Ceylon Today Editorial

CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISSION
29 December 2016

 

COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti's call for a politically independent Criminal Justice Commission to be set up to exclusively hear the Central Bank Bond Scam would on the surface seem to be a desperate cry for transparency in the administration of justice, an issue that has been at the core of this government being voted into power by admirably reformist elements in civil society, an issue that featured high on the reformist agenda of the forces which voted this government into power.

Accountability and transparency have been the dual cry in the revolution that made its mark on 8 January 2015 and with the second anniversary of this government being voted into power just around the corner, Handunnetti's cry can be seen as being simply an echo of the sentiments which moved the masses to vote for Maithripala Sirisena as well as for the UNP at the last General Election.

In that sense, Handunnetti's appeal is an echo of the appeal made by those electors for a very specific mandate, now articulated by him in concise terms, demanding that that mandate be honoured by appointing an independent Criminal Justice Commission that's also seen to be acting independently as laid down by law and without fear or favour.

But what this in reality means is that Handunnetti is in effect telling us that COPE and the Attorney General's Department are de facto public 'eye-wash' institutions whose findings and learned opinions are not worth the paper they are printed on.

What is worrying is that we need to take a serious look at not just COPE but other government institutions as well which could also be as emasculated as COPE and the Attorney General's Department are in furthering the cause of transparency and integrity in the dispensation of justice. Besides Handunnetti, the Attorney General had also had occasion to make at least oblique reference to the fact that all's not well with the dispensation of the law. This issue has been raised in connection with several cases handled by the Police and sundry commissions. What's more is that the President of the country himself lashed out in public about foot-dragging by these probe commissions and agencies including the Police especially in connection with cases of big time fraud, embezzlement, murders, abductions and the like.

If a COPE report is only as deserving as a missive to be treated with disdain and even derision, we must then ask why this committee was ever set up. What then happens, when the course of the dispensation of justice seems to be apprehended en route and detoured in a way that could negate the whole exercise of the machinery of justice? The peculiar...and as far as the government is concerned – peculiar factor here, is that pro-government civil society activists have opted to lapse into silence. But they will not be silent when the Local Government elections come around and the government will then rue the day it opted to try to sweep COPE and Auditor General's reports under the carpet. This is a copy book throw back to the days of State control under the Rajapaksa regime or at least appears to be so.

All of Sri Lanka has been thirsting for a return to morality in life and politics, in business and religion. But those promised streets of Shangri La would now appear to have metamorphosed into a dystopian nightmare.

Investigations by the CIABOC and other State investigative commissions and agencies have come in for censure at the highest levels with President Sirisena himself questioning their efficacy and the inordinate delays in pushing any cases through to successful prosecution. That foot-dragging persists and not a single shark has been netted. Why? What defence do these commissions and the Police have? Murder cases with all the proof at hand are being indefinitely dragged on and on despite adequate evidence for prosecutions, citing flimsy technical matters which can be proved within hours. The sooner the government sets up an independent Criminal Justice Commission to take on every case of fraud and corruption the better.

The ugly in-fighting the nation witnessed between pro-UNP elements in COPE against pro-Truth elements in COPE was proof that there's many a plank shoved between the spokes of the wheels of justice...and not by the Opposition! Handunnetti needs to come clean, and tell the nation, what is it that really ails COPE? He's got to throw in the towel and go public with the truth about why COPE has floundered.

If he is privy to any pressure being brought to bear on the Attorney General's Department in this, he is then under grave obligation to come clean on exactly what's happening within COPE.
Calling for this and that commission alone will not suffice.

Daily News Editorial

Tackling influenza

29 December 2016

Sri Lanka has been relatively ‘immune’ from some of the dreaded diseases such as Ebola, Zika and Avian Flu which had affected certain other parts of the world recently, thanks mainly to tight screening and the efficiency of our free healthcare system. However, one cannot expect an island such as ours to be perpetually free of these pathogens. In fact, the first death caused by the influenza virus in Sri Lanka in recent times was reported from Polonnaruwa on December 26 afternoon.

The victim has been identified as D.G. Kanchana, 20, a mother of one from Aluthwewa, Polonnaruwa New Town. She had contracted the disease at child birth and was being treated at the hospital’s ICU. Although President Maithripala Sirisena dispatched a team of specialist doctors and equipment by air from the Karapitiya Hospital to Polonnaruwa to help save her life, the patient died at around 1.30 p.m. on December 26 before the special team arrived in Polonnaruwa. Doctors said death had been caused due to a complication resulting from excessive water accumulation in the lungs.

This is a very sad episode, for Kanchana, just 20, had a very bright future ahead of her. Her life was cut short by a dreaded disease that had made inroads into several other parts of the world. It is a variety of sometimes deadly influenza and young adults like Kanchana are said to be particularly vulnerable to the disease. There are several varieties of influenza that has emerged over the years. Influenza A/Swine Flu (H1N1) virus emerged in 2009. It is a new variety that has never before circulated among humans. This virus is not closely related to previous or current human seasonal influenza viruses.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes it as an acute respiratory infection of varying severity, ranging from asymptomatic infection to fatal disease. Respiratory transmission occurs mainly by droplets disseminated by unprotected coughs and sneezes. Short-distance airborne transmission of influenza viruses may occur, particularly in crowded enclosed spaces.

Typical influenza symptoms include fever with abrupt onset, chills, sore throat, non-productive cough and, often accompanied by headache, coryza, myalgia and prostration. Complications of influenza viral infection include: primary influenza viral pneumonitis and bacterial pneumonia. Influenza A (H1N1) is similar to seasonal influenza but has been characterized by higher activity during the northern summer season, higher fatality rates among healthy young adults and higher incidence of viral pneumonia. Influenza occurs all over the world, with an annual global attack rate estimated at 5–10% in adults and 20–30% in children.

There is one factor that makes it almost impossible to stop pathogens from spreading – international travel. The emergence of Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) around the world means that travel has become affordable to many people with mid-level incomes. There is a general trend of airfares going down and once exotic destinations such as South America are now easily accessible from Asia with direct flights. Africa too has opened up in recent years. With nearly two billion people travelling around the world in a given year, it is a miracle that we are not actually seeing more diseases.

The answer, then, is better screening at airports (for example, travellers coming from South America have to report to the health desk at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo) and vaccination (where available and feasible) before travelling. Many airports now have thermal scanners which can measure the body temperature of travellers from a distance. These passengers are then referred to the medical facilities at the airports for further tests. This makes it easier to identify and isolate potential disease carrying travellers.

The other option - vaccination, is even more beneficial. There are both inactivated and live attenuated influenza vaccines available for many varieties of influenza including H1N1. Travellers heading to a known influenza regions can get this shot. However, the vaccine may not be 100 percent effective in all cases because the viruses keep changing and evolving. The general rate of effectiveness is around 60 percent, which is better than having no protection at all. But travellers in particular have to make sure that they receive the vaccine weeks before the intended date of travel because it can take up to 12 weeks for the body to produce enough antibodies to give maximum protection.

Prevention, they say, is better than cure and H1N1 influenza is no exception, though it can be very difficult to avoid from airborne respiratory diseases. The WHO advises the public to “whenever possible, avoid crowded enclosed spaces and close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections. Frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill persons or their environment, may reduce the risk of acquiring illness. Ill persons should be encouraged to practice cough etiquette (maintain distance, cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or clothing, wash hands)”. It is better to seek medical advice if you experience any of the symptoms mentioned above for a couple of days or more. Any delay could prove to be fatal. We must not give these diseases a chance to take over our lives.

The Island Editorial

Saffron bombshell

29 December 2016

JHU Spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe has dropped a bombshell. He has gone on record as saying that some government politicians received as much as USD 100 mn in kickbacks from the Hambantota Port deal. He says his party will make a formal complaint to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

The JHU, weeks before the last general election, broke ranks with the Rajapaksa government, which it condemned as a corrupt regime, and joined forces with the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition, promising to usher in good governance. Now, the Saffron party tells us that the self-proclaimed messiahs are also corrupt to the core! It has, however, made no revelation as such. That the current administration is not a collective of paragons of virtue is only too well known.

JHU leaders contested the last general election on the UNP ticket; some of them were elected to Parliament and appointed Cabinet of ministers. So, technically, the serious allegation the JHU has levelled against the UNP-led government is tantamount to self-criticism.

The JHU emerged as a political force by eating into the support bases of the UNP and the SLFP mostly in the urban areas. It is faced with the daunting challenge of shoring up its crumbling image and retaining its identity and vote bank, on which political marriages of convenience have had a deleterious effect. It, therefore, has to offer itself as an alternative to both main parties by being critical of them.

However, now that the JHU has realised its yahapalana gods have feet of clay and begun to flay them in public it ought to tell the public what it intends to do next? Will it continue to shack up with the corrupt or vote with its feet the way it did towards the tail end of the UPFA government? It is no use going about telling the public what is already known to one and all. What is needed is action and not rhetoric.

The JHU has to name the bribe takers if it has irrefutable evidence that the Chinese have greased the palms of some government politicians to secure the control of the Hambantota port and acquire a vast extent of land adjacent thereto. It did not baulk at naming names when it took on the Rajapaksa government, did it?

The case against the former regime was heard in the People’s Court, whose ruling went against the Rajapaksas. The same court has been moved against the current administration and its ruling will be known at the next election. Hence, the incumbent leaders’ polls phobia! However, they cannot go on postponing elections till the cows come home as public resentment is welling up rapidly. The longer people’s franchise is suppressed the higher the political risk a government runs. The devastating electoral knuckle sandwich suffered by United Front government in 1977, having postponed elections by two years arbitrarily, may serve as an example.

Somebody had to pay for bribery, corruption and abuse of power which characterised the last government; it was President Rajapaksa who did so. He lost his presidency and the SLFP-led UPFA administration crashed immediately afterwards. Rajapaksa took the credit for the country’s successful war against terrorism because he had provided unwavering political leadership to the armed forces, the police and the Civil Defence Force. Similarly, he was expected to take the blame for his government’s wrongdoings, which were legion.

Likewise, it is inevitable that President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be held responsible for the malpractices of their joint administration including alleged corruption involving the Hambantota Port deal. They cannot afford to ignore a damning allegation one of their partners in governance has made. They are left with no alternative but to order a through probe into the Hambantota kickback scam. Let the CIABOC, the CID and the FCID be ordered to conduct probes into the JHU’s allegation.