The Age of Dudley Dominance

 

2021/10/2

 

 Th rise of Dudley Sirisena – leading what is called the Rice or “Haal’ Mafia, is a major turn in the Saubhagya Vision of the Rajapaksas. President Gotabaya appeared to have moved to reign in the huge rice millers with the final rice Gazette, and the use of Emergency powers, too. All that is now gone. Will there be a new Gazette issued to tell the consumers how they should be smiling when the price of rice keeps rising. Will there be one smile for ‘Naadu”, another for “Samba”, and yet another for “Keeri Samba”.

The government has withdrawn its Gazette on the price of rice to the consumer. It was the last rice Gazette that was withdrawn. There were many rice Gazettes before that. Would the Treasury or any other body try to calculate how much it costs to print and issue a Gazette? How much state funds would be saved if no shaky and wavy Gazettes were issued?

We have moved to the new Dudley Era.

Dudley Senanayake saw the rise of his era with the political handling of rice. It was to beat the rice control strategy of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

We are now in the Dudley Sirisena era – also with rice as the operative, with both profit and politics.

What Dudley Sirisena has told this country is that the government by Gota Gazette is over. We are moving into wider areas of governance, with the major rice millers creating a walkway of their own to join the New Fortress of New York. The manipulators of governance, who are the real powers of this Saubhagya Dekma of Gotabhaya era, will soon rise as the killers of all price controls, and the rise of the Age of Pohottuva Profit.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena may be thinking how he may remain in this government, leading an SLFP that will be singing songs of a Purple Lotus, and feel safe that nothing more is done about finding the powers behind the Easter Sunday carnage. But his brother Dudley, of Rice and Hotel dominance, is certainly keen to show how this government can be manipulated to benefit Traders and Profiteers.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa may have made a speech at the UN that was a sing-song about Pohottuva governance. He even wanted to begin talks with the Tamil Diaspora. He was silent about the search for the Easter Sunday plotters, which is the stuff of today’s politics. He was not bothered by the Sri Lankan protesters in New York, as he enjoyed the pleasure of carrying his newborn grandchild. Is it the time to await the Tamil Diaspora, while not bothering about the Sinhala Diaspora?

This may be the stuff for the new political strategists of the Pohottuva to think about.

But closer to the people is the government’s strategy or even thinking about how the people of this country are to be fed and cared for. Is politics and governance under the Rajapaksas moving to a new trend of Garlic – that pungent bulb used in our cooking, to display the pungent politics of the Rajavasala? How much more stuff held in the Port of Colombo will be handled by the pungent and stifling movers in the Sathosa or any other state trading institution? What else will give us more pungent messages – whether it is about crooked moves in the Port, twisting of price controls, or total distortion of both price and stocks of goods for the people?

The Dudley Sirisena message is very clear. Leave all matters involving rice, from paddy planting to harvesting and mill activity in charge of the Mill Owners and Dealers. This will soon move from rice to vegetables, and to fisheries too. The power lies with the Dudley Sirisena strategists, and nothing whatever to do with military personnel, whatever high rank they may be in. The military uniforms that were on display in the raids of sugar stores and rice reserves will remain decorative ornaments, with no impact wherever on the Dudley Dealers of Profit, Surplus and Killing.

The new Dudley Era is moving in tandem with the revived Cabraal Age in the Central Bank. Just forget about any problems we have (or had) about foreign exchange. The CBSL will always make the funds available, as it did to Greece and even to a rogue in the United States. This is the stuff of the emerging Rajavasala Success.

The so-called lockdown is now over. The Emergency has gone with the Dudley price of rice. Try and take care of yourself against the next Covid wave. But keep in mind that the real wave to worry about is that of the Dudley Dominance in Rajapaksa Governance!