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| Sunday, 27 January 2002 |
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New jockeys in the saddle by FACTOTUM The mandate for change has to be honoured. Whatever cynics may say new jockeys from city stables could be expected to spur on sick geldings and keep a tight rein on wild horses although some of them may buck wildly periodically. Their performance will go a long way in deciding winners when the next big race is run on hard turf and the ballots are counted. There will be incentives as they forge ahead to achieve that high growth rate of 10 per cent per year. Foreign direct investment to extend underground cables and increase overhead pylons will bring in its make those perks that go along with prize positions that many are jockeying for. It looks as if these asides are being played down within the time limit and deadline of the accelerated 100 day program. There is overwhelming support for a cautious dismantling of all those strictures and structures that impede a peaceful climate so essential for the take off that everyone expects. That is all old hat though. But have we a choice? It was only the other day that we were told that the Tiger outfit had failed to chase away the security forces from the North and the East and the forces in turn have failed to eliminate the Tigers. That, after coughing out as much as Rs. 500 billion on one side on this exercise. How much of that colossal sum actually went into the war effort has always been a matter of conjecture but the fact remains that that is the extent of the drain on resources in rupee terms. The human cost can not be estimated and the ripple effect of war on the downturn in development is anybody's guess. Painstakingly prepared statistics show that the debt of each one of us has more than doubled. Emerging from that maze of depressing figures one confronts evidence that has surfaced that monies lying to the credit of EPF and ETF have been siphoned to salvage those mismanaged Boards and Corporations. So, great hope is pinned on the new appointees. Plans to generate a ten per cent growth rate are now being drawn up. These projects will not be confined to the big city. So, there will be opportunities for those enterprising hangers-on around the salterns of Hambantota and partly abandoned stadia and turfs in places as distant as Dambulla. The sweat and toil of 18 million people go to meet the rising cost of representation and if they are to get a return for their money the new jockeys in the saddle who appear to have been amply rewarded for all their investments in the recent past will have to prove their worth as they clear the hurdles in rough weather. |
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