The Island Editorial

A dramatic role reversal

04 November 2016

 

The Joint Opposition (JO) is planning street protests to demand Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s resignation over the mega bond scams at the Central Bank under his purview, we are told. But, it is doubtful whether the JO leaders will go the whole hog to pressure Wickremesinghe to quit. For, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself has been full of praise of Wickremesinghe. The JO’s enemy No 1 is not the PM but President Maithripala Sirisena. It will be interesting to see how the JO handles the bond issue. There may be more barks than bites, so to speak.

Ministers Champika Ranawaka and Rajitha Senaratne have, true to form, leapt to the PM’s defence. They have sought to rubbish the JO’s claim that the blame for the bond scams should be apportioned to the PM. Their contention is that the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) report has not mentioned the PM’s name and, therefore, he cannot be held accountable for what former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran has done. One is intrigued.

Ranawaka and Senaratne broke ranks with the Rajapaksa government before the last presidential election and became self-appointed champions of good governance. They are now pretending that they had nothing to do with that administration of which they were Cabinet ministers!

In an interesting turn of events replete with irony today Ranawaka, Senaratne et al have had to defend a government accused of corruption, cronyism, nepotism and abuse of power. The Rajapaksa loyalists who lost power owing to similar charges are now campaigning for good governance! This is a dramatic role reversal. It looks as if ‘old thieves’ are clashing with ‘new thieves’ in the name of good governance.

Why Ranawaka and Senaratne are defending Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to the hilt is understandable. He is their saviour. They would never have been able to get elected to Parliament last year if they had not been allowed to contest the 2015 general election on the UNP ticket.

In June this year, Minister Senaratne told the media that he had never said former President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself stashed away public funds; he blamed those who had been around Rajapaksa for that. But, the fact remains that he decamped and campaigned for defeating Rajapaksa. Therefore, how can he claim the PM should stay put in spite of charges of corruption against the latter’s chums? It may be recalled that Minister of Law and Order Tilak Marapone was made to resign for defending Avant Garde security firm, which has got into hot water over a floating armoury. Even some of the UNP ministers were out for Marapone’s scalp for what they called shielding the corrupt.

Senaratne has said there is media freedom today and journalists are free to take on the government. True, there have been no attacks on media institutions since the change of government last year and no journalist has got a white van ride. So far so good! But, the media continue to be under political pressure and some journalists have been hounded out of their jobs.

The present government consists of several politicians who have a history of snuffing out many a young life. Both the SLFP and the UNP have suppressed media freedom and harmed journalists. The present-day rulers baulk at resorting to the same methods as the Rajapaksa administration in dealing with the media not because they uphold the freedom of expression but because they are not strong enough to resort to force. If they had been in a position to muster a two-thirds majority in Parliament on their own, they would have bared their fangs. Their evil intent and hatred towards the media become manifestly evident when they speak daggers to journalists at the drop of a hat.

Many journalists had the courage to criticise the Rajapaksa government and they are critical of the present dispensation as well. Threats, veiled or direct, will not deter them. It is thanks to them that the government’s determined efforts to sweep the bond frauds under the carpet came a cropper.