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Mar. 26, 2005 When massive waves created from the earth quakes off Sumatra struck the South Asian countries on Boxing Day last year, people all over the world rushed to give what they could to help the affected. Aid pledges and donations poured in from governments, NGOs and individuals in an unprecedented scale. Sri Lankan Situation Sri Lanka had hit rock bottom and was grappling with high cost of living and financial doom before the tsunami struck. Since the power hungry President Chandrika Kumarantunga-Bandaranaike came to power in 1994, Sri Lanka has been reeling from the corruption, mismanagement and the high cost of war against the Tamils. Since independence from Britain in 1948 Sri Lanka’s GDP had never declined from the previous year until 2001 when it fell by 1.3%. In November 2001, Ranil Wickramesinghe won the parliamentary elections and signed a Cease Fire Agreement with the Tamil Tigers. Under the peaceful atmosphere created by the CFA, Wickramesinghe worked hard on reviving the country’s economy and succeeded. 4% GDP growth was recorded in 2002. However in 2003 the President dissolved the democratically elected government of Wickramesinghe, made an alliance with an anti- peace Marxist extremist party and went to polls. The President’s party and the Marxist partner formed a minority coalition government. Since coming to power the coalition government has stalled peace talks with the Tamil tigers, returned GDP to the negative again and pushing the nation towards another war with provocative actions against the Tamil tigers. Aid After the tsunami, many developed nations pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to affected countries. Donations from Individuals and NGOs poured into countries like Sri Lanka as money and material. The Sri Lankan government which was facing economic doom due to financial mismanagement and corruption decided to shamelessly use the disaster to revive its fortunes. It prepared a blue print for reconstruction with electric railways, stadiums and requested for 3.5 billion dollars in aid from donor countries and agencies. A study by World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank for International Cooperation concluded Sri Lanka only required 1.5 billion for reconstruction purposes. The donor countries which met in Paris recently agreed to offer one year moratorium on loan repayments to the tsunami affected nations. When the other countries were thankful, Sri Lanka asked for more. The Sri Lankan government requested the donor countries to extend the moratorium to 3 years. In addition to aid Sri Lanka found another way to make money out of the tsunami disaster by taxing relief materials arriving into the country. In cases where relief agencies and NGOs were unable to pay the tax, relief materials were auctioned and sold to the highest bidder. No Money Received Knowing the Sri Lankan government, international organisations and governments demanded for an accountable and transparent mechanism to distribute the aid received. Every single dignitary who visited Sri Lanka stressed the need for such mechanism. Instead of setting up the mechanism requested by the donors, in a surprise move the Sri Lankan President declared that not a single cent has been received as tsunami aid to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadikamar who was in UK to thank the British government and people for their generosity confirmed the President’s claim in an interview with BBC. This statement by the President and Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka is an insult to the millions of people who gave part of their pay packet to help their brothers and sisters in the other part of the world. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka recently announced that 600 million dollars was received as donations from individuals. This was on top of the 280 million dollars received from foreign governments and agencies. The Asian Development bank approved 160 million dollars as aid to Sri Lanka. The Disaster Emergency Committee in the UK allocated 41 million to Sri Lanka. The Malaysian minister Sami Velu handed over funds equivalent to 1 million Malaysin Ringgit to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rajapakse in person. Even the tiny island of Mauritius donated US$ 50,000. The presidents’ statement is a slap on the face to these agencies and governments who came forward to help a nation in need. Hopefully the donor community takes note of the President’s statement and demands the setting up of a transparent, accountable and equitable distribution mechanism before releasing any further funds. References: AsiaSource.org – Asia: Sri Lanka: Economy Yahoo.com International Finance Center ReliefWeb.org Tamilnet.com BBC website ------------ Email Thamilan: another_thamilan@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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