Government Promises

At a charity dinner in Galle two evenings ago, I was seated at the same table as the governor of the Southern Province, Kingsley T. Wickramaratne. That's the Sri Lankan equivalent of a governor of a U.S. state, except here governors are appointed by the president rather than elected.

Wickramaratne is a friendly, well-educated man, who speaks good English. I met him the day after the tsunami, when he had just returned from a helicopter visit to the site of the terrible Hikkaduwa train wreck, where more than 1,000 people were killed. A former businessman, he jokes that he is a rare phenomenon among Sri Lankan officials. Since he's already made enough money from tourism, he doesn't need to find ways to supplement his relatively modest salary.

Not surprisingly, as a strong supporter of the president, Wickramaratne is upbeat about the way things are going here. He predicted that all tsunami victims will be rehoused within six months with the money that has poured into Sri Lanka after the tsunami. He says the government will allocate around $5,000 per family to rebuild the country.

I think it is fair to say that many Sri Lankans are skeptical of such promises. According to official figures, 78,000 houses were completely destroyed in the tsunami, and 41,000 houses were partially destroyed. In order to meet its target, the government will have to increase the rate of housing construction at least 20-fold.

We'll see what happens.

Author's Note: I would welcome comments on this blog. If you want to contact me, you can e-mail me at blogs@washingtonpost.com. Please include Weligama in the subject line.

-- Michael Dobbs

By washingtonpost.com |  February 17, 2005; 11:30 AM ET  | Category:  Michael Dobbs
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