instead make way for another party senior. The prime minister is not oblivious to this situation but is helpless given the political realities of the parliamentary equation of the UNF and gave vent to his frustrations Friday morning, when he addressed the UNF parliamentary group.

Wickremesinghe said he cannot be a monitor but expected the members to do their best for the government without constantly complaining.

Stating that their battle is in parliament, the prime minister said at the time he made the policy statement, at least eight MPs were absent and fifteen were missing the following day.

He thereafter proceeded to read the names of those who were not present and said in future such absences would not be tolerated.

In addition to these problems, now even if the president refuses to issue the gazette deproscribing the LTTE, it will be left for Thilak Marapona as defence minister to so do, making it entirely a UNF exercise. Marapona for his part as defence minister too is not likely to be happy issuing such a gazette notification.

Thus, the task before Wickremesinghe is not enviable, having to balance all the countervailing forces and steer the ship of state in stormy waters which is bound to come with hard economic decisions to be taken and a difficult peace path to traverse.

And if the prime minister is to achieve success in this himalayan task, the quicker he addresses the growing disenchantment in the party the better, especially in the absence of his long time troubleshooter, Gamini Athukorale.

That task has now been left to UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrama who has hitherto risen to the challenge admirably, being easily accessible to all the members, giving a patient hearing to their litany of grievances, assuring redress and smoothening ruffled feathers.

But the real test for the government would come when difficult decisions on the economic and peace fronts as mentioned earlier have to be taken and it will do well for the prime minister to sort out the internal problems besetting his administration before that time dawns lest he be caught in a catch 22 situation similar to that which eventually led to the PA's downfall.

And he can rest assured Kumaratunga will be plotting, planning and smacking her lips in glee, waiting for that time, even as Wickremesinghe woos her for reconciliation.

A government of inactivity

By The Insider

It is now six weeks since the ministers of the UNF Government settled their ample posteriors into the plush, calf-leather upholstered seats of their Volvos and BMWs. In those six weeks, ceasefires have been declared, the roadblocks cleared and space made on the front page of the Daily News to accommodate not just the views of the president, but even opposition members of parliament. A breath of fresh air.

But, you would say (and you would be right to do so, too), fresh air never paid the bills. The people are becoming restless, pawing the ground and raising dust in their impatience for visionary reform. Much was expected of the UNF, quite apart from peace. Little has been forthcoming.

Endless monologues

During the past few weeks, we ourselves have reflected the nation's impatience. For all we see of governmental action, most of Ranil Wickremesinghe's fifty-something ministers might not even exist. Having deftly pocketed their portfolios, it seems they are more preoccupied with enjoying the fruits of the offices they hold rather than settling down to work. All we seem to hear from the few whose heads have come up above the water are long recitations of what is wrong with the country. They seem to ignore the fact that the people knew full well what the matter was with the country under the PA, which is why they elected the UNF in the first place. What we want now are the solutions (which, after all, the UNF had seven long years in opposition to think about), and not endless monologues about the mess the country is in.

The UNF is still to articulate its agenda for national development. In his policy statement to parliament last Tuesday, Wickremesinghe outlined his ideals, but in the broadest possible terminology. What we need to hear now from the UNF are the specific goals the various ministers have set for the coming years. The 100-day programme, which might have been a harbinger of things to come, has already fallen flat on its face. All but a handful of ministers have come up with utterly useless programmes that will have no impact whatever on the quality of life of the people.

Young Professionals

It seems that only Wickremesinghe has a clear conception of what he wants to do. In his policy statement last week for example, he hinted clearly that loss-making government ventures would be privatised. He also indicated that special programmes would be introduced for youth education and employment. However, the government's thinking needs to transcend mere programmes: the challenge before Wickremesinghe is to effect a sea change in Sri Lanka's socio-economic philosophy.

For example, as everyone knows, Sri Lanka's economy has traditionally been agriculture-based. Yet, given the rapid incorporation of technology into agriculture, the worldwide trend is for agriculture to become in effect a part of industry. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the field of biotechnology, which is causing an agricultural revolution of its own. The future of Sri Lanka's agriculture lies in the ability of this sector to assimilate the vast strides being made in genetic engineering across the world. Already, India and Malaysia are leading the world in introducing biotechnology into tea and rubber respectively. Transgenic technology will see improved varieties of tea, with better flavour, colour, productivity, and so on. In the case of rubber, Malaysian biotechnologists have already succeeded in getting rubber trees to produce even pharmaceutical components as by-products in addition to latex. As at now, Sri Lanka has not even thought of establishing a biotechnology laboratory.

Odd choice

While tea remains the largest export-agriculture sector in the country, the UNF government ironically has appointed the older brother of Secretary to the Prime Minister, Bradman Weerakoon, as chairman of the tea board. Weerakoon senior is a man of exceptional integrity; he is however, well into his seventies and given Wickremesinghe's pre-election promise to have a government driven by young professionals, is an odd choice for driving this vital sector from the era of the pruning knife into the age of genetic engineering. It is doubtful that he will achieve any of the sweeping reforms the sector needs, for example in the utterly ineffective and moribund tea research institute, quite apart from providing the promotional drive to get value-added teas on to the shelves of western supermarkets.

Weerakoon does not stand alone as being an odd choice to lead a sector in urgent need of those young professionals to whom Wickremesinghe once paid lip service. Ken Balendra's reappointment to the Bank of Ceylon has left the UNF rank and file baffled and the PA delighted, given the UNP's earlier pledge to take him to task for waiving Rs 15 million interest from a loan taken by Chandrika Kumaratunga's pal, the well-known commission agent, Ronnie Peiris.

Moragoda's mores

Above all, the UNF's promise of a new political culture has yet to show signs of life. For practical purposes, nothing has changed. A handful of ministers continue to bring the UNF government into contempt and hatred by rushing around the country with armed escorts, recklessly breaking the traffic rules. One of the worst offenders is Speaker Joseph Michael Perera, who sports himself these days in a grey 7-series BMW irregularly loaned to him by Justice Minister W.J.M. Lokubandara.

Not content to use the luxury vehicles owned by parliament for the use of former Speakers Anura Bandaranaike and K. B. Ratnayake, and not content with just a BMW, Perera has also gone on to order himself a spanking new multimillion rupee Mitsubishi Montero, for which our taxes will pay. Former Speaker M. H. Mohammed too, within days of becoming a minister, disported himself in a flashy, spanking new CC numbered maroon Volvo.

Whizzing down Baudhaloka Mawatha shortly after 2 p.m. last Monday, Joseph Michael Perera's convoy (two escort land rovers brimming with machinegun-toting militia), entirely on the wrong side of the dual-carriageway divide at the Kanatta roundabout, sent schoolchildren scampering of a pedestrian crossing outside D. S. Senanayake College as it blazed past neatly queued traffic.

Given that he started life as an usher in a Ja Ela cinema, Perera's enthronement as speaker no doubt entails an element of culture shock. Rushing about the capital flashing and tooting, and posing himself and his CC-87-93-2 BMW as a health hazard to pedestrians and traffic is no doubt an ecstatic pleasure, like a child with a new toy.

It shows the world that here is a man who has at last arrived. But the point remains that he is giving the whole of the UNF a bad name. And he is not alone, for quite a few ministers behave likewise, though a handful have shunned the hated escort vehicles altogether and go about like ordinary citizens, which, after all, they are.

It is up to Wickremesinghe to crack the whip at his errant ministers now, before it is too late. The prime minister's removal of the security barriers around Colombo was presumably because given the reduced level of threat to public safety, these barriers were no longer needed.

Why is it necessary then that ministers go about protected by dozens of gun-toting security men in convoys of commando-style land rovers? Are their lives more precious than ours?

Equally important it is that President Kumaratunga and her former Ministers Lakshman Kadirgama and Anuruddha Ratwatte go about in elaborate military convoys for if nothing else, that is a telling reminder to the public of the sad state to which they reduced this country.

Political agenda

Elsewhere on this page (see box) we have detailed how Technology Minister Milinda Moragoda was lured into making a fool of himself. Having come into parliament as a national-list MP just a year earlier, dark horse Moragoda scooped Ravi Karunanayake to become runner up to Ranil Wickremesinghe in the Colombo district at the December 5 election.

In a campaign that will be remembered for years to come, the youthful minister shunned posters and went instead directly to the people, visiting and telephoning thousands of houses, articulating his fresh vision for Sri Lanka.

When appointed a minister, Moragoda opted to travel in an Indian-manufactured ambassador car, a model which even fifty years ago was considered something of a lemon. Was all this out of a genuine acceptance of a new set of values in keeping with the pulse of the people, or was it all a sham? That is the question readers will no doubt be asking in the light of his quarter-million rupee, four minute 'flight of fancy'.

Ironically, six weeks of UNF government appear to have breathed new life into the People's Alliance. Chandrika Kumaratunga's statements to the media are becoming not just more confident but increasingly more strident. Having gone to ground for a few weeks in the aftermath of her party's defeat, she is now poised to take the moral high ground, given that the UNF has failed to act both against her and against the more errant of her ministers.

At 68, pro tem Leader of the Opposition Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has made it abundantly clear that he has no stomach for the job. Both Mahinda Rajapakse (56) and Anura Bandaranaike (53 come February 15) are straining at the leash to lead the opposition to victory, it being well known that the former in particular is an able national campaigner, given the leadership he gave to bringing the UNP down in 1994. Given also the advent of the local-government polls now just 7 weeks away, a resurgence of opposition activity is imminent.

While the PA has much to be content with given the UNP's lacklustre first 50 days, the UNP supporters themselves are becoming increasingly more disgruntled. To be fair, Wickremesinghe himself warned the electorate not to expect a 1977-style change of fortune: that was never on the cards.

Nevertheless, the people's expectations of the UNF were high. But having said that, the inability of the government to come up with an agenda for development has gravely disappointed its following. What is more, the party also clearly lacks a political agenda, having retained the services of the likes of P. B. Jayasundera, Ken Balendra and Vijaya Malalasekera, all devoted cronies of Kumaratunga's.

In this background, no one will be surprised if one day he should ascend to the presidency, Ranil Wickremesinghe were to retain Kusumsiri Balapatabendi as Secretary to the President.

More than a month since CDB Director Bandula Wickramasinghe provided evidence that linked Chandrika Kumaratunga directly to a cover up of the murder of ACTC leader Kumar Ponnambalam, the UNF is yet to secure a proper investigation into the matter. IGP Lucky Kodituwakku and Army Commander Lionel Balagalle, whose tongues have grown dry from licking the presidential stilettos are firmly in the saddle, with no move to replace them.

So are Chief Justice Sarath Silva and parliament's Secretary General, Dhammika Kitulegoda, who the UNP in opposition swore to impeach and remove.

Quite apart from that, the UNF seems not a bit anxious to take President Kumaratunga to task for the multitude of sins she committed while in office, whether of a legal, financial or moral nature. Having pledged to impeach her, the government has now cosied up to her in the hope that it could proceed with its agenda (if indeed there is such a thing) using her goodwill. What the UNF fails to realise is that in the eyes of its supporters, supping with the devil will get it nowhere.

Even when issues have presented themselves on a platter to the UNP government, it has failed to act. A case in point is the discovery of the arms cache at Athurugiriya, evidently maintained for an undercover group of army personnel whose job it was to assassinate senior LTTE targets.

Counter - terror

In an atmosphere of terror, no doubt counter-terror has a place. Now one has explained (neither has the government asked) why it was that the cache was maintained in the outskirts of Colombo when the operations themselves were to be carried out in the eastern province. When the LTTE wants to assassinate a VIP in Colombo, for example, does it set up its safe house for the operation in Vuvuniya?

It now appears that the group was operating under the direct control of Army Commander Lionel Balagalle. However, while secrecy is no doubt of the essence in such operations, is it Lionel Balagalle who decides who lives and who dies in this country? Or did the army commander at least keep the President advised of what was going on? Then again, why was it that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was not briefed on the group's existence immediately after he was sworn in?

Undercover operations

As a result of Balagalle's ineffectiveness, the group has not only been exposed but subjected to disgraceful humiliation at the hands of the police. What is more, while the group has been conducting undercover operations for at least the past six months, it seems that the national intelligence bureau was completely oblivious to its existence. What then is the quality of intelligence in this country? Should heads not roll?

The government should also not overlook the broader issue this case poses. Given the media criticism of the way in which the police handled the army's undercover group, Defence Minister Tilak Marapone and Interior Minister John Amaratunga have been wringing their hands and grumbling that it is a police matter and not a political affair.

What then, will be the position after the independent police commission is appointed by the constitutional council?

The police will then be completely free of political control and accountability, a law unto themselves. Whose job will it be to ensure police efficiency, impartiality and honesty? Worse still, the public service will be in much the same state once they are put under the control of the independent Public Service commission.

By supporting the 17th Amendment and all it contains, Ranil Wickremesinghe may have meant well. But it remains to be seen whether it will turn into a monster that will reduce Sri Lanka to a state of even greater inefficiency, unaccountability and corruption. And, of course, in the eyes of the people, it will all be the UNF's fault. That combined with a lack of political strategy and a development agenda may well seal the UNF's fate unless it acts NOW.