State Minister for Tourism Diana Gamage has this tendency of calling a spade a spade and plain speaking without any attempt to cushion its impact on whoever may be affected. It was only recently speaking in Parliament she called for the introduction of active nightlife in Colombo City as a means of attracting tourists, lamenting that Colombo daily went to bed by 9 pm, unlike Bangkok where the nightlife stretches into the wee hours of the morning with all its thrills and spills- comments which no doubt would have raised more than a few eyebrows among Sangha community and other religious leaders.
On Tuesday also in Parliament, she insisted that the Government reduces the prices of alcoholic drinks in order to increase sales and thus collect additional excise revenue for the State coffers. The State Minister said that the Government could increase its revenue if the prices of alcoholic drinks are reduced. More people will then purchase alcohol if the prices are reduced and tax revenue could be increased when more people purchase alcoholic drinks. In the alternative, the Government then would have to ban the sale of alcohol in Sri Lanka.
The State Minister no doubt is going to be the toast of all imbibers in this country though not exactly their spouses. But the proposal by State Minister Gamage not only makes sense but is also practical, looking at it from the point of view of State revenue. Presently, following the doubling of all liquor prices, sales of alcohol has dropped by nearly 40 percent, with the State hard-pressed to raise excise revenue. Although State Minister for Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya cited moral grounds for raising liquor prices he could not be unaware that although liquor is not purchased at the Wine Stores, restaurants and other liquor outlets, drinkers have by no means given up the habit. They instead now go for the deadly moonshine (kassippu) at great risk to their health. Hence, rather than morally tie them into abstinence by the price deterrent, the imbibers have fallen to a much worse moral degradation than before. Besides, this development could also place a heavy strain on the country’s health budget since the Government will now have to incur additional expenditure for treating those now addicted to the poisonous brew. With the massive depletion of doctors and medical professionals at present in the country’s health sector there is no knowing of the consequences the State will have to put up with if this state of affairs were allowed to continue.
Besides, nobody will buy into the claim that the prices of alcohol were being raised based on moral grounds. We have heard this number played by Government leaders before this too. There was a well-known effort to wean the public from the drinking habit under the slogan of ‘Mathata Thitha’. But its outcome is common knowledge to all and sundry. Government politicians were granted liquor licences to operate bars which they did to their heart’s content under their own names or that of kith and kin. The liquor outlets continued to mushroom at all street corners with even the distance rule which applies where schools and places of religious worship were concerned too observed in the breach. The late Minister Jeyaraj Fernadopulle who represented an electorate in the Gampaha district known for its thriving illicit liquor industry once told Parliament that his electorate be spared the ‘Mathata Thitha’ rule since all his folk commence their day after a couple. This, while UNP Minister Harold Herath, also hailing from a similar electorate in the North Western Province, even spoke in favour of developing the moonshine trade as a cottage industry adhering to proper standards. So much for politicians moralising on the evils of alcohol. In that respect, State Minister Gamage should receive the praise of all for being realistic and not speaking wearing blinkers.
On the contrary, what should be done by the Government is to have a rational liquor policy. The first thing it should take cognizance of is the fact that increasing the price of liquor will not make imbibers give up drinking. As already mentioned, they would be driven to harm themselves even more. The liquor- particularly the popular brands- should be reasonably priced so that it will be within the reach of the common man. At present, even middle-income earners can ill-afford the price of a bottle of gal arrack. The Government should also realise that partaking in alcohol is not always done due to addiction. In most cases, people after a hard day’s grind at their work places take their usual drink as a means of relaxation in the evenings. It is such folk that are badly hit today by the inordinate rise in the price of liquor. The Government should think of catering to this segment of the public by bringing down the price of liquor to a reasonable level. This way, while providing a cheap form of relaxation that would make all happy, it could also increase Government revenue by a considerable level. As it is, liquor manufacturers are not releasing stocks due to a sharp drop in orders from Wine Stores and Super Markets due to a lack of demand. This way there is a risk of even the collapse of the liquor industry and resultant unemployment.
