The world is a very different place now than it was two years ago, on November 19, 2019, when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed the office of the Presidency. Today, the entire world is engulfed in a pandemic that shows no sign of slowing down despite the rapid pace of vaccination in many countries including Sri Lanka. As a consequence of the pandemic, the world’s economy has taken a battering and Sri Lanka is no exception.
Yet, the leadership of President Rajapaksa in the face of the pandemic has been nothing short of remarkable. It would not be wrong to say that he enjoyed only a few months of ‘normal’ governance as the pandemic intervened in March 2020.
Knowing the magnitude of scale that viral diseases can reach, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa immediately sprang into action, even as many other countries including advanced economies seemed to dither. Under his directive, Sri Lanka became one of the first countries to establish a specialized Presidential-level Task Force for COVID-19 Control and Prevention in March itself, when the numbers of patients were very low. His next action was to instruct aviation officials to close the Bandaranaike, Mattala and Jaffna International Airports to regular inbound passenger flights.
Challenging governance
While the President was firmly at the helm by this time, several problems of governance prevailed due to the lack of a functioning Parliament. The House is responsible for financial affairs and the President’s powers and options in this regard were limited. This was a huge constraint in terms of allocating additional funds for anti-COVID efforts as well as for development. Even though the Opposition argued for reconvening the already dissolved Parliament to tide over these difficulties, President Rajapaksa was of the view that a fresh mandate should be obtained from the people to make a new start in governance. It was also felt that a Government comprising a majority of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) would resonate well with the policies of President Rajapaksa.
It was in this backdrop that the August 5, 2020, General Election was held under strict compliance with all health guidelines. Despite the concerns over the pandemic, there was a very high voter turnout in nearly all areas, which once again demonstrated the Sri Lankans’ faith in democracy. The SLPP won a near two-thirds majority at the poll.
Forming and running a Government is never easy, more so in the time of a pandemic. In fact, the new Government had barely run for two months when the second wave of Covid-19 hit Sri Lanka, as a result of two clusters formed in Minuwangoda and Peliyagoda. This was a huge challenge that took several months to overcome.
Anti-COVID efforts
The Government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to allocate vast resources for the COVID fight – resources and funds that could otherwise have gone for development and welfare, including health sector development. Statistics indicate that the Government has spent close to Rs.700 billion on anti-COVID efforts (PCR and Lateral Flow Tests, hospital treatment etc.) alone so far, with another US$ 700 million on vaccine procurement mainly from China, the USA, UK and Russia.
The lockdowns, which were necessary from an epidemiological point of view to control the spread of COVID-19, also cost the country heavily. The losses incurred from the repeated lockdowns, curfews and travel restrictions is estimated at over RS.10,000 million. Still, the Government managed to provide an allowance of Rs.5,000 per family for underprivileged segments of society.
As President Rajapaksa steps into his third year, the Government has several major challenges to face. The first challenge is achieving herd immunity for Covid-19 by inoculating around 70-80 per cent of the eligible population of those over 18. This goal should be possible at the rate vaccines are being procured from around the world and injected into people’s arms – in fact, the WHO Chief has congratulated Sri Lanka on the success of its vaccination programme.
One of the other major challenges was resuming in-person education, which has been hampered by the pandemic. This too has now been accomplished, along with the resolution of the teachers’ strike. The Government has allocated Rs.30,000 million to address the teachers’ and principals’ salary anomalies. The Government must also improve online education with the future in mind, in terms of making devices available via affordable methods and enhancing the 4G signals in remote areas. The Government should be commended for starting several dedicated educational TV channels for students who may not have access to laptops, tablets or smartphones. Education in the future will be ‘hybrid’ – a mix of online and in-person teaching and we have to be ready for that from now on.
Economic revival
The revival of tourism is yet another challenge that also depends on how the entire world emerges from the pandemic. Yet, there are signs of a rebound in international travel and tourism, with most airlines returning to Colombo. Air France, with flights starting from Paris this month, will be a new entrant to the Sri Lankan market. It is vital to get tourism back on track as it contributes around US$ 4 billion to our coffers every year. With the pandemic likely to become an endemic disease like the flu in the coming years, the Government has also set its sights on ‘digital tourists’ – people who prefer to work from anywhere in the world.
The Government has also begun an ambitious renewable energy drive, with the aim of procuring 70 per cent of the energy needs mainly from solar and wind by 2030. New renewable sources such as geothermal and wave energy could also come in to this picture by that time. President Rajapaksa in his address to the COP26 Summit in Glasgow, Scotland reiterated his ‘no new coal power plants’ commitment and also the commitment to achieve the Net Zero target by 2050. The President’s determination to go ahead with an organic fertilizer and farming drive has earned him plaudits at international forums.
A lot also depends on the pandemic response of the authorities. But for these prudent measures to succeed, the active and 24/7 cooperation of the public is vital. Many people already seem to have forgotten the danger posed by the virus as it is on the wane here. But it can spring back to life if we are not vigilant.
The President has emphasized this factor several times. If the public does not pay heed to the health advisories and precautions, all the Government’s good work will come to naught. The best tribute that the public can pay to the President on his second anniversary in the office is to comply with these regulations in order to protect the nation’s health and future generations.
A few years from now, the pandemic could be a distant memory, but we should learn the relevant lessons from this health crisis and be ready for another potential pandemic some years down the road. It is essential to form a high-powered Pandemic Response Task Force to keep track of the evolving viral disease landscape since scientists predict the emergence of more zoonotic diseases such as COVID in the future. We must be ready from now on to guard against any such possibility. Health should indeed be Sri Lanka’s greatest wealth.
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