DISSOLVED!

Dissolved:  The Parliament. No tears over a bunch of people who didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory having to come begging to us for votes.  

Dissolved: The 20th Amendment.  This is not only sad but it is a damning indictment of both President Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe.  The two demonstrated beyond any shadow of doubt that they were not interested in electoral reform.  Sure, the Opposition didn’t exactly help, but the onus is on those who promised and not those who had no option but to join hands with the candidate they had campaigned against.  Sirisena has executive powers. He’s the head of the SLFP. That should have been enough to get both the UNP and the SLFP to get it done.  For his part, Wickremesinghe played hardball from Day One over electoral reform, slumbering over the writing of the text, tinkering with it, tossing in ‘non-negotiables’ to buy time etc.  

Dissolved: Hope that the 19th Amendment will be implemented.  The Government (deliberately?) threw in names of shady individuals to represent the so-called civil society and gave objection-ammunition to the Opposition.  The result was a part-made Constitutional Council that is not yet legal, no independent commissions and an election without checks and balances that are sorely required to ensure a level playing field.

Dissolved: Good Governance.  We can wave that lovely term goodbye.  

Dissolved: the hope that the manaapa-kramaya  will soon be a think of the past.  Get ready for bombardment ladies and gentlemen.  Your walls will not be spared.  Every two-bit candidate entertaining ministerial aspirations will stuff your mailbox with propaganda material.  There will be noise pollution.  There will be clashes.  There probably won't be decent representation.

Dissolved: Illusions that the Maithripala-Wickremesinghe combo was somehow different from the Rajapaksa Samaagama.  Same-old, same-old.  Nepotism is young but it is birthed. Corruption continues.  

Dissolved: the promise of economic relief.  With outfits like the BOI operating on stark contradiction of mandate and being used to dish out benefits to party faithfuls, cronyism was resurrected.  Prices that were slashed have been on the up and in the case of certain items are higher than during Mahinda’s time.  It is a matter of time before fuel prices go up again.  

Dissolved: whatever fears that may have kept Ravi Karunanayake and Ranil Wickremesinghe awake at night on account of no-confidence motions.  

Dissolved: the fears that all those implicated of wrongdoing with regard to the Central Bank bond scam may have had on account of the COPE inquiry.  The names being tossed around, in case you want to know, are: Kabir Hashim, Malik Samarawickrema, Ravi Karunanayake and Ranil Wickremesinghe!  Anyway, DEW Gunasekera might as well flush the report down the toilet.  

Dissolved: the view that Maithipala was a leader.  He’s shown that he is not averse to saving the sorry behinds of friends in hot water.   He’s shown that he’s more green than blue, which of course is his business, but in this ‘showing’ he’s demonstrated that he is two-bit politician consumed by insecurity, vengefulness and one ever ready to cut the nose to spite the face.  Chandrika’s influence?  Perhaps!  

That’s enough dissolution ladies and gentlemen.  Best we do a bit of dissolving ourselves.  Some sugar in the tea or coffee?