The way we are

By Tisaranee Gunasekara
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A Lankan expatriate worker dies or is killed everyday. - The crucial contribution made by expatriate workers, especially in West Asia, to the Lankan economy is well documented. In a sense these men and women, many of whom engage in backbreaking labour, keep not just their families but also our economy afloat. Yet around 40 of them die each month, nearly half of them in questionable circumstances. And almost 60% of these victims are women.

Poverty and unemployment compel many Sri Lankans to seek employment in foreign lands. Many of them leave young families behind. The tragedies which befall these families are public knowledge, their pathetic tales having motivated so many newspaper articles, books and tele-dramas. But the full extent of the dangers faced by the migrant workers themselves is neither well known nor properly documented. A developmental strategy which is not aimed at lessening the economic burden of the lower and middle classes will drive more and more Sri Lankans to seek employment abroad, even at the risk of their lives. For instance, the ongoing spate of price increases will cause a massive hike in real costs of living (as distinct from manipulated official figures); this in turn will result in a drop in living standards, especially of people on the lower end of the economic totem pole.

Given the crucial role these workers play in our economy, ensuring their protection is a duty of the state and the government. And yet, official indifference to their little tragedies is the norm; according to family members of the victims, “authorities were slow in making arrangements to bring the bodies back home or probe the deaths” (The Sunday Times – 2.5.2010). A Lankan expatriate worker dies or is killed everyday but these deaths are invisible in the political and public discourse, in the media and in popular culture; the issue is not discussed in parliament and no commissions or committees are appointed to propose remedial measures. Even our diplomatic representatives often fail to offer help and protection to these migrant workers, as sporadic media revelations indicate.

High growth rates do not necessarily mean higher employment levels or improved living standards for the have-nots (those who posses neither money nor connections, who are often less educated and unskilled). There can be iniquitous growth (growth with an increase in relative and absolute poverty) and jobless growth (growth with an increase in unemployment levels). Available evidence indicates that Sri Lanka is currently experiencing jobless and iniquitous growth. According to a nutrition and food security survey conducted jointly by the Health Ministry, the UNESCO and the WFP, Lankan households spend 37.9% of their monthly income on food while nearly a third of the households borrow money for their purchases. The monthly income of 39.1% of the households is less than Rs. 9,000 while 32% of the households ‘did not have enough food’ at least once during the previous 12 month period. In short, around one third of the Lankan households earn less than Rs. 9,000 a month, spend almost 40% of that income on food, are in debt and find it difficult to make ends meet even then. Men and women from such backgrounds have very little option in terms of employment and it is safe to assume that most of the Lankan migrant workers in West Asian countries are from such backgrounds. So long as this situation does not improve, Lankan men and women (especially the latter) will continue to seek employment in any place they can find it, including in dangerous and distant lands.

Myth and Reality of the GSP+

According to media reports, the EU has imposed strict conditionalities for the extension of the GSP+ concession and the President has rejected these conditionalities as an unwarranted attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. Some Rajapakse loyalists define the conditionalities as a new European invasion which must be resisted by all patriotic Sri Lankans.

If the GSP facility is not be extended, as is very likely, the hardest hit would be garment factory workers, many of whom the sole or the main breadwinners in their households. Given the intensity of the global economic crisis, Lanka’s chances of finding alternative markets for her garments are miniscule. Consequently, many garment factories may have to curtail their operations or close down altogether.

As a result, a considerable number of garment factory workers will either lose their jobs or face severe wage cuts, which in turn would have a deleterious impact on the living standards of their families. Therefore the loss of the GSP+ will have a disproportionately adverse effect on those already at the bottom end of the income totem pole.

According to the latest media reports, the EU is willing to discuss the issue further while the Rajapakse administration is not. Therefore a compromise solution may still be possible if the regime departs from its counterproductive ‘all or nothing’ stand. Since the Rajapakses are willing to compromise with the demands made by International Financial Institutions, why not adopt the same flexible attitude towards the EU? The IFIs lend money after imposing conditionalities. Sovereign governments do not reject IFI funds because of this reason; they negotiate with the IFIs to get the best deal possible. This, for example, is how the Rajapakse administration obtained the last IMF loan; the recent spate of tax hikes and subsidy reductions are aimed at qualifying for the next tranche of this loan by meeting the IMF conditionality about the size of the budget deficit.

Why did the Rajapakses opt not to adopt such a flexible approach towards the EU? Contrary to government propaganda, the main issue in this instance is not national sovereignty. The main issue is that the EU conditionalities, unlike the IMF conditionalities, impact adversely on the Rajapakse project of concentrating all power in the hands of the President, and through him, the Ruling Family. The Rajapakses do not mind national sovereignty being violated so long as it has no impact on their Dynastic project and to their capacity to act with gross impunity. This is the real reason for the regime’s vastly different reactions to IMF conditionalities and EU conditionalities.

One of the main EU demands is the implementation of the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment wasn’t a foreign imposition like the 13th Amendment. It was proposed by the OPA and by the JVP. It was approved by parliament with the full backing of the PA and the UNP. President Mahinda Rajapakse, then a parliamentarian, voted for it as well. The 17th Amendment is a part of our constitution and of our law. The regime by failing to implement it, in fact by deliberately delaying its implementation, is acting counter to both the constitution and to the law of the land. A democratic regime cannot use the principle of national sovereignty to violate democratic rules or to justify the non-implementation of the constitution and the law of the land. National sovereignty does not give a government the right to act with impunity, in total violation of a country’s constitution and its national law. Therefore, when it comes to the 17th Amendment, the government is in the wrong and the EU is in the right, because, by ignoring the 17th Amendment the government is acting unconstitutionally and illegally while by upholding the 17th amendment the EU is merely asking the government to act within the Lankan constitution and the Lankan law.

The GSP+ issue is not a heroic battle by a beleaguered government to safeguard the national sovereignty of a small island nation. The issue is far more complex than that. At least to some extent, this crisis has erupted because of the Ruling Family’s iron determination to concentrate all power in its hands, and its willingness to act not just undemocratically but also unconstitutionally to achieve this purpose. The Rajapakse regime’s refusal to implement to abide by the Lankan Constitution is a major causal factor which has jeopardised the vital GSP concession, thereby endangering the livelihoods of tens of thousands of poor Sri Lankans.

Who pays the Bills?

According to media reports, the regime has said that losing the GSP facility will not have a catastrophic impact on the country. Indeed, losing the GSP facility will not have a catastrophic impact on the Rajapakses. However, losing the GSP facility will certainly have a catastrophic impact on the families of garment factory workers who may loose their jobs as a result; or on small scale entrepreneurs who have indebted themselves to start micro export enterprises aimed at European markets. And whatever the impact on the national finances will be passed on to the masses in the form of higher taxes, higher prices and reduced subsidies.

Sri Lanka is rapidly progressing into a government by the Rajapakses, of the Rajapakses and for the Rajapakses. The nature of the Constitutional reforms clearly indicates that their main purpose is neither national security nor popular wellbeing, neither democracy nor development, but the perpetuation of Rajapakse rule. That is why removing presidential term limits forms the centrepiece of the proposed constitutional amendments. Another amendment gives the President the power to appoint members to the independent commissions, thereby effectively turning them from independent commissions to presidential commissions.

Even as the regime paved the way for a spate of price increases by hiking taxes and removing subsidies, the cabinet voted to increase fuel, telephone and rent allowances to the ministers. This is but the latest indication that when our leaders talk about making sacrifices for the country, they mean that the sacrifices will have to be made by ordinary citizens and not the political elite. Though the government is in financial difficulties, this has not prevented another Rajapakse brother from trying to endow himself with a grandiose office building at an enormous cost to the public. Some years ago, Minister Chamal Rajapakse tried to purchase the Intercontinental Hotel to house his ministry; this spendthrift idea was dropped after the media exposed it. Now Basil Rajapakse is said to be negotiating to purchase the former British High Commission building for his Ministry of Economic Development. Obviously Sri Lanka has money enough when it comes to indulging the capricious whims of the Ruling Family.

The IMF conditionalities have a disastrous impact on the living conditions of the ordinary people but they would not have a direct impact on the Rajapakse project; the EU conditionalities will not have a deleterious impact on the living conditions of the masses but they would impact adversely on the Rajapakse project. That is why a government which is willing to abide by IMF conditionalities is not willing to entertain EU condionalities. Because, contrary to propaganda hype, this is not a pro-people government even thought it is still a popular government, at least in the South.

© Asian Tribune