The Island Editorial

Who guards the guards?

27 August 2016

In a turn of events replete with irony Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena has told the media that legal action will be instituted against those who make allegations of corruption against President Maithripala Sirisena. Obviously, an allegation of graft two leading Australian newspapers have made against the President has sent the government reeling and its spin doctors are doing their damndest to shore up the crumbling image of their administration. But, what moral right do the members of the ruling coalition have to issue such a threat?

President Sirisena and the UNP fought the last presidential election and parliamentary polls respectively on an anti-corruption platform. They made various allegations, claims and pledges and managed to capture power by promising to enthrone good governance. Sirisena, while he was in the presidential race, accused the Rajapaksas of having in their possession Lamborghinis and even ‘a golden horse’ bought from Buckingham Palace, among other things. The Rajapaksas had stashed away as much as 18 billion—yes, billion—dollars in offshore accounts, the then Opposition bigwigs told us, vowing to bring the money back post-haste.

The former rulers are no angels and the general consensus is that they helped themselves to a great deal of public funds and lined their pockets with kickbacks unconscionably. Everything became a deal for them. Therefore, those who voted for Sirisena and the UNP thought the ill-gotten wealth of the Rajapaksas would be recovered, confiscated and utilised to ameliorate the economic woes of the country as well as the public. But, nothing of the sort has happened and cases are being filed against the grandees of the former regime for buying galvanized pipes of all things!

More than one and a half years have elapsed since the change of government last year, but the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration has failed to fulfil its main election pledge. It must prove its allegations against its predecessor as a national priority because the public has a right to know the truth and if its claims can be substantiated the culprits must be hauled up before courts.

Interestingly, the bigwigs of the incumbent dispensation now stand accused of being involved in crooked deals and shielding crooks of all sorts. Opposition activists and sympathisers are being arrested in their dozens for offences such as abusing cars belonging to the state and keeping baby elephants without permits, but the man responsible for two bond scams which have caused a loss of billions of rupees to the state coffers is seen freely moving about in the exalted company of the powers that be. So much for the rule of law!

Worse, the government worthies are threatening their critics not to do to President Sirisena what they did to President Rajapaksa to topple the last government––hurling wild allegations!

The bane of this country is that none of its leaders have been statespersons. They have all been mere politicians ready to abuse power and stoop to any level to feather their nests and retain or regain power.

A head of state must be like Caesar’s wife; he or she must be above suspicion. Sadly, the self-appointed guards have become lawbreakers themselves. Who guards the guards—quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Nothing describes the situation we find ourselves in better than the pithy local saying, which roughly put into English means: Whom can we turn to when the ridge and the fence ‘eat’ rice plants?

The need for a real statesperson has been long felt. Self-proclaimed messiahs who secure popular mandates by condemning others and promising to turn this country into a utopia plunge into the cesspit of partisan politics and indulge in corruption after being ensconced in power. This, we have witnessed before and after last year’s regime change.

So, one is left with no alternative but to light a lamp and search, in broad daylight, for a statesperson capable of hoisting the country from the morass of lies, deceit, corruption and abuse of power it finds itself in.