The commission appointed by the Western Provincial Council Chief Minister, Reginald Cooray probed into the allegations of maladministration within the Colombo Municipal Council.

The one man commission appointed to investigate the allegations levelled against the CMC members for violating financial and administrative regulations, in its report dated December 31, 2007 has stated that the council members have been found guilty of six charges out of a total of nine, and has specifically noted that the lack of a proper educational background and the poor literacy rate of the new entrants to the CMC had resulted in the creation of an ‘unskilled Municipal Council.’

Meanwhile, since the commission had to investigate the allegations in detail, the given time frame had to be extended on three occasions. The allegations that had been levelled against the council administration were forwarded to the Commissioner, Local Government (Western Province) for necessary action.

In the meantime, CMC employees too have levelled allegations against the Municipal Council members and the CMC administration over several fraudulent deals.

Among them were frauds pertaining to a land, and bribery and corruption that had allegedly taken place during the previous municipal council regime.

The other allegations levelled against the CMC administration were irregularities by the present CMC flying squad, alleged fraud perpetrated by the acting chief security officer, Somaratna, bribery and corruption at the CMC security division, and corruption in the public health department. There are also allegations levelled against Municipal Commissioner, Dr. Jayantha Liyanage by the former Deputy Mayor, Azath Sally.

Since the commission was appointed to inquire into the malpractices of the Municipal Council members, Justice Chandradasa Nanayakkara had recommended a separate investigation to probe into the allegations levelled by the municipal members against the three CMC executive officers — the Municipal Commissioner, Dr. Jayantha Liyanage, Director - Solid Waste Lalith Wickremaratne and Acting Municipal Secretary, Gamini Gunasekara to ascertain their role in the CMC administration which has led to the present situation in the council.

The first three charges of the six that the Municipal Council has been found guilty of pertains to the extension of solid waste removal contracts given to Care Clean Pvt. Ltd., of 96A, Dutugemunu Mawatha, Kohuwela and Abans Environmental Pvt. Ltd., 141, Kirula Road, Colombo 5, for a further two year period with effect from March 31, 2007 and July 31, 2007, respectively.

According to the report, Dr. Jayantha Liyanage, Director — Solid Waste, Lalith Wickremaratne and the Council Clerk, H.G. Siripala in their evidence before the commission have stated that the council’s decision in extending the contract offered to Care Clean Pvt. Ltd., and Abans Environmental Pvt. Ltd., was against the council’s finance and administrative regulations.

 They have further stated that although the council was informed that tender procedures had to be followed to ensure transparency the council had vehemently refused to follow such procedures and had acted according to its wishes.

Yet another allegation of malpractice that has come to light is the purchase of 1590 Usha sewing machines for council members.

The sewing machines were meant to be given to unemployed persons in order to help them make a living.

However, it was alleged that council members had illegally amended the approval letter in order to acquire the machines for themselves.

According to the report the recommendations were made to the council through the poverty alleviation programme to distribute the sewing machines to the unemployed to uplift their living standards.

The council had got the approval amended on November 23, 2006 enabling the council members to get the machines for themselves, the report further added.

It was also indicated that although the council had paid Rs. 20,590,500 to Telesonic International, the sewing machines that were brought to the CMC had been taken back by the same company, raising questions as to what had happened to the machines and whether the machines were distributed among the needy people as envisaged. According to the report, this whole operation was against the Western Provincial Council’s administrative regulations.

The fifth and the sixth charges against the council that were proved following the investigation were the dishonesty of the council in purchasing asbestos and galvanised sheets in order to improve the living standard of the underprivileged people in the city.

Although recommendations were made to distribute the roofing sheets among the poor, it was noted that the council had once again got the approval for council members to obtain the galvanised and asbestos roofing sheets. According to the council treasury, questions arose as to why the council had failed to submit the names of the recipients before the purchases were made and why the council members obtained the sheets for themselves.

Giving evidence before the commission, former Municipal Commissioner, Dr. Jayantha Liyanage and Municipal Treasurer, K.W.K. Premadasa have stated that the CMC had to pay Rs. 8,597,662 for 10211 asbestos sheets and Rs. 5,227,440 for 5682 galvanised sheets which had been taken away by council members, once again flouting the financial and administrative regulations of the council.

In the report, Justice Nanayakkara has observed that the allegations have been proved through the evidence tabled.

He stated that the allegations levelled against the CMC administration by its own members were serious and should be looked into, and has suggested a separate investigation into the allegations. He has further stated that the three executive officers of the CMC should be held responsible for the maladministration of the affairs of the council.

Meanwhile Colombo Municipal Commissioner Dr. Jayantha Liyanage told The Sunday Leader that the Chandradasa Nanayakkara Commission probed only the council irregularities and not the three executive officers of the CMC.

"In the report it clearly states that a separate inquiry has to be held to ascertain whether the three CMC executive officers are guilty of the alleged charges and the commission only inquired into the malpractices of the council members," Dr. Liyanage added.

Dr. Liyanage further stated that he learnt Chief Minister Reginald Cooray has requested President Mahinda Rajapakse to dissolve the council in order to hold a fresh election.

"If the council as claimed by the Mayor was not found guilty over the alleged allegations the CM would not have requested the President to dissolve the council. That proves who has been found guilty by the Nanayakkara Commission," Liyanage said.

The rice crisis continues with the government unable to meet its promise made earlier in the year that prices would be reduced and stabilised by the New Year in April.

The Sinhala and Hindu New Year has dawned and rice prices have skyrocketed to over Rs.90 per kilo in most areas. The government for its part has only been offering the odd statement that the country would be receiving rice imports at some point during the month, by way of relief.

Consumer Affairs Minister, Bandula Gunawardena left for Myanmar earlier in the week in search of rice. He returned on April 9 with Myanmar pledging support — agreeing to send a load of 50,000 mt of rice as the first batch.

However, this first consignment is expected after the New Year. Gunawardena told The Sunday Leader that the shipment could be expected ‘within the course of the month.’

"Myanmar is also celebrating a new year called Sankranthi during this period and the rice would be sent after that, so it should reach Sri Lanka sometime this month," he said. Gunawardena said that he had also requested for a second consignment of another 50,000 mt of rice after the first batch.

"The Myanmar government has agreed to that as well," he said. According to Gunawardena, the rice shortage has been addressed and prices would now come down following these shipments.

That however is little relief to the consumer who has had to pocket out Rs.90 for a kilo of rice to make his kiributh to celebrate the New Year.

Gunawardena says that the initial plan by certain traders was to increase prices to Rs.150. However, he said that rice prices vary between Rs.51 and Rs.74 in the Cooperatives.

Interestingly, the Cooperative network covers only 60 lakhs of the country’s population. According to Gunawardena, the government has ‘looked after enough people in the country.’ "People can go to the Cooperatives to buy rice at reasonable prices. About 60 lakhs of the country’s population is serviced by the Cooperatives, and that is more than enough. The rest can do their shopping at the supermarkets. Even the supermarkets have to survive," he observed. Therefore, a certain section of the population would have no option but to purchase rice at higher prices was his contention.

The shocking extent to which the price of rice has increased was witnessed when a kilo of rice kept increasing by at least Rs.10 every week. The increase has been attributed to a rice shortage in the local market.

According to the Department of Agriculture, an anticipated shortfall of 10% between local production and demand increased to 12.5% following the recent rains.

Agriculture Department officials predicted that the crop failure due to bad weather might not have a significant impact on farmers. Although farmers were in a position to earn between Rs.32 to Rs.35 per kilo, a quality drop in the yield already harvested was inevitable since farmers were unable to find proper storage facilities for their crops.

Agriculture Minister Maithripala Sirisena said that there has been a 50% decline in wheat flour consumption which has in turn resulted in increased rice consumption. The government, he assured, ‘would take every possible step to ensure the smooth supply of rice to the market in the future.’

According to the Census and Statistics Department, paddy production has recorded a decline of 4.1% due to hostilities in the east and bad weather in some other parts of the island in the third quarter of 2007.

Rice prices which escalated to over Rs.100 per kilo in January, started to decline with the government permitting the importation of a limited quota of rice. Rice importers alleged that the state control of rice imports prevented cheaper foreign rice from stabilising prices in the market.

Last November the government exempted the Rs. 20 import duty on rice for a state firm and permitted the importation of 75,000 metric tonnes of rice from India. However, even this did not reduce the rice prices as expected.

The government in a bid to resolve the impending rice shortage and price hike in the market has now allowed rice to be imported to the country by importers sans any import duty.

All in all it is too little too late and the result is a bleak New Year.