Daily News Editorial

Whither the Commissions?

19 October 2016

The resignation of Director General of the Bribery Commission Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe is going to have its knock down effect in more ways than one. While the events leading to the resignation warmed the cockles of the Joint Opposition and caused mixed reactions in the government ranks, the question that will be on everyone’s mind is what is going to happen to the investigations still in progress and into which the former Director General is said to have put her heart and soul.

The Director General was appointed in February last year in the first flush of the victory of President Maithripala Sirisena to accomplish an important mission that formed the platform of the Yahapalanaya government - that of bringing to book all the swindlers, crooks, VVIPs of the last regime and their henchmen who milked the country dry. Things were slow, to begin with, making the people wonder if this too was another gimmick. But the pace gathered momentum with the passage of time, with the big fish nibbling at the bait when the President’s bombshell came.

There is talk of across the board resignations from the Commissions. If this indeed is the case, all the sweat and toil of almost two years, where the investigators burnt the midnight, some even going overseas to double check their evidence, is certainly going to be brought to naught. Civil society organisations who worked round the clock to install the present regime no doubt are a highly disappointed lot, not so much about the comments of the President than its fall out that has left all that it stood for and espoused and its crusade against corruption getting washed down the drain. They gave vent to their feelings the other day on a TV talk show. Their anger is doubly so due to attempts made by members of the Joint Opposition to vindicate their position that what the so-called investigations were, after all, no more than political witch-hunts. Their frustrations could well have their genesis in the fact that among those most vociferously protesting their innocence are the very people against whom serious allegations have been leveled in connection with money laundering, mega corruption and even murder. These elements are already on cloud nine, not only protesting their innocence but making pledges to unravel corruption in the government, with one among them vowing to expose the misdeeds of 10 ministers while another who was unable to account for Rs 400 million in his bank account and famously proffered the excuse of being stung by a polanga, for not presenting himself before the Bribery Commission, during the last government, addressing public rallies with smug satisfaction written all over his countenance.

The SLFP segment in the Unity Government has meanwhile attempted to pour cold water on the President’s statement, indicating that there was no cause to read anything into it and that there was no threat to the political marriage. While downplaying the statement, leading lights of the SLFP have not desisted from taking pot shots at the UNP, with Dilan Perera noting that this was the President’s way of asserting his authority within the Unity Government vis-a-vis the UNP. UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera, meanwhile, attributed the President’s declamation to the concerns expressed by the grassroots supporters of the party on the incarceration of war heroes and the summoning of former service commanders before the Commissions.

However, this argument wont hold water, given the fact that there was no hue and cry made, when the foremost war hero among them, Sarath Fonseka was dragged away and thrown into jail like a common criminal. It appears that only when a political leader other than Mahinda Rajapaksa arrests war heroes that all hell breaks lose. This can also be seen in the attitude of certain Bhikkus affiliated to the Joint Opposition, who remained mum when mass murderer Karuna Amman, responsible for massacre of Samaneras, was not only made a Minister under Rajapaksa but also an SLFP office bearer.

Be that as it may, the Yahapalanaya government should ensure that corruption investigations are not derailed under any circumstances. Already there are concerns among civil society bodies that the current imbroglio may have done just that. Although the Director General has stepped down, her replacement should pick up the gauntlet, even if it means painstakingly picking up the threads.

President Sirisena has come in for much international praise for his efforts to clean the Augean Stables and usher in good governance. He will, it is hoped, preserve this goodwill and go ahead with his crusade that began with much promise. True, his is a balancing act. He is not only the President but also the head of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, albeit a partner in the Unity Government. He would be compelled to lend a year to the views and sentiments of his party stalwarts and also the rank and file. His views expressed over the treatment of the service personnel may have been borne out of this fact. But it is certainly the hope of the larger masses who elected him to office that he will always do what is right, for the good and benefit of the country.