Who cares for the poor? Your guess is as good as mine

It’s now a year since the NPP government was overwhelmingly voted into power at the 2024 general elections. The new government in the run-up to the general election promised much, but today has little to show.

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With hunger and malnutrition stalking the land at the time, the NPP promised to bring down the cost of living. It described the International Monetary Fund agreement signed by past president Wickremesinghe as being one of the main causes of rampant povertyand promised to renegotiate the agreement.

One year later however, the poor continue to be poor and live in extremely distressing conditions. UNICEF in its report on Lanka for 2025 points out that approximately one in four under-five-year-olds are not growing as they should. The report adds one in six babies are born with low birth weight. The obvious conclusion is that the economic crisis has made it harder for families to access adequate healthy food.

Making matters worse, today the government has gone back on its word regarding renegotiating the IMF agreement and has become one of its chief proponents. Sadly, the political opposition in parliament, rather than coming together to pressurise government to tackle this important issue, continues bickering among themselves. For opposition political parties, the main problem seems to be the question of who would lead a combined opposition -not problems faced by the people.