SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva opened the second-reading debate on Budget 2026 on Saturday, urging the NPP government to respect democratic dissent and walk back its controversial decision to import as many as 1,775 brand new double cab pickup trucks. Claiming that the government had manipulated tender criteria to favour a company or two of its choice, he said it had telescoped the 42-day bidding window into a mere 12 days. These are very serious charges, which, the Opposition says, it can prove, but the government is determined to bulldoze its way through. This is how government politicians behave when power goes to their heads.
Dr. de Silva accused President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of trying to overcome resistance from the Opposition to the shady vehicle deal at issue by offering pickup trucks to the MPs. He said the Opposition would continue to protest.
When alleged scams involving the members of the current regime, such as the release of 323 red-flagged freight containers from the Colombo Port, without Customs inspection, come to light, the incumbent leaders try to distract the public by bashing their predecessors for corrupt deals in the past. It was to punish the previous rulers that the people voted the NPP into power; they expected the NPP to fulfil its promise to conduct itself in an exemplary manner and bring about a ‘system change’. The JVP-led NPP government had the public believe that it would be above suspicion like Caesar’s wife, but it has failed to live up to their expectations so much so that it is now wary of holding the Provincial Council elections, which it promised, in its manifesto, to hold within one year of forming a government.
The JVP/NPP accused the previous rulers of corruption, abuse of power, nepotism, and running a kleptocracy that drained the nation’s wealth. The former leaders are now claiming that the current administration consisting of a bunch of neophytes has become a metaphor for inefficiency and kakistocracy. Inefficiency has been a defining feature of successive governments. Now that the incumbent government is drawing severe criticism for shady deals and abuse of power, just like its corrupt predecessors, a need has arisen for a portmanteau to be coined to describe the current system of governance this country has had to contend with—‘kleptokakistocracy’.
Following last year’s regime change, the NPP government made a show of a large number of vehicles returned by the politicians of the previous administration and the officials who had worked for them. Some NPP politicians claimed that they were all luxury vehicles, and the government would dispose of them. If they had been as valuable as they were made out to be, their sales would have helped the government raise enough funds to solve transport issues in the state sector. It has now been revealed that most of those vehicles were ordinary ones in running condition, and why they were not redistributed among the state institutions experiencing vehicle shortages is the question. Is it that they were sold so that the government could purchase brand new pickup trucks?
The rupee crisis is far from over although there has been a significant increase in state revenue due to import duties on vehicles. The Customs Department is bragging that it has generated a record revenue, but the tax bubble created by vehicle imports is bound to burst. Hence the need for frugal management of state funds and a strategy to increase the forex inflow substantially so as to avoid shocks when debt repayment resumes in 2028. The Opposition has said there will have to be foreign currency reserves amounting to at least USD 13 billion in 2028.
The government must cancel the questionable pickup truck deal forthwith and save funds. The JVP/NPP leaders had better bear in mind that they cannot hold on to power indefinitely, and the questionable vehicle deal is bound to be probed one day. A former Chief Minister has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for fraudulently obtaining about Rs 2.8 million as a fuel allowance.
