A greener, cleaner Colombo or UNP’s old smelly city?

Voters in 27 local government areas, including the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), will go to the polls on Saturday. This will be the third and final leg of the Local Government (LG) elections.

The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has secured power in over 75 percent of the LG bodies for which elections have already been conducted.

Hence the final leg of the LG polls is being held at a crucial time for the Opposition, since the UPFA is poised to strengthen its grip and record another convincing victory.

With the simmering leadership battle in the main Opposition – the United National Party (UNP)-reaching a peak and the internal power struggle in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) reaching a crescendo, the UPFA would face hardly any challenge.

In this scenario, the UNP is contesting the LG polls under two groups in Matara, the official group under the elephant symbol and the breakaway reformists as an independent group under the spectacle – the same symbol under which the UNP supported an independent group to win the last CMC elections six years ago.

It is no different in most other LG areas where elections will be held. While UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s loyalists are making a sincere effort to win the elections, the Reformist Group, which is venting its spleen in an internal power struggle to make Parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa the leader, has put a spoke in the wheel.

Being acutely aware that yet another humiliating defeat for the UNP at the forthcoming LG polls would intensify their leadership struggle, the UNP Reformists are leaving no stone unturned to achieve their ends. The aim of the Premadasa-loyal Reformists is to ensure that the UNP loses again so that they could apportion the blame on its leader to oust Wickremesinghe. Nevertheless, this scandalous act would be rejected in toto by moderate UNPers who may even opt to refrain from voting in exasperation.

On the other hand, the true colours of the JVP have come to light after the latest internal power crisis in the left-wing party which had attempted to capture power twice through an armed struggle.

The latest JVP internal power struggle comes at a time when the Rohana Wijeweera-founded party could ill-afford any further splits, having lost the party’s heavyweight Wimal Weerawansa a several years ago. The JVP vote base has been severely eroded and the party is striving to regain its position as the third most powerful political party in the country.

The internecine warfare in the UNP and the JVP has given an added advantage to the UPFA, even in the UNP’s traditional strongholds such as Colombo, Nuwara Eliya and Kandy. The latest surveys have revealed that the UPFA mayoral candidate for Colombo, Milinda Moragoda has won immense popularity due to a variety of reasons.

Moragoda’s gentlemanly politics and exemplary election campaign have won the hearts and minds of moderate voters in Colombo. Moreover, the marked transformation of the city of Colombo to be brought on par with all major cities in the world under the direct supervision of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has received wide approbation, sans petty party politics.

The moderate citizenry in Colombo are convinced that the capital city has been given a new look during the past six years after President Mahinda Rajapaksa became the First Citizen. The modernisation of Colombo and its transformation to a clean and green city is a matter of pride for all citizens.

Colombo has been given a new facelift in almost every aspect. Gone are the days when the city was strewn with mountains of garbage dumps, defaced walls, filthy pavements, neglected roundabouts and shoddy roads. Today, we witness a cleaner and attractive Colombo with more greenery, modern pavements and neat pedestrian crossings with all common amenities. It is unimaginable to believe that the Colombo city had undergone such a metamorphosis in less than two years.

The UNP should bow its head in shame to witness what the UPFA Government has done for a Municipal Council which had been under the UNP for several decades. Had it not been for the Government’s keen desire and indomitable will-power to develop Colombo and bring it on par with other major cities in the world, Colombo would have remained the age-old, dirty and unhealthy city.

The same goes for all other LG bodies, including the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya Municipal Councils. The voters at Saturday’s LG polls will have to decide whether they opt for a greener and cleaner Colombo or return to that dark UNP era of an ugly and foul-smelling capital city.

In the other LG areas too for which elections would be held, the voters would have to weigh the pros and cons - whether they would give a fresh mandate to the UPFA judging by its performance. Undoubtedly, the UPFA has proved beyond reasonable doubt that it could deliver the goods under the illustrious leadership of President Rajapaksa.

In contrast, the UNP and JVP must first and foremost resolve their internal problems and put their house in order, before pleading for votes. The jackpot question is whether these parties could unite people when their own leaders and politburos are divided. The masses are certainly no succours to be carried away by the empty slogans of the UNP and the JVP which are merely canvassing for votes without any concrete plan to develop these LG areas.

The performance of the UPFA Government and the LG bodies under the UPFA are ample testimony as to how these areas and the entire country would be developed to be the Wonder of Asia. Some of the development activities and mass transformations are already evident while the rest would be delivered sooner than later.

The masses would no doubt endorse the tried and tested UPFA policies which have become the catalyst of the modernisation of Colombo and other urban and semi-urban areas.

The UNP which has governed the CMC for many years has done precious little for the ratepayers in Colombo. Does the UNP have a moral right to beg for votes and attempt to mislead the Colombo citizenry again? It goes without saying that the voters in Colombo would definitely show their gratitude to the Government for making the capital city to stand out from the rest.