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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Barefoot politicians show the way by Lionel Yodhasinghe Party colours did not deter Jilith Nishantha and Aruna Warnasuriya, two barefoot political leaders, from embarking on a public mission, when their little fishing village, Magalle was hit by the outrageous killer waves on December 26.
Although the party political tradition passing from generation to generation in Sri Lanka is to oppose the policies presented by the rival group merely because they are rivals, these two mavericks broke such tradition and set an example to their seniors showing how politicians should work in synergy to save the destitute. Doomsday Urgency on the doomsday did not allow the duo to wait for instructions to flow down from Colombo based leaders to act, because nature had cast an immediate task on them, summoning them to the fore-ground where thousands of fellowmen were crying for help. Twenty four residents of Gilbert Lane in Magalle died on the day, and over 200 families were affected by the tsunami. 31 families were severely hit. Although immediate relief was provided to the needy, rebuilding shelter for the villagers whose houses were destroyed was the daunting task before Jilith and Aruna. As politicians, they were so enthusiastic in shouldering the job, but their immediate challenge was to find a potential donor. During this spell, Jilith, who is also a member of the Galle Municipal Council learnt about the advent of UN habitat Rebuilding Community Infrastructure and Shelter Program in Galle district to assist tsunami victims to build houses. The duo hurried with a proposal that was accepted by the UN officials, UN Galle Project Manager B.K. Fernando said. The project was a great relief to those who were awaiting some constructive rehabilitation machinery, as they wanted to raise from the debris, rebuild their lives and go back to their normal livelihood - fishing. No matter how the sea snatched away our beloveds and our life's savings, we are not afraid of the sea. Our generations have been fighting a battle with the sea, and we live by it and we belong to it, said the villagers. What we need is shelter, as we are not in a position to rebuild our own houses, they said. We will go back to fishing but the main debacle is the heavy damage to our fishing gear, they said. Once the-village was selected by the UN habitat, funds were approved for the project through Community Development Councils (CDCs), which have already got off the ground in the Galle district where several other projects were on the go in Siyambalagahawatte, Kovilwatte, and Padiligewatte etc. rival Jilith, the area organiser of the United National Party was proposed to chair the CMC and lead the project. And he did not want to leave room for anyone to point fingers at him that there was foul play in this project. So Jilith proposed his political rival, Aruna as the Secretary of the CDC because he wanted all parties concerned despite political interests to play fair by the victims. All were affected in different proportions and the UN officials evaluated the damage and selected the most affected. We did not interfere at all in selecting, so our transparency was accepted by all, he said. We have now implemented the project. We receive money from the UN habitat, and maintain an account for each beneficiary and purchase building material for each household, supervise their activities, the progress of the work by individual households and report to the UN officials, they said. This is our village, and the affected are our relatives and neighbours, politics is a game and we do not want to drag politics into this urgent need as we can do this project sans politics, he said. Or else, by politics we mean service to fellowmen, and this way we do better than doing it according to instructions given by the top leaders based in Colombo, sometime who do not know the ground realities here, Jilith and Aruna said in unison. Having received UN habitat assistance through their respective CDC, beneficiaries have finished the first stage of their houses. Jilith said that 27 boats were destroyed and another 30 damaged by the tsunami. Government agencies and NGOs provided funds to repair them but the funds are not sufficient to repair the entire damage as the casualties were very heavy. However, we need more expensive spare parts to repair the balance, Aruna said. UN Habitat system is ideally designed giving priority to provide shelter first and later restore their livelihood. UN system has won the people's confidence as it works well. People judge it as a pragmatic one which gives results within a short time. Residents complained that many donors visited the area, gathered information and then vanished. Such programs were never realized. "We are fed up of filling forms, narrating our woes and giving personal information", residents said. Politics is meant to serve people whatever their party colours, they believe. This is the most tragic situation and politicians should not strive to achieve narrow political gains at the expense of agony and destitution. We have shown how real politicians should act to serve people to enable
them to come out of such desperate situations, the duo said. |
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