Presidential candidates riding on voters’ wave or money wave?
Ensuring transparency of government spending, Sri Lanka’s ministries and state institutions have been directed by the Treasury not to use state resources and financial allocations for presidential election campaigns.
At a time of Presidential or General elections, the Finance Ministry is normally under pressure to relax the tight budgetary controls making room for ministries and state institutions to promote ruling party candidates.
Sri Lanka’s upcoming presidential election will eat into public funds running into billions of rupees with increasing government expenditure beyond the control of the Treasury, official sources said.
But this time, the Treasury is strictly monitoring the source of election financing to prevent ministries and state institutions from providing their resources and finances for presidential election campaigns.
In its bid to limit election spending, the Treasury has imposed strict limits on the expenditure for election-related activities including the use of state owned vehicles etc.
Political analysts say elections add up to billions of rupees indirect costs, but also run up massive, uncalculated hidden costs that carve into the country’s future economic growth.
A cap of Rs.50 billion has been imposed on total election expenditure of state institutions directly or indirectly involved in election-related work including the National Economic Council (NCE) and Government Printing Department.
Expenditure control is essential for state institutions in obtaining services under agreements especially in respect of electricity, water, telephone, fuel and purchasing, Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga specifically mentioned in a circular issued recently.
All ministry secretaries, chief secretaries of provincial councils, heads of departments, corporations and statutory boards have been directed to strictly adhere to public administration circulars in paying fuel, telephone, travelling and making any payment contravening the instructions.
Provisions of the Establishment Code and relevant circulars should be followed in paying overtime for the staff with immediate effect, the circular indicated.
All state institutions have been directed to reduce the purchasing of unnecessary stocks of stationery and government funds should not be used for the printing of diaries calendars etc for the next year.
Two front-running presidential candidates Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa have already spent around Rs. 1 billion on propaganda activities mainly for an advertising blitz in the month-long election campaign, according to Manjula Gajanayaka, National Coordinator, and Centre for Monitoring Election Violence.
All the other 33 candidates have spent around Rs. 3 million for their promotion campaigns, data collected by the poll monitors showed.
E. A. Weerasena, Chief Financial Officer of the Election Commission said the estimated cost of conducting of election by the NCE had been around Rs. 5 billion while it has to spend Rs. 30 to 42.5 million for 5000 plastic boxes at the rate between Rs. 6000 to Rs. 8500.
But spending of ministries and affiliated institutions including indirect costs will add at least another Rs. 8 billion making the total cost for the presidential election a staggering Rs.13 billion, preliminary estimates of the Treasury revealed.
Meanwhile the Government Press has sought Rs. 17 million from the Treasury to print around 16 million ballot papers and other printed material including polling cards.