Last Friday, I was slated to interview the UNP’s Mayoral candidate AJM Muzammil on public television. After his media manager expressed a keen interest and confirmed his participation, Muzammil backed out the morning of the interview giving no reason at all and asked it to be rescheduled for the following week. This mirrored the behaviour of the UPFA’s candidate Milinda Moragoda, who also promised an interview and at the last minute, cancelled without giving any reason. It’s almost as if they both were advised that hard questions, for which they would have no easy answer, would be asked.
Though no coherent answers are, to date, forthcoming, questions directed at Milinda Moragoda are public. Critical questioning of Muzammil’s policy statement has been comparatively less visible and sustained, but also because Muzammil’s presence on the web is far less adroit than Moragoda’s. His Twitter account for example incredibly has just a single tweet to date. This is, politely put, is deeply embarrassing. His Facebook page is just a stream of bad consciousness with absolutely no engagement whatsoever with those who are on it.
Though it never really occurred, once the interview with Muzammil was initially confirmed with his campaign, readers/fans of Groundviews on Facebook and Twitter were asked to send in their questions over the candidate’s policies. Save for what was emailed in, the rest of the questions are in the public domain. Prof. Rohan Samarajiva’s responses to Muzammil’s policy statement were taken off his Twitter account.
I’m not at all interested in going behind a candidate who seems to believe that inconvenient questions can be evaded through non-engagement. In line with my short essay Hacking mayoral campaign promises, please use the following questions to critically evaluate Muzammil’s campaign. Pose them to him in person and through every means available online and via other media. The UNP may criticise Moragoda’s campaign, but are they really any better and do they set an example?
All the questions are edited for language, length and clarity.
Via email:
- The CMC is infamously known for being one of the most corrupt government departments in the country. Its rampant corruption and complete inefficiency was used by the current central government to shift authority from the CMC to an Authority headed by the defence secretary. What steps will the candidate take to ensure the complete eradication of corrupt practices and to enhance transparency? Will he begin by declaring his assets and make it mandatory for others within the Council to follow suit?
- About his proposed cycle lanes. Has he not seen colombo? Where the devil are we going to have cycle lanes? We should have separate bus lanes!
- What does the paragraph about social and cultural values really mean?
- He’s spoken about garbage collection but not garbage disposal … nice that they will increase frequency of garbage collection but where are they going to put it and whats going to happen to what is already there?
- Interesting that there is no mention of under-employment. And the plan for vocational training for unemployed and self employed – how are they going to identify? How are they going to go about it – funding/ selection/ deciding on what type of training to give (this is where consultation would come in) / they need to identify demand in market and offer vocational training for those accordingly. I’ll like to know more about the details of these plans I guess.
- Considering he’s a politician of the old times, interesting to know what his take on social media as a tool to engage with voters and inform them? He doesn’t interact with people at all on FB except to say thank you.
Via Twitter (posed by NalakaG):
- Have you declared your assets as required by election law, and are you willing to disclose it to voters? (A question I’ve already asked of Muzammil and his campaign over Facebook and Twitter, to which to date they have given no answer.)
- How do you plan to co-exist with the UPFA government that controls urban development, without being bulldozed by them?
- As a candidate who has tweeted just once so far, do u think social media matter in engaging Colombo’s voters?
- Have you had any criminal or corruption charges made against you by a law enforcement or state body? If so, what?
Via Twitter (posed by @samarajiva,the Head of the Policy Planning Group, Milinda for Mayor Campaign)
- Finally, Muzammil manifesto out. No citizen charter, surprisingly. Lots of freebies. How is it all funded? Still, focus on city services is good.
- Compare language on making CMC efficient & citizen centric in @MilindaMoragoda & @ajmmuzammil policies. Can unreformed CMC deliver services?