THE BLAME GAME Our report card on the newly installed government’s first six months in power, based on promises that were made at election time, unearths a litany of pledges that have yet to see the light of day – still early days, though some may say, in its defence.

First and foremost, alleviating abject poverty continues to take a backseat while vehicles for you know who are likely to be imported sooner rather than later. On the other hand, while our public transport is barely Third World, we want to introduce e-systems!

And while we ‘clean Sri Lanka,’ many essential foods (rice, salt, coconuts and more) have either been in short supply or sold at five-star prices… That’s not taking care of the poor, by any stretch of the imagination.

Let’s face it, we haven’t seen any progress being made to close the poverty trap and youth unemployment remains unacceptably high.

We have also witnessed (albeit temporarily) fuel queues once again.

Meanwhile, our forex reserves could come under pressure going forward, following the lifting of the ban on vehicle imports – a gambit that may backfire on an economy that is still finding its post-crisis feet… and we know what that means!

As for tax cuts, we haven’t seen any light at the end of this burdensome tunnel.

And then there’s the law: undue interference in at least one case, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has said, must stop. On top of this, lawlessness has raised its ugly head once again with frequent reports of mayhem on the streets.

Amid such lacunas, what we hear day in day out is a barrage of utterances blaming past regimes for just about every challenge the powers that be face; and they’re beginning to wear thin on the public – or let’s say the apolitical public, a minority though this may be.

And there’s more to this circus than ‘entertainment’…

Diplomatic appointments are still seemingly reserved for golayas, despite assurances that this form of nepotism will be a thing of the past.

The Sri Lankan Rupee is at risk of losing ground (although thankfully, it has stood its ground so far), the stock market has shown ominous signs of volatility since of late and investor confidence can’t be sky high under these circumstances… not when just about every international media channel headlined the monkey business that supposedly led to power outages!

As far as promises go, perhaps worthy of topping the list is the undertaking to abolish the executive presidency. We haven’t heard anything about this so far.

If there are any silver linings, they include a sense of fear on the corruption front (it is now a behind closed doors affair, it would seem) even among supporters who backed the robbers in the past and are now talking like they’ve been squeaky clean all along!

And lower electricity prices, for which we are grateful – although there have been murmurings of a U-turn being in the pipeline.

The bottom line is that a government that was swept into power with a resounding mandate late last year must now walk the talk, instead of playing the blame game at just about every turn.