Is the Compass heading in the right direction?

Governments are elected in Sri Lanka with massive majorities, and huge expectations, due to protest votes against failed administrations.

- By Dr Upul WIJAYAWARDHANA

One may argue that the massive mandate received by the NPP in the parliamentary elections held on 14 November last year, when it won an unprecedented 159 seats, was in a way different, at least partly; voters were enticed by the promise of a ‘system change’. Whatever the interpretation, the more important question is whether the NPP government has met the people’s expectations. Though some caution is needed in making an early judgement, a year is long enough to figure out whether it is heading in the right direction.

Unfortunately, it was not an auspicious start. The very first act of the government turned out to be just the opposite of what it claimed to stand for. The first Speaker of the NPP government had to step down when the doctorate he claimed to have obtained from a private university in Japan was questioned. He did so reluctantly, temporarily according to him, because he has misplaced the certificates and promised to be back in the saddle once the certificates were found. Of course, he could not counter the criticism that he was a hypocrite in that he led a protest campaign against the private medical school set up by SAITM whilst claiming that he had obtained a PhD from a private university in Japan. One year has passed and he continues to be an MP. Why does the NPP, which came to power, branding previous parliamentarians as liars and cheats, continue to accommodate him in Parliament? Perhaps, they have started hounding Namal about his qualifications as a diversion!