The Island

It’s President’s baby!

25 October 2016

 

The incumbent dispensation seems to be the political version of Golden Key. Those who, expecting higher returns on their investment, reposed their trust in Golden Key lost their deposits. The people who, fed up with the previous regime, voted the present administration in, hoping for good governance have also been taken for a ride. As for economic relief the current administration granted them initially it has been a case of swings and roundabouts for the people. What was given with one hand has been taken away with the other. Nay, they are in a worse predicament with the CoL going through the roof owing to tax increases and the tumble of the rupee.

Local government elections have been postponed indefinitely on some flimsy pretext. Perhaps, nothing hurts democracy more than depriving the people of an opportunity to exercise their franchise. The National Election Commission (NEC) has been rendered toothless. As one of its intrepid members has pointed out in a recent article published in this newspaper it is a misnomer to call the NEC ‘independent’.

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has not yet been liberated from the clutches of politicians. It is made to steer clear of government big guns with complaints of corruption against them. Not even the Joint Opposition (JO), which, in spite of having many rogues within its ranks, claims to be the only counterweight to the ‘yahapalana’ juggernaut, has baulked at pressuring the CIABOC to reveal the names of the government members who have defied its summons.

The Financial Crimes Investigation Unit (FCID) and the CID are doing full-time political work. They remind us of Gestapo and Big Brother. The CID stands accused of tapping a senior High Court judge’s telephones. The khaki-clad bootlickers need to be told in no uncertain terms that they used those dirty tactics to protect the Rajapaksa government as well, but in vain. They spring into action at the behest of their new political masters, as they have been doing religiously for the last several decades, and go hell for leather to arrest Opposition politicians. Several persons have been hauled up before courts for spending public funds on sil redi to the tune of Rs. 600 mn. True, public funds must not be utilised to shower election bribes on voters. But, surprisingly, nobody has been arrested and remanded over the Central Bank bond scams which have cost the state coffers billions of rupees! The government made a mockery of its commitment to good governance the day it appointed a committee comprising some of its lawyers to investigate the bond scams and got the conclusion it wanted. COPE for Mahendran and FCID for Basil et al!

It was reported last evening that COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti had walked out of a stormy COPE session where UNP MPs were all out to dispute the content of his report on the bond scams. His consternation is understandable. He has got an overdose of ‘yahapalana’ his party promoted!

The Auditor General has drawn heavy flak from some government MPs for his department’s findings upon which the COPE Chairman’s report is based. Senior state officials must not be humiliated and intimidated in this despicable manner. What we are witnessing is the very antithesis of good governance!

The Rajapaksas abused their parliamentary majority to bulldoze their way through and their successors are doing just that in spite of having promised a radical change. The Rajapaksa government abused its majority in parliamentary committees, especially in the PSC which wrongfully impeached the then Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake. The UNP-led coalition is abusing its majority to cover up the bond scams and let the culprits go scot free. Many trade unions, professional outfits, academic associations etc threw their weight behind the present government at the last election, expecting it to restore democratic governance. Their silence is deafening to say the least.

Having secured the executive presidency by undertaking to usher in good governance, and enabled the UNP to form a government, President Sirisena is duty bound to have the corrupt deals of the government politicians and their backers such as the bond scams thoroughly probed. Let a special presidential commission be appointed to investigate them. He cannot shift the onus to anyone else. It is his baby!

The President has to put his foot down and protect the national interest without allowing himself to be reduced to a big fish in a small pond.