Waning Public Confidence In Governance, The Breakdown Of Democracy & Shortcut To Anarchy

By Suren Sumithrarachchi –JULY 21, 2021

Dr Suren Sumithrarachchi

Governance entails institutional design as well as a management dimension…. Governance takes place at different administrative levels and in various action situations….Governance in practice, then means choices about ways of governing, made at several layers within a policy process, often simultaneously. (Hupe and Hill, 2007, p 287)

The institutional design is the policy framework and management is the implementation of policy by the government. Together, they provide the people the confidence in governance to bring about prosperity to their country, within a framework of a just society.

This paper discusses a growing trend during several successive governments, both past and present, to consciously breach this confidence by the choices they make in publicising half-truths, blatant lies, showing scant respect to the law, acting in contravention to the wishes of the people and passing legislation to concentrate power in themselves, thereby denying justice to the wider society. The paper limits itself to issues, incidents and legislative enactments in the last ten to twelve-year period and attempts to focus on issues under three topics, i.e, the period after the war ended, the period of the Yahapalanaya government of 2015, and governance under the present regime, suggesting a breakdown of the democratic process and a steady descent towards anarchy.

The period after the end of the war

The end of the war saw the popularity of the government soar, along with a disproportionate rise in communal polarisation. The line of demarcation between the terrorist and the Tamil citizen began to fade, with a tendency to look at all Tamils as terrorists, with the rhetoric receiving state patronage. This distorted perception which took its toll in 1983, ruining the image of the country, and which had been subdued to a great extent since, was allowed to raise its head again. This led to a loss of confidence in governance in the eyes of the masses.

This period also saw an elated sense of power and rights on the part of the rulers. While concluding the war justified a sense of achievement, the elation that it resulted in, prevented the rulers from prioritising on the key steps necessary in an immediate post war situation. Accordingly, the all-important step of dealing with the cause of the war which devastated the country for almost thirty years, was neglected. Instead, the rulers chose to celebrate the war victory with military parades and tamashas, while the helpless people in the war torn areas, who had gone through untold suffering during the war, were forced to continue with no change to their living conditions in sight. This was an opportunity lost for speedy reconciliation with the Tamil community who comprise a substantial proportion of the country’s population. Had due priority been given to this aspect, the restoration of faith in the state by the Tamil community could have been on a better footing, probably saving the state of the regular interventions by the international community for its failure to address such issues. This is one more reason for the loss of confidence in governance in the masses.

An elated sense of power also led to meddling with legislation. The 17th amendment to the constitution, which provided for institutional control to minimise politicisation of government activity, thus providing for good governance, was over ridden by the passage of a corrosive legislation in the form of the 18th amendment. This amendment provided for a lifetime presidency, empowering the President to make all appointments and dismissals in the public sector. The dictatorial intent of this piece of legislation eroded the democratic process, leading to arbitrary decisions, and added to the further loss of public confidence in governance in the masses.

The immediate post war period saw large scale investment in infrastructure, mostly in the south of the country. Highways began to be built, sea ports and air ports came up, cricket grounds and convention halls also came up, in the deep south. Most of these projects lacked transparency and came up on unsolicited tenders awarded to Chinese companies. Finances too were from the Chinese, and always on commercial lending terms. It is unlikely that due feasibility studies were carried out for these projects, as most of them were unproductive, showing no return on investment in the near future. These projects have had an adverse impact on the environment by way of large-scale deforestation. The impact on the habitats of all protected species of wild life, particularly elephants have led to an aggravation of the human-elephant conflict. Thus it is unlikely that the environmental impact of these projects had been properly assessed. Furthermore, these investments have caused the country a heavy debt burden, which has stifled the necessary finances for more rational investments. Expenditure on health care, education and higher education, which could add value to the society in the longer term, have had to be curtailed due to constraints on finances. These investments have caused loss of confidence in the government, particularly in the area of its prudence in investment decisions.

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