Ceylon Today Editorial

Taking Control at Home Spreading wings abroad

19 October 2016

Minister S.B. Dissanayake on Monday said at a media briefing at the SLFP Headquarters that "the President had issued a statement regarding the functioning of the CID, FCID and CIABOC to clear any misunderstanding that the President was involved in a witch hunt against his opponents and was responsible for having them summoned by the CID, FCID and CIABOC."

Dissanayake added that the President did not interfere in the functions of those independent bodies.

Some could not resist the cheap jab that the presence of Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa meant the SLFP saw the razzmatazz generated by the President's statement serious enough to merit a public statement meant to douse negative speculation. The public debate however, is whether or not there has been a subtle wet blanket thrown over the investigating agencies considering the very real negative impact by way of CIABOC Director General, a close friend of the Prime Minister, Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe handing in her resignation.

The President was certainly expecting such a response and seems not in the least bit worried about who quits what. The rationale that supports the President's statement is that while the Police and these commissions go after fraudsters in the former regime, they have significantly left out any probes against anyone in the UNP. But then, no complaints have so far come to them about corruption involving UNPers. And that seems to have got the rumour mills working overtime wondering aloud whether they simply have the blinkers on or whether they choose to report what they choose to report to the Police and the commissions.

Of course, having been out of power for ten years perhaps gave the then Opposition no avenues to exploit by way of slick mega deals by the score. But to be objective about all of this, whilst those against whom mega fraud allegations were made rightly had to be summoned by the Police and these commissions, perhaps, while justice cannot be selective, at least the process of justice could bend the rules if only as a token of extending to men such as Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former services commanders some little allowance in how they were treated in that process.

It was sickening to see Mr. Rajapaksa's picture behind bars splashed in the media as though he was a price catch for some unprincipled bloodhounds instead of a war hero just as much as Sarath Fonseka was a war hero. Two wrongs don't make a right. Even the halls of justice can exercise its powers and obligations in a manner that is ennobling and not emasculating, not unless we as a nation have forgotten what it is, in the words of Jesus Christ, to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Justice, can always in such a case be, as it must, the mere dispensation of a penalty under law instead of making it look like a lynch-party baying for blood as savages of ancient times did.

This, one feels, is what the President was getting at and not, as the JO and others suggested, an attempt by him to interfere in the processes of the law.

Premier Wickremesinghe would be the first to acknowledge that fact and unlike in the Mahendran affair, to his credit he did not try to influence events in even a subtle manner aimed at retaining Dilrukshi Wickramasinghe in her position.

Looking at this in the correct perspective it would appear that the government remains steady, much to the chagrin of the JO and its other critics.

The government, now, seems well set to last the five-year distance. It's well set for no other reason other than the fact that the President and Prime Minster and those of sound mind who back them to the hilt, know that the government's even handed non-aligned foreign policy is the only way out for the country to seriously plan a phased-out economic revival. Its foreign policy ensures good relations with all governments and this was quietly underscored when Sirisena at the BRICS-BIMSTEC Summit in Goa received from Russian President Vladimir Putin as a warm welcome as he did from Obama earlier this year. That Sirisena and Indian Premier Modi are on the same track can augur well for South Asia now that SAARC can be considered (some won't agree) a non-starter. This does not mean that Pakistan cannot play a still more meaningful role in the region as a more vital member of BIMSTEC, which indeed can prove a more conducive element in working out a solution to Kashmir.

Perhaps Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay was more pessimistic than he meant to be when he said, "Let's not bury SAARC yet". He could not have been wanting to sound SAARCastic!

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.

The Island Editorial

‘Always Breakdown’

19 October 2016

 

The Norochcholai coal-fired power plant seems to be jinxed. It has broken down umpteen times since the commissioning of its first unit in 2011. It used to fail at such a nagging rate that cynics coined the sobriquet, ‘Always Breakdown’; it has since lived up to its reputation! It failed again the other day.

What really irks the public is not the frequent Norochcholai shutdowns or the attendant power cuts as such but the failure on the part of Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) experts to find out the real causes of the shutdowns and rectify them. Politicians and CEB experts grope in the dark like the proverbial blind men who sought to figure out the shape of an elephant by touching different parts of the animal and drew ridiculous conclusions. The same goes for other power failures A few moons ago we experienced a countrywide power outage which lasted for hours; different reasons were given for it and even the army was deployed to guard the CEB grid substations as sabotage was not ruled out.

As for the latest Norochcholai shutdown, initially the CEB decided to impose three-and-a-half-hour power cuts, but subsequently reduced the duration to one-and-a-half hours following an undertaking by the Mahaweli Authority to release more water from its reservoirs to generate electricity. The country is again at the mercy of the weather gods.

Unless it rains sufficiently in the catchment areas within the next few days, we will have to contend with longer power cuts which are bound to have a devastating impact on the economy which is already in a very bad shape. The government is desperate for foreign investment which alone can give a turbo boost to the ailing economy, but the question is whether any foreigner will ever want to invest in this country without a reliable power supply.

Independent power and energy experts have, through the pages of this newspaper, warned that unless the proposed Sampur coal-fired power plant is built fast, power cuts will be the order of the day before long. But, it is doubtful whether the situation will improve at all if we are to be burdened with another plant like the one at Norochcholai. In such an eventuality, we will have enough coal power plants but not an uninterrupted power supply!

The government has embarked on an ambitious project to provide electricity to everyone. Perhaps, it will have to launch another scheme called ‘Generators for all’.

In August, 2012, we quoted the then CEB Chairman Anura Wijepala as saying that the China Machinery Engineering Corporation, which built Norochcholai plant had used substandard equipment and some parts of the power station were already corroded. Pointing out that the plant had not been designed for installation in a coastal environment, he categorically stated that the quality of Norochcholai equipment was nowhere near that of Japanese or European products. The CEB chief said some companies like the Colombo Dockyard would have to be contracted to remove the Norochcholai rust.

Commenting on the CEB Chairman’s revelation, we editorially asked, on August 10, 2012, what the CEB experts had been doing while the low quality equipment was being installed at Norochcholai. Arguing that the Chinese contractor would not have been able to install substandard equipment and get away with it without the blessings of the bigwigs of the Rajapaksa government we called for a probe. Pointing out that the country could not depend on the Norochcholai plant for a reliable power supply, we urged the then UNP-led Opposition to demand a parliamentary debate on ‘Always Breakdown’.

The incumbent UNP-led administration is busy probing even those who misused one or two state-owned vehicles each under the previous government. Why doesn’t it conduct an investigation into Wijepala’s allegation in a bid to find out whether anyone lined his pockets at the expense of the quality of Norochcholai equipment? If it orders a probe it may be able to remedy the Norochcholai ills and catch the rogues who allegedly received kickbacks. Two birds are waiting to be killed with one stone!