By Nishat Shuja

Subsequently, nearly two months of insecurity and chaos, Sri Lankan parliamentarians have now reached an agreement on the political management of the country, with new Prime Minister endeavoring to form a multi-party government.

On Friday, nine new cabinet ministers from different parties were sworn in before President. The new ministries are Ports, Shipping and Aviation Services, Education, Health, Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Tourism and Lands Plantation Industries, Labor and Foreign Employment, Trade, Commerce and Food Security, Public Security.

At the moment, Sri Lanka’s 21 million people are to facing a grave an unparalleled food shortage and upward anarchy and mayhem incited by radical groups manipulating the people’s grievances over shortages of fuel, food and high prices of essential commodities.

There are reports from many parts of Colombo about mobs, led by local thugs and alleged members racial preventing buses and stopping people from going to work. As the government still undecided on how to tackle public protests, the police is unable to stand before the disruptive elements which are imposing their will on miserable citizens wanting to go to work to support their families living under grim circumstances.

Although there is a State of Emergency which allows the government to call in the army to aid civil power, the issue is considered to be too sensitive in the current politically charged atmosphere.

Meanwhile the Government Medical Officers Association has threatened to go on strike if a salary cut is ordered. This will only add to the misery of patients who are already facing a shortage of essential drugs in the hospitals and the market. The government doctors had threatened to strikes over salary cuts even as the Prime Minister told parliament that his cabinet will relinquish salaries and other perks.

On May 9 the burning of buses by agitators had caused a loss of SLR 400 million (US$ 1.1 million). The one day Island strike cost Sri Lanka US$ 22 million in exports. Sri Lanka imports buses from India but the serviceable foreign exchange in the country amounts to only US$ 50 million.

On Thursday, in a speech in parliament, Prime Minister warned people to face food shortages in the coming months and said the Cabinet has discussed a program to commence food cultivation to cover all areas of the country. He said food scarcity is already affecting people, particularly in the Colombo District, and that prompt action must be taken to provide them with relief.

The Prime Minister said that unused State land will be allocated for the purpose and recalled that US Treasury Secretary had said that Sri Lanka has been identified prone to famine along with Afghanistan as a country that will need food assistance.

The “International Food Initiative’s (IFI) Action Plan to Address Food Insecurity” developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB) and numerous other multifaceted and United Nations agencies, foresees the spending of billions of dollars on supporting farmers.

However, while Sri Lanka receives international assistance, the country will have to prepare to ensure food security for all and there must be sound steps to provide adequate nourishment to farmers for the next “Maha” harvesting season.

According to the International Trade Administration, the agriculture sector contributes about 7.4 % of Sri Lanka’s GDP, out of which, the fisheries sector contributes around 1.3% and the livestock sector accounts for 0.9%. Over 30% of Sri Lankans are employed in the agricultural sector.

Although Sri Lanka is a fertile tropical land with the potential for the cultivation and processing of a variety of crops, issues such as productivity and profitability hamper the growth of the sector. There is a lack of private investment in agriculture due to uncertain policies,” ITA said.

Sri Lanka depends substantially on food imports. The importation of food and beverages accounted for 9.7% of total imports in 2020 with total agriculture, food, and beverage imports reaching $1.6 billion, ITA added.

The overnight ban on chemical fertilizers in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, hit Sri Lankan farmers below the belt. It severely curtailed production. According to Nikkei Asia, this year’s Maha season which ended in March, was to see 30% less production less than the normal yield of 3.2 million tons.

A kilogram of tomatoes that sold for 149 Sri Lankan rupees (80 cents) in December 2020 was going for 463 rupees a year later. Similar spikes are mirrored in the prices for green chilies, garlic, onions and coconuts essentials for spicy dishes that accompany increasingly expensive Sri Lankan short-grain rice,” Nikkei Asia noted. Food inflation rose to 21%.

The World Bank has said that at $3.20 per day as the poverty threshold for Sri Lanka. By this yardstick 500,000 more people had fallen into poverty, with the majority in rural areas, where 92% of the poor live. The current estimate of the number of poor in Sri Lanka is 2.56 million out of 21 million.

On Thursday, the downgrade commenced at a time when the Central Bank Governor acknowledged that Sri Lanka won’t be able to pay back its debts until it restructures them. Sri Lanka sovereign rating has been downgraded due to debt-ridden after the country defaulted on making international sovereign bond payments at the end of the 30-day grace period.

By TON Sri Lanka

On May 23, the Sri Lankan cabinet met and discussed a draft 21st Amendment of the constitution in order to reduce the powers of the Executive President and increase the powers of the parliament on the pattern of the repealed 19th Amendment.

The Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that on May 27 the draft 21st Amendment will be handed over to the leaders of the parties represented in parliament. Thereafter the cabinet will argue the amendment and the suggestions of the party leaders on it.

There has been a tenacious demand since the mid-1990s for the reduction of the enormous powers vested in the directly elected Executive President and to increase the powers of parliament.

The Executive Presidential system was created by the 1978 constitution to set up a stable and durable central authority to carry out major economic reforms. The amendment changed socialism with neoliberal policies to bring about speedy economic development in Sri Lanka. However, on the contrary, the successive Presidents are inclined to abuse the authority conferred to them instead of spending it on development or the welfare of the people.

Since the time of 1990s, no serious endeavors have been made by Presidents to curtail their powers either through a new constitution or an alteration of the existing one. In fact, these powers were increased by enacting the 18th Amendment.

When the ‘Good Governance’ government came into being under the existing newly incumbent Prime Minister in 2015, the 19th Amendment was passed and ratified which reduced the powers of the President and increased the powers of parliament, and also introduced non-political Independent Commissions to oversee executive power.

Again in 2020, the incumbent President replaced the 19th Amendment with the 20th Amendment which once again gave huge power to the hands of the Executive President. However, the president used this controversial manner that within two years into his term, he faced an immense and widespread movement against him to force him to quit the post of president. Despite the general demand for his quitting by the Sri Lankan public he did not quit but agreed to get decrease his powers.

The 21st Amendment which is meant to do this job has been drafted by the lawyer MP and the present Justice Minister. On Monday Prime Minister met representatives from the Chambers of Commerce, the treasury Finance Ministry and Economic Advisers to discuss a new budget and future economic plans.

The incumbent PM said that a new budget would be presented which would meaningfully decrease capital spending. The money thus protected would be utilized for welfare plans. The Prime Minister further said that due to the war in Ukraine and also misconduct by the previous governments, Sri Lanka is facing a nourishment scarcity.

As the Sri Lankan government is trying to reduce the bearing of the shortages. The business representatives told the PM that the procedure of issuing aid to the people should be digitalized. The Prime Minister said that government will work out the plan for those needy in a bid to give them aid.

He further said that a financial policy agenda to cherish economic rights would be encompassed in the proposed constitutional amendment. He has asked the Finance Ministry to undertake structural reforms based on a competitive social market economy that can achieve development goals.

Sri Lanka has been mired in economic turmoil over the past few months, with the country battling severe shortages of essential items and running out of petrol, medicines, and foreign reserves amid an acute balance of payments crisis.

The resulting public fury targeting the government triggered mass street protests and political upheaval, forcing the resignation of the ex-Prime Minister and his Cabinet, and the appointment of a new prime minister.

WASHINGTON, 25 May 2022, (TON): Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to follow up on their May 15 meeting in Berlin.

The two leaders discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to address the consequences of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine and to hold the Kremlin to account.

The Secretary noted the global food security crisis resulting from President Putin’s brutal war requires a global response, and they discussed potential means to export Ukraine’s grain to international markets.

The Secretary conveyed details on the $40.1 billion supplemental appropriations act signed by President Biden on May 21, which provides further funding for security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and countries impacted by the war.

RAMALLAH, 25 May 2022, (TON): Turkey’s top diplomat announced “a raft of new agreements to bolster the struggling Palestinian economy, during the first high-level Turkish visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 15 years.”

During Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s trip to Ramallah, Turkey signed nine new pacts with the embattled Palestinian Authority, ranging from agriculture to education and trade.

Cavusoglu will meet Israeli officials on Wednesday, the latest step in a diplomatic thaw between Ankara and the Jewish state.

He will also make a private visit to the Al-Asqa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Alongside his Palestinian counterpart Riyad Al-Maliki, Cavusoglu pledged to push ahead with plans for the construction of an industrial zone in the Palestinian territories.

He said “the necessary order has been given; there is no luxury for evading and delaying this project.”

WASHINGTON, 25 May 2022, (TON): Danish Defense Minister Morten Bedskov said “the US-European military exercises Defender of Europe have begun in the country.”

The exercises will take place on the Danish island of Bornholm. US forces arrived at the airfield located there today.

Danish Defense Minister Bedskov said “big arrival in Bornholm! Danish-American military exercises have begun. The solidarity of the members of the alliance, Danish, Scandinavian and Baltic cooperation.”

According to the Danish media “a number of HIMARS ML-RS, two Danish F-16 airc-raft, the Niels Juel frigate and 300 soldiers of the Danish Royal Life Guards will be involved in the exercises.”

ISTANBUL, 25 May 2022, (TON): The defense ministry announced “three Turkish soldiers serving in northern Iraq as part of operations against Kurdish militants were killed.”

Another four soldiers were wounded during fighting, said the ministry statement, which did not say where the clash took place.

Turkey’s official news agency Anadolu said “the Turkish soldiers had clashed with fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara and its western allies say is a terrorist organization.”

The PKK has training camps and bases in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, a conflict that has killed 40,000 people, many of them civilians.

Ankara has launched a series of operations against PKK fighters in Iraq and Syria, the latest one in northern Iraq beginning in April.

BRUSSELS, 25 May 2022, (TON): The Council adopted two assistance measures under the European Peace Facility that will allow the EU to further support the capabilities and resilience of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.”

After having adopted three tranches of support totalling 1.5 billion this year, a fourth tranche will add €500 million to the resources already mobilised under the EPF for Ukraine, thereby bringing the total amount to €2 billion.

The history of tomorrow is being written today, on the battlefields of Ukraine. With these €500 million, the EU has allocated a total €2 of billion to support EU member states’ supplies of military equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

This support is just one part of European efforts to help Ukraine defend itself. The EU and its member states are determined to continue. We have done it since the beginning of the war and we will continue until the end.

DAVOS, 25 May 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan reiterated the Kingdom’s stance regarding normalization with Israel at the World Economic Forum that there is no change despite recent unconfirmed media reports suggesting otherwise.

Prince Faisal told “I’ve addressed that several times in the past and nothing has changed in how we view the subject. I think we have always seen normalisation as the end result, but the end result of a path.”

He added “we always envisioned that there will be full normalisation with Israel, and I’ve said before that a full normalisation between us and Israel, between the region and Israel, will bring immense benefits - we won’t be able to reap those benefits unless we address the issue of Palestine.”

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi chimed in as well and said “the key issue that we should be looking at here is the absolute no political horizon for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

WASHINGTON, 25 May 2022, (TON): A teenage gunman killed 18 young children in a shooting at an elementary school in Texas, in the deadliest US school shooting in years.

The attack in Uvalde, Texas, a small community about an hour from the Mexican border is the latest in a spree of deadly shootings in America, where horror at the cycle of gun violence has failed to spur action to end it.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, addressing a news conference, said the 18-year-old gunman was believed to have shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School at around noon, abandoning his vehicle and entering with a handgun, and possibly also a rifle.

The governor said “the suspect, whom he named as Salvador Ramos, a local resident and a US citizen, was also dead.”

He added that it is believed that responding officers killed him.

OTTAWA, 25 May 2022, (TON): The Canadian authorities have decided to send Kyiv an additional batch of more than 20,000 shells for 155mm M777 howitzers previously supplied by Western countries to Ukraine.

This was announced to journalists on Monday by the head of the Canadian Ministry of Defense Anita Anand during a visit to the province of British Columbia.

She said “today I am announcing another package of Canadian military assistance to Ukraine. I can confirm that Canada has purchased more than 20,000 155mm shells.”

According to her “these shells are intended for M777 howitzers previously delivered to Ukraine by Western countries.”

Anand added “this batch of military aid will arrive in Ukraine in the very near future.”