The peace initiatives of the government has been welcomed by the people but they are burdened with the skyrocketing cost of living and other day-to-day problems.
The cost of living is a problem every government is unable to grapple with. The open economy market forces and global factors determine the prices while the government is reduced to a mere onlooker in the short term.

Recent oil price hikes and increase in electricity bills have added more burdens on the people. Ruling party members say things would have been somewhat better, had there been no corruption in government institutions during the previous regime. But how long can they harp on the mistakes and alleged corruption of the previous regime? Almost all government politicians who appear on state media blame the past regime for handing over to them an economy in turmoil. The PA regime also did the same blaming the 17-year UNP regime for everything during its seven-year rule.
Blaming the previous government is one way of covering up the weaknesses of any current regime and its inefficiency.

The government and the ministers are expected to work for the benefit of the people but today it appears that some ministers are more intent on publicity without earning it through hard work or their contributions towards the welfare of the people.
It was not long ago that people saw scores of ministers and their families taking wing to foreign destinations during the April holidays. This and other reports of alleged misdeeds capture people's attention but they appear to tolerate it for the sake of peace.

This compels us to ask a pertinent question. Has any minister of the UNF government achieved something worthwhile under the so-called 100-day programme? Perhaps only Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya, who fearlessly set a deadline and tirelessly worked towards a target of eliminating blackouts.
Minister Jayasuriya was subjected to much criticism. Some had doubts about achieving his targets on time. However, he emerged victorious. He was known to be an efficient private sector person and did yeomen service to the people of Colombo as mayor. We are not inferring that all the other ruling party members are shamming, but many of them appear to be so.

Besides allegations of publicity hunting, the governmet is reviewing, certain projects undertaken by the previous regime some under doubtful circumstances.
The UNF government had already expressed its reservations about the government-Emirates deal under which the management of the SriLankan Airlines - formerly AirLanka - was privatised. Similarly they smelt a rat in the Colombo-Katunayake expressway project. These two projects are under close scrutiny of the government for obvious reasons.

The Serendib Flour Mill project in the Colombo Port, too, has become a subject of discussion in political circles, mainly because of the manner in which it was awarded to a Dubai-based business conglomerate by the previous regime. The main UNP-affiliated trade union, the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, challenged the validity of the agreement between the Port of Colombo and the disputed Serendib Flour Mill.
According to an agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI), the party concerned was the Gold Coin Flour Mills Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.. The company is believed to have changed its name to Serendib Flour Mills (Pvt) Ltd.. The BOI said that the shareholdings of both these companies are the same, but only the name has been changed.

However, the JSS which challenged the deal in the Court of Appeal claimed that there was a discrepancy in the shareholding, too, and therefore the Gold Coin and Serendib were two different companies and thus Serendib could not be substituted for Gold Coin.

The JSS alleged that the transaction had been effected discretely and the land in question which belongs to the Port of Colombo had been alienated without following the proper procedure laid down by a circular. Therefore the Port would be compelled to pay a large figure as compensation if the Port acquired land after a specified period of ten years, the JSS argued in its petition, warning that the Port would incur a massive loss annually.

The JSS protest and reports of alleged irregularities prompted the Serendib's local partner, Asker Moosajee, to spring into action to save the controversial venture.
Accordingly, the foreign partners Easa Al Ghurair and Syed. M. Salahudden arrived in the country together with several others to meet the Prime Minister and others.
Their first contact was Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe who met with them in Dubai on several occasions. Some time ago, Minister Samarasinghe, despite the position taken by the JSS, moved to fix an appointment with the Prime Minister. The appointment was not granted.

However, the Dubai delegation arrived here on Monday to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. After the meeting with the Premier, the Dubai delegation expressed confidence that the premier would respond positively.According to Mr. Salahudden, the Prime Minister was impressed by their investment policy and he said that more investments would follow if their proposal became a reality. "We are waiting for the trade union to withdraw its action," Mr. Salahudden told this column.

While arrangements were being made for the arrival of the Dubai investors, Mr. Moosajee himself was active at this end to lobby for support for the venture.
He started lobbying top UNPers to persuade them to withdraw the action filed by the JSS.

Mr. Moosajee was willing to offer his chairman post in the Serendib Flour Mills (Pvt) Ltd to a well known UNP businessman, who declined the offer though he initially agreed to consider it with reluctance. It is now believed another top UNPer may be associated with the project. Meanwhile. UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrama summoned JSS Ports branch leader Sunil de Silva and requested him to talk to Ports Authority Chairman Parakrama Dissanayake.

However, instead of Sunil de Silva, former JSS Ports branch president Mahilal de Silva, who was recently promoted as working director of the port, had a discussion with the Ports Authority chairman.

It is now learnt that the JSS has refused to accede to the request made by Mr. Samarawickrama to withdraw the case. Opinions differ on the discussions with the Prime Minister. Serendib claims, that the meeting with the Prime Minister was successful. Others say the premier had hardly said anything to give hopes to the Sernedib delegation.

There is another actor in the episode. He is Prima Cheng, a Singaporean entrepreneur who is unhappy with the deal. Prima, who has been running the Prima flour mill in Trincomalee for the past 15 years, however, does not want to make things difficult for the Al Ghurrairs of Dubai. But his problem is that all this was done in a hurry without proper procedures being followed.

Prima investment came during the time of President J.R. Jayewardene and when it was offered Colombo, it said it preferred Trincomalee because Colombo was congested. But now when the Dubal investors were to start a project in Colombo, Prima is said to be unhappy, though Prima's sympathisers in Colombo say they welcome competition.

In the meantime the Serendib delegation who are determined to go ahead with the project approached several other ministers. Ports Minister Rauff Hakeem is one of them who participated in the talks with the Prime Minister. He is generally sympathetic towards the Al Ghurrairs.

However, Mr. Hakeem is facing an obstacle - opposition from the JSS. The Al Ghurrairs also met political broker and Shipping Corporation Chairman A.J.M. Muzammil at his residence after they met the Prime Minister. Mr. Muzammil was behind the Galle Port saga too. He brought it to a high pitch of controversy when the government and the opposition entangled in a no-confidence motion against the then Ports Minister M. H. M. Ashraff.

The delegation had lunch at Mr. Muzammil's house. But they failed to woo his support for the project. The Al Ghurrairs or the Serendib delegation also met Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

Apparently Mr. Karunanayake hosted them to dinner and gave a patient hearing to their side of the story. But it is unlikely Mr. Karunanayake would go out of his way to help Al Ghurrairs because he plays the lead role in exposing the alleged deals of the previous regime, including the flour mill project of the Dubai delegation.

As the Minster of Consumer Affairs he definitely has a role to play. It is highly unlikely that a minister of the UNF government would stick his neck out to help an aggrieved party, though it is done with good intentions to break a monopoly.
Now the main problem the Al Ghurrairs are facing is the case filed by the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya.

To withdraw the case, it is the JSS parent body which should move in that direction. But no minister has the courage to direct the JSS to do so, and especially when the membership of the JSS are emphasising that the deal is 'corrupt.'

To end this column in a lighter vein, we hear that President Chandrika Kumaratunga danced her cares away at the Hilton at a private wedding on Wednesday. When the musical group sung 'Suranganeeta Malu Genawa, her brother Anura Bandaranaike could not resist his temptations to dance.

So he dragged his sister and it was all the way Baila dance at the Hilton. Fortunately the ceasefire is on and she had nothing to worry. It's consensus politics at the wedding when invitees witnessed politicians of all shades - the president and the prime minister including - having a cool and hearty chat. Will there be a national government soon?

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