Economic emergency to squash food hoardings

Opposition expresses fears of ‘Govt acting in bad faith’

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STOCKPILED: Government officials raid five warehouses and seize 29,000 tons of sugar on Wednesday

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  Sunday, September 05, 2021

On Monday, by midnight gazette, the President invoked the provisions of the Public Security Ordinance, effectively placing the country under a state of emergency.

The proclamation stated that this was being done to ensure the supply of essential food. Accordingly, in terms of Section 5, imposing Part II of the Ordinance took effect throughout Sri Lanka from thenceforth.

The President stated in his proclamation, these provisions were being invoked since it was “considered expedient to do so in order to ensure the Public Security and wellbeing and maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community in view of the prevailing emergency situation in Sri Lanka in the context of the COVID–19 pandemic now steadily on the rise throughout Sri Lanka.”

Presidential media spokesman Kingsley Ratnayake emphasised on Tuesday that “the President has promulgated emergency regulations under the Public Security Ordinance on the supply of essential goods.” He told reporters: “The Government has appointed a former army general as commissioner of essential supplies with the power to seize food stocks held by traders and retailers and regulate their prices.”

State Finance Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal told reporters that though foreign agency reports have said that Sri Lanka has declared a “food emergency”, ample food stocks including rice and sugar are available in the country and that fears of a food shortage were completely unfounded.

And, armed with the new emergency powers, the crackdown on hoarders has begun in earnest. On 1 September, four warehouses were raided and a total stock of 29,000 tons of sugar was seized and steps were taken for it to be sold to the public at controlled prices through government and private retailers, a government media release stated.

But, of course, Section 5 and Part II of the Ordinance do not stop at ensuring ‘supply of essential food’ but go far beyond to empower the President to ensure ‘essential services,’ as well as to meet other exigencies, including powers to suppress riots and civil commotions; and, in view of the vast powers that flow from invoking Part II of the Ordinance, the Opposition saw an ‘ulterior motive’ in the Government’s action and called for its revocation.

In a statement issued by its General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara on Wednesday, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) said: “We reiterate that the purported declaration of a State of Emergency has been made in bad faith, with an ulterior motive of further wrongfully restricting the fundamental rights of the citizenry, and moving further in the direction of authoritarianism.”

The statement said, it notes that, “in terms of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003, there is statutory power for the prescribing of maximum prices, and to prevent hoarding,” and called upon the President to “forthwith rescind the purported declaration of a State of Emergency.”

SJB leader Sajith Premadasa on Thursday alleged, “the real objective of the Government imposing an emergency is to form a dictatorial administration leading to the burial of democracy. Government should reverse the gazette notification under which emergency was imposed and should activate the Consumer Security Bill and punish those who are hiding stocks of consumer goods.”

Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran, in a videoed statement, called it an ‘unwarranted act’, and warned the ‘decision to go down the Public Security Ordinance route could lead to repression.”

Invoking Part II of the Ordinance and, with it, the whole gamut of powers to crackdown on a few traders hoarding essential food may be justified in the circumstances, given the present food shortage, even though it smacks of using a sledge hammer to squash a fly.

But what seems to worry the Opposition is the notion that, unless the President revokes the proclamation himself or the SLPP-dominated Parliament refuses to ratify it, the state of emergency will remain extant, and the President left holding the sledge hammer long after the fly has been pronounced dead.