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First
aid forum The UNDP's Millennium Development Goals Report to be officially released today, May 15, spotlights the disparity in development in the country -- and what it calls "the growing poverty in inland rural areas and the coastal belt" affected by the tsunami. It states that Sri Lanka has about 5 million people living in poverty -- "perhaps more". One would not think so, considering the ostentatious lifestyles of Government leaders, the plush vehicles we see on the street and the increasing use of mobile phones in the main cities. Five million people are one-fourth of the nation's population. So, if we are to go by the UN study, one in four Sri Lankans lives in poverty. The UN has ambitious plans to halve this number but in the face of soaring prices, increasing population and decreasing access to hospitals, schools, water and sanitation and eventually jobs, not to mention more pressure on the environment, even the country's long term pride, its impressive social indicators such as literacy rates, primary health and education levels are being swept away. Finance Minister, the straight-talking Sarath Amunugama, is probably in the best seat to see the withering away of whatever pluses we have -in the face of inaction on the part of the Government, crippled by the ideological battles with its junior coalition partner and mounting pressures from the donor community. Caught as he is, like the proverbial nut in the nut-cracker, Amunugama, who will be one of those making a presentation to the Forum starting tomorrow, told journalists on the eve of the aid meeting that while Asia is the region of global growth, donor nations are concerned that Sri Lanka is 'the sick man of Asia'. As Sri Lanka slides down in the rankings of the economies of world nations -- and we rely more and more on the monies sent to this country by our long suffering housemaids, our leaders show off their fleet of sleek cars and go on overseas jaunts -- a typical case of a failed state. The Finance Minister knows, however, that the core of the nation's economy is rotting. Tsunami
effect There is no tangible evidence that the near US $5 billion (translated into tens of billions in the local currencies of affected countries) collected worldwide as tsunami aid --collected from even children's piggy banks in the West -- has been properly accounted for. A top-level UN audit team visited Sri Lanka a fortnight ago to investigate the ethical conduct of a local audit firm that has an agreement with the UN to monitor this money. The team slipped in -- and out -- of the country without a word. To-date the world knows not why they came. That is the spirit of transparency the UN is espousing despite Secretary General Kofi Annan's boast that "every cent will be accounted for". But then, Kofi Annan may not be the best person nowadays to talk of accountability. There is no official UN website that gives figures. No press releases to keep the people posted. The only transparency we see is UN and NGO officials running around in new vehicles and buying jewellery at the boutiques starved of tourists. Sri Lankans are also painfully aware of other realities, like the Joint Mechanism (JM). How much time and energy is being expended by the President and her Government on this exercise? And how many know that this is only about just 10 percent of the total tsunami aid money. How much is this costing the other 90 per cent of tsunami-affected areas? Are they being forgotten in this overarching focus on how to get 10 per cent to the people of the Mullaitivu district under LTTE control? The LTTE must take part of the blame -- for playing politics with the lives of the people it claims to represent. Its stubborn insistence that tsunami aid must come through the JM -- in the face of JVP resistance -- only delays urgent relief for 'its' people. In the meantime, the aid donors and their cousins, the NGOs, have a field day dancing on the head of the nation's sovereignty. Caught in their grasp, we have no option but greet them on arrival with garlands, drum and dance, make presentations for them and eventually, maybe -- also dance to their tune as well. |
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