Although the process of receiving nominations for the forthcoming provincial council elections continues, whether these elections would be held or not is anybody's guess. Understandably so, given repeated assertions of government personalities like General Anuruddha Ratwatte that the current stage of the war does not make the provision of security for the PC elections a practical possibility.

Instead of playing charades, it is the duty of the government to come clean and say whether the PC elections will be held or not. If the UNP will not co-operate in postponing these polls, assuming of course that the security situation makes them an absolute impossibility, the government can resort to extending the present Emergency to cover the whole country and then postpone the elections. But the public will demand that this be done only for good reason.

The trouble is that the government has lost the credibility it had when it was elected to office in 1994. Opportunistic promises like bread at Rs. 3.50 a loaf and other handouts like a dole for the unemployed have not been kept. The people are understandably cynical about their political leaders. Present claims about the ``progress'' of the war will be taken by the vast majority of Lankans with much more than a pinch of salt. We have heard these stories too often to take them seriously.

It will be useful if the powers that be accurately gauge the mood of the people. There will be those who will say that this is exactly what has been done and that is why there is the present reluctance to go ahead with the PC elections. Be that as it may, if there is in fact any danger to the military effort by going ahead with provincial council elections that are not going to make any difference to the state of the country, nobody should seriously quarrel if these elections are put off.

As we have urged before in these columns, the provincial councils have been nothing more than a needless extravagance and a waste of public funds. They were created as a device to meet the aspirations of the Tamils living in the north and the east for meaningful devolution that would enable them to have a real say in running their own affairs. The perception of the then UNP administration that you could not give Jaffna what you did not give Hambantota led to the provincial council system which has proved to be of absolutely no use.

Ironically, the very areas that demanded and needed devolution did not get it. The life span of the so-called North Eastern Provincial Council (NEPC) was, to borrow the words of the poet, ``nasty, brutish and short.'' Chief Minister Varatharajah Perumal was able to survive the few months he did only because of the presence here of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). He went into exile no sooner the IPKF was ``deinducted'' as the Indian military jargon had it. He is not even heard of now.

The fact is that the government, and for that matter the opposition which administers some of the PCs, owes the public an explanation on how useful these bodies are. As far as the vast majority of the people know, they only cost tax money and bring no benefit commensurate with expenditure. There should be a national debate on whether these councils are delivering as they should. A cost : benefit calculation is very much in order before any new PCs are elected. Such an election today will only prove whether the incumbent central government retains the acceptance of the people or not.

When the government says that the security situation does not permit the PC elections that are now due and almost in the same breath offers presidential elections in November, the people would no doubt wonder how. Can this war which has been dragging on for so long be brought to a satisfactory conclusion in the matter of a few weeks so as to enable a countrywide election by November? The chances of the war being ended by then is less than remote. The security situation is likely to remain as it is for quite a while yet. The rulers will time the elections to suit themselves. That is the stark reality.

After November, President Kumaratunga can do many things. She can call an early presidential election if she so chooses and that is what many of her PA colleagues, who consider her a better candidate than the government, would like her to do. If she carries it off and the vaasi paththa (winning side) is shown to the country, winning a parliamentary election will be that much easier. But how moral is it for a government committed to abolishing the presidency within a year of its election in August 1994 to have another presidential election?

Those little problems like morality will not bother politicians whose objective is to stay in power. Nor will it bother others who want to seize it for themselves. Even at this late stage, will the politicians of all shades do what is best for the country and not what is good for themselves? What we need most is to close ranks and make the LTTE face a single united force. That and not elections is the priority.