Another unidentified male body was washed on
Galle Face Beach this morning. This is the second unidentified body to have
washed up on the shores of Colombo within the past week
The body was found near the Gall face green protest site. Sri Lanka Police said that the body has not been identified. The suppression of protestors and media is increasing in Sri Lanka.
By Poito
A couple of months back team of researchers from Nepal visited
Sri Lanka to conduct a research study about the falling Sri Lankan economy. They
gathered facts about the wrong decisions made by rejected President Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa and the government against corvid and debt restructuring. A case
study about such matters is vital for future decision-making in such crises.
The Sri Lankan government didn't conduct such studies about Zimbabwe, Lebanon, and countries that faced economic crises before us.
What are the efforts those countries have taken so far to
avoid inflation?
And how did they restructure the debts?
The unprecedented move was announced Monday by the
country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to boost confidence in
the local currency.
Trust in Zimbabwe's currency is low after people saw
their savings wiped out by hyperinflation in 2008 that reached $5 billion US, according
to the International Monetary Fund.
With strong memories of that disastrous inflation, many
Zimbabweans today prefer to scramble on the illegal market for scarce U.S.
dollars to keep at home as savings or for daily transactions. Faith in
Zimbabwe's currency is already so low that many retailers don't accept it.
The central bank disbursed 2,000 coins to commercial
banks on Monday. The first batch was minted outside the country but
eventually, they will be produced locally, according to the governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya.
The coins can be used for purchases in shops, depending
on whether the shop has enough change, he said.
"The government is trying to moderate the very high
demand for the U.S. dollar because this high demand is not being matched by
supply," said Zimbabwean economist Prosper Chitambara.
"The expectation is that … there will also be
moderation in terms of the depreciation of the local currency, which should
have some kind of stabilizing effect in terms of pricing of goods," he
said.
Any individual or company can buy the coins from
authorized outlets such as banks and can keep the coins at a bank or take them
home, according to an announcement by the country's central bank. Foreigners
can only buy the coins in foreign currency, said the central bank.
Called Mosi-oa-Tunya, which in the local Tonga language
refers to Victoria Falls, the coins "will have liquid asset status, that
is, it will be capable of being easily converted to cash, and will be tradable
locally and internationally. The coin may also be used for transactional
purposes," said the central bank. People holding the coins can only trade
them for cash after 180 days from the date of buying, the bank said.
The coins, each weighing one troy ounce with a purity of
22 carats, can also be used as security for loans and credit facilities, said
the central bank. The price of the coins will be determined by the
international market rate for an ounce of gold, plus five percent of the
cost of producing the coin.
Internationally, gold coins are used in countries such as
China, South Africa and Australia to hedge against inflation and as an
investment opportunity, although they are not as widely used as currency as
envisaged by Zimbabwe's central bank, said Chitambara.
"For Zimbabwe we are in chronic hyperinflation so
the expectation is that there will be a huge uptake of these gold coins,"
he said. However, most Zimbabweans struggle with daily survival and won't be
able to buy them, he said.
"For the common man, there is not really much to
benefit directly from this, especially if you don't have any excess cash,"
said Chitambara.
"Many people have no money for bread, let alone for
savings," he said. "The expectation is that indirectly it will benefit
the ordinary person through moderating the prices."
Companies with excess cash can find the coins useful to
store value and also as an alternative investment asset, although individuals
and companies are likely to continue preferring the dollar because "it is
convenient and highly liquid," he said.
Selling the coins in fast depreciating local currency
could also result in "rent-seeking behavior, speculation, and arbitrage
within the economy," as some could buy using local currency and then sell
in dollars later, he said.
Gold deposits
The fact that Zimbabwe's central bank would have to buy
the gold from miners of the metal such as informal artisanal miners could also
present challenges and result in increased smuggling, analysts say.
"Gold deliveries in Zimbabwe have significantly
recovered because of the appetizing U.S. dollar payments offered to artisanal
miners," noted securities firm Morgan & Co in a market intelligence
report.
"However, should there be a disparity between the
amount of U.S. dollars used to purchase the gold from miners and the U.S.
dollars used to pay for the coins, this could squeeze the central bank and its
intermediaries' foreign currency reserves. If this ripples to artisanal gold
miners, this could result in low deliveries to Fidelity Printers and increase
gold smuggling activities," noted the Morgan report. Fidelity Printers, a
subsidiary of the central bank, is the country's only authorized gold buyer.
Zimbabwe has substantial gold deposits and exports of the
precious metal are one of the southern African country's major foreign currency
earners. Gold production improved to about 27 tonnes in 2021, compared to 17
tonnes in 2020, according to official figures. Small-scale producers such as
poorly regulated artisanal miners contributed 17 tonnes of the gold
delivered in 2021, according to official figures.
Gold smuggling has been rampant. The country is estimated
to be losing about $100 million worth of gold monthly to smuggling, Home
Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe has said. Smuggling is costing the country
about 33 tonnes of gold annually, according to a report issued this month
by the Center for Natural Resource Governance, a local natural resources
watchdog.
Legally, all gold mined in Zimbabwe is supposed to be
sold to the central bank, but many producers prefer to smuggle the gold out of
the country in order to get payment in U.S. dollars.
If Sri Lankan central bank releases such limited minted
coins, all of them will be purchased by parliament members and oligarchs. The best
antidote to hyperinflation is anti-corruption and filling the parliament with
intellects rather than drug dealers and thugs.
By Polito
Unidentified bodies keep on washing up on the Sri Lankan coastline. This time at wellawatta beach. This morning an unidentified male was discovered based on information provided to the Wellawatte Police.
Sri Lanka Police said that the deceased was between the ages of 35 & 40, and there were no visible wounds on the body. The Wellawatte Police is conducting further investigations.
By Polito
UN Resident Coordinator to Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer-Hamdy has expressed grave concerns over the attack on protesters by armed forces in Colombo today.
In a Twitter message, Singer-Hamdy said, the UN was “gravely concerned by the use of force to disperse protestors”.
She further said that journalists and human rights defenders have a right to monitor demonstrations and their functions should not be impeded.
“Actions that stifle protests and the right to peaceful assembly can worsen economic and political instability in Sri Lanka,” Hanaa Singer-Hamdy warned.
The UN Resident Coordinator to Sri Lanka further said peaceful solutions in accordance with broad public consultations is the only way forward.
By Polito
There have been several minister position reshuffles since 2020. At one-point former rejected president Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa made Arbitrary changes to the cabinet. And in another point, there
have been reshuffles due to public protest and performance failure during
crises.
However, on several occasions, the public
demanded and proposed a proper strategic plan and a performance-oriented KPI
system for ministers. this corrupted regime never considered getting unnecessary
regulations and systems against them.
Now the same old incapable 18 members of the
political gang were appointed as cabinet ministers. Meanwhile Rejected UNP Politician
Vajira Abywardane has been appointed to parliament by the national list. Public will and
democracy became a joke when we see the recent activities of the Sri Lankan parliament.
New interim cabinet ministers are as follows
1.
Prime
Minister Dinesh Gunawardena – Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial
Councils, and Local Government
2. Douglas Devananda – Fisheries
3. Susil Premajayantha – Education
4. Bandula Gunawardena – Transport &
Highways, and Media
5. Keheliya Rambukwella – Health and Water
Supply
6. Mahinda Amaraweera – Agriculture,
Wildlife, and Forest Conservations
7. (Dr) Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe – Justice,
Prisons, and Constitutional Reforms
8. Harin Fernando – Tourism and Lands
9. Ramesh Pathirana – Plantations and
Industries
10. Prasanna Ranatunga – Urban Development and
Housing
11. Ali Sabry – External Affairs
12. Vidura Wickramanayake – Buddha Sasana,
Religious and Cultural Affairs
13. Kanchana Wijesekera – Power and Energy
14. Naseer Ahamed – Environment
15. Roshan Ranasinghe – Sports & Youth
Affairs, and Irrigation
16. Manusha Nanayakkara – Labour and Foreign
Employment
17. Tiran Alles – Public Security
18. Nalin Fernando – Trade, Commerce and Food
Security
By Polito
With the current crisis, situation Journalists are getting verbal abuses
from both police and the protestors. Impartial reporting is highly appreciated.
Lankan journalist has been verbally abused by a senior Police
officer while attempting to cover the incidents near the Galle Face protest
site in Colombo.
The armed forces rounded up the area covering the Presidential
Secretariat and evicted protesters who had occupied the state building during a
special operation early on Friday.
Video footage shows a journalist being prevented by a group of
Police officers from entering the area to carry out his duties.
It is also observed that a senior officer approaches the
journalist and verbally abuses him.
By Polito
Leader of JVP and NPP MP Anura Dissanayake put forward
several proposals to stabilize the country through an interim government.
Addressing a media gathering at the JVP party headquarters its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake shared the proposals relating to the number of ministers, the period of the interim government, and its possible composition among many others.
By Polito
Newly appointed Investment Promotion Minister Dhammika Perera has
called for the resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from the post
of Finance Minister. Ranil Wickremasinghe is the political better half of
Mahinda Rajapaksa. Both of them acting
against democracy and they will do anything to stay in power.
Addressing the media today, Minister Perera said that Ranil Wickremasinghe
as finance minister is not efficiently attending to the matters. His project is
to bring down a potential $ 30 million to the country, but the Finance Minister
is not doing so.
Stating that he will not allow such preventive measures from now
on, Minister Dhammika Perera said he will speak out by extending his support
for the public anti-government protests.
“Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister plans for disaster. He has no plan
or appetite to resolve the current dollar crisis. All of Sri Lanka’s economic
challenges are linked to the dollar crisis. The Finance Minister planned to
borrow money from friends. He has no future cash-flow planning for the
country,” he said.
Minister Dhammika Perera further said the Finance Minister also
delayed all matters related to dollar earnings, borrowing, bridging finance,
available credit lines, and essential good credit lines.
The Minister added that for these specific reasons Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe must step down from his portfolio as Finance Minister.
By Polito
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international social movement. BLM begins
with the murder of a young black man in the United States in 2013. The police
crackdown on blacks was one of the main reasons for the rise of the BLM
movement.
The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, started by three social media activists, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi, has been able to rally people globally in a short time against police repression. The movement led to a social revolution in May 2020, when a white police officer strangled and murdered George Floyd until he was brutally murdered on a street.
Protests organized by the BLM movement around the world eventually turned into clashes with the police within hours. As the conflict spreads across Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the United States, the BLM movement is having a major impact on the governments of those countries.
BLM's demand that all human beings have equal human rights, regardless of skin color, be accepted by all governments. The intervention of the BLM movement strongly influenced the election defeat of US President Donald Trump. As a result, 79-year-old Joe Biden becomes the oldest president in American history, and Kamala Harris, a black man of mixed Indian and African descent, becomes vice president.
The Sri Lanka Police is deeply disgusted for being biased. Police corruption undermines the confidence of the public in the police, destroys respect for the law, undercuts departmental discipline, and harms police morale. Degrees of corruption can be distinguished by the size of payoffs and the effort exerted by police to obtain them. The best example is the letter sent by the current IGP to the Secretary of Defense last December.
According to the IGP, 182 out of 184 Police officers in charge (OICs) have been appointed on the recommendation of the provincial political leaders.
Police superintendents (SPs) and Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) were also been appointed by the provincial political leadership.
The whole country as well as international organizations are well aware that the attack on the Anti-government protest site in the Gall face on the 9th of May was planned and carried out with the patronage of the Senior DIG in charge of the province. Despite the court order to arrest him, the police have not taken any action to date.
Although the court ordered that he be transferred to another province, it did not materialize. By whom is the police empowered to disobey even court orders? How can it be ruled out that the Executive President's influences?
One unarmed civilian was killed and several others were injured in the Rambukkana police firing. And recent incidents reported that a police officer drew a pistol in the Kurunegala.
the brutal police attack on a group
of people in the oil queue in Athurugiriya, the incidents in the Mullaitivu
area, and police assaulted protesters and arrested them with constructed
charges.
It was not only during this government that the police became the henchmen of corrupt politicians. Until recently, there are plenty of examples of JR Jayawardhane, R. Premadasa, Chandrika Bandaranaike, Ranil Wickremasinghe, MaithriPala Sirisena, and the Rajapaksas have contributed to the politicization of the police service.
No matter how you like it when a soup gets spoiled, you cannot pick the unrotten vegetable. Because the entire soup is spoiled, it’s just like the current corrupted Sri Lankan system. No further explanation will be needed for the quality of the Sri Lankan police service when IGP stated in written about the appointment procedures.
The police and the entire public service must be freed from politicization. No one has ever done that to the country and does not expect any change even if you somehow bring them back to power.
Therefore, we will need to appoint a government that is committed to depoliticizing the entire public service, including the police, protecting the rule of law, and upholding all the fundamental rights of every citizen enshrined in the Constitution. Until then, let's build the #LankanLivesMatter campaign.
By polito
