The recent controversy over official vehicles given to certain advisors and functionaries of the previous Government has again ignited the debate on whether a country such as Sri Lanka, emerging from an unprecedented economic crisis, can maintain such a large fleet of Government vehicles.
Worse, it has been revealed that despite the former President’s Wel Paalama (vine bridge) mantra, some of his advisors have deemed it fit to cross that bridge by using BMWs, Porsches, Toyota Landcruiser V8s, Landrover Discoverys and Mercedes Benzes. The Wel Paalama apparently was only for the poor hoi polloi. This is a country that still keeps its head barely above water in an economic sense.
The bottom line is that such luxury cars are not used by officials even in developed countries, leave alone developing countries. Even the ministers in those countries use ordinary cars or public transport. Sri Lankan authorities too must take a clear stand when it comes to official vehicles. First, only the President and the Prime Minister deserve to be given High Security and high end vehicles as it is paramount to ensure their safety at all times.
But all others, including security chiefs, should go about in ordinary cars in peacetime, sans any convoys. Indeed, we have seen even lower ranked officers of the Tri-Forces getting about in Toyota Landcruiser Prados and similar vehicles. This is a totally unnecessary misuse of official vehicles and fuel. The bottom line is, apart from the President, Prime Minister and perhaps, the Opposition Leader, all other Government officials should be fine with ordinary cars such as a Honda Civic, Nissan Sunny or Toyota Corolla.
Also, we must ponder whether every official has to be given a car in the first place. In most other countries, even senior public servants use public transport or a car pool. This saves much fuel and money, since officials’ cars are maintained from the public purse.
And for short distances, they can hail a ride-sharing car. The Government should seriously consider this. It would also be advisable to auction some of the super luxury cars used by top officials of the previous regime. There will be many buyers for these, since there is a pent-up demand for luxury cars among the wealthy, due to the restrictions imposed on car imports.
The new Government has rightly appointed a committee to look into the MPs duty free vehicle permits and other perks. We have called for the total abolition of these permits many times in this column. An economically devastated country cannot afford to let 225 Members of Parliament (MPs) import gas-guzzling duty free cars at US$ 55,000 each, which amounts to a staggering US$ 12.3 million.
They even laughed in the people’s faces by paying just Rs.1,750 to clear each car, whereas the very people who voted them in had to pay a staggering 300 percent in taxes to buy even a small 1.0 or 1.5 litre car. This is a travesty that should no longer be tolerated.
If at all, an MP wants to buy a luxury car, he or she should use their own funds and the State has to be shown how they got that money. Likewise, the Government should refrain from giving duty free vehicle permits to religious figures, Provincial and Local Councillors and professionals. The money thus saved can be used to bring down state-of-the-art brand new ambulances for the cash-strapped State-run Suwaseriya ambulance service.
The best option is to formulate a reasonable, viable import duty and tax structure for passenger car imports, which are slated to begin in February 2025 according to a recently promulgated timeline. The Government should seriously explore the possibility of permitting only the import of electric cars as their prices keep falling along with a corresponding increase in range. It is also time for the Government to invest in a fast-charging network, perhaps, in partnership with a company such as Tesla.
It is also common knowledge that “official” vehicles are used to drop and pick up children at school, for grocery shopping and to run various household errands. Flower Road and Reid Avenue in Colombo can hardly be traversed as a large number of vehicles block around three lanes, leaving just one or two lanes for other vehicles to squeeze through. The Police, of course, look the other way as they wouldn’t raise a finger against the drivers of Security Forces personnel and other high-ranking officials.
This culture of impunity must end right now. The Government should give the Police an ultimatum to clear these roads for general traffic on school days, without allowing thousands of private vehicles to park and clog them. In advanced countries, private cars are hardly used to drop or pick children at school – the school bus service does such a good job. We must also look in that direction. Just imagine the damage caused to the economy when 5,000 cars come to pick up 5,000 children from a school.
With the election of a new Government in November, the people have certain expectations and aspirations. Prime among them is an expectation that politicians will behave more like ordinary citizens without “boru shows” such as security backup vehicles and convoys. If their hands are clean, there is no need to fear the public. They should not be given more than two police personnel for security and one car is more than enough. The public purse has paid for them all this time. Going forward, that should not be the case.
