Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole
John Calvin wrote: “When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers”. The Bible also says in Jeremiah 23:19 “See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.”
That divine warning, as this article puts forward, is indeed, besides to the government as we Tamils like to think, also to the Tamil people.
We Tamils have feared and suffered much. We badly want an understanding government where we will have a say in our own governance and services and receive justice. That is democracy. I will point out our own deficiencies so that we through correction may claim our right to devolution. We have failed to run the Jaffna Municipal council. It has a new mayor after Emmanuel Arnold lost the budget vote. If the new mayor had also lost the budget vote, the Council will have been run by a Commissioner removing our devolved powers exercised through our elected officials. That is how close we we
By Wasantha RamanayakeView(s):
The 2021 budget has been defeated in several Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna-controlled local councils, underscoring a growing political crisis at grassroots level.
The Ampara Urban Council’s Budget vote ended up in a tie with six members voting for it and six against on December 4 during the first reading. But during the second reading, the council’s chairman, Jaminda Sugath who represents the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), made some amendments and declared that the budget had been duly passed, without going for a vote, despite the opposition’s demand that a vote be taken.
The SLPP’s biggest local council budget defeat came from the Haldummulla Pradeshiya Sabha where only three members of the 20-member council, voted in favor of the budget. Opposing the budget four SLPP members voted with the Opposition.