The people of Sri Lanka have taken note that the incidence of accumulation of power concentrated amongst a close-knit group has seen steady growth. That this is to the detriment of the people has been of concern but the generous attitude of the citizenry have failed thus far to arrest the situation. Since 1948 when the country received independence nothing has bothered the country more than terrorism and corruption. President Rajapaksa and his crew sorted that out even if sections of the international community especially from the so-called decadent west, remain skeptical as to the methodology used – or in plain speak remain concerned that the course of action taken by the armed forces ran contrary to international covenants.
The other of course has been corruption. It is said that corruption is endemic even today – despite the fact that the current government led in part by President Sirisena with his ally Ranil Wickremesinghe, came into power on a bandwagon of good governance assurances if not undertakings.
The root cause lies incongruously enough, at the home of democracy, a.k.a. the parliament of Sri Lanka. All 225 members seek election from time to time by going to the polls (although a few seats are reserved for nominees on the so-called ‘national list’). Each election has been more expensive than the previous year.
The absence of any mechanism to monitor and control the incidence of making political donations has gradually led to an almost alarming increase in the incidence of corruption. Government Ministers as well as bureaucrats have been continuously exposed for having various transgressions and departures from established process and procedures. In almost all of the instances the direct impact has been on the public purse. Classically the favoured few have benefitted at the expense of the long suffering many.
Alarmingly using agents and nominees foreign individuals and companies have been known to provide funding to political parties and not always for pure commercial gain. Some funding has been known to have political agendas attached. During the so-called ‘52’ day period the nation was treated to diplomats making a steady stream to Temple Trees and to the special gallery in parliament – even when the gallery was closed to all others including the people that the parliament is supposedly representing.
Agents and nominees have been known to make cash donations at times in easily convertible foreign exchange during (mainly) election periods. It is almost as though to make eventually compromising donations to Ministers, State Ministers and Bureaucrats under the guise of political campaign donations is ‘quite normal’.
Unfortunately Sri Lanka remains one of the few countries in this region that does not have laws to control political financing and other laws like those to control Bribery for instance, is implemented to catch the so-called small fry or sprats. A glaring recent example would be the case of a Policeman who was given a stiff custodial sentence of eight years for accepting a bribe of RS 5,000.
If any government is serious about tackling corruption it is abundantly clear that stiff rules with stricter implementation must be introduced with the least delay. A state Minister recently declared that it was his hope that Campaign Financing laws be introduced as a matter of urgency given that within a year at least three different types of election will be taking place.
At the risk of appearing to be championing defeatism we aver that the introduction of Campaign Finance laws will not take on the same seriousness that the ruling party displayed in terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
The country at large will harbor real hopes that the 225 members in parliament will display some conscience and work towards introducing Campaign Finance laws ahead of the next set of planned elections.
A sure indication of their resolve and commitment towards a sustainable and robust democracy would be for the rest of the parliamentarians – 218 – to publicly make available their Asset declarations following the example of the ‘famous seven’ who have already done so.
Politicians in this country display an uncanny penchant for hankering after best practices from neighboring nations as well as those from further afield. Upon their return to these shores however their new found resolve and commitment to implement valuable changes in their own country is sadly and significantly missing. This of course leads to cries of partiality and the favorite punching bag remains the private media.
Singapore is a classic example. Politicians and their favoured associates make a beeline to Singapore for almost everything: from Botox treatments to cardiac treatment to visiting with their private bankers and advisers who wax eloquent to their private high net worth clientele.
Yet these same influencers and legislators have made no real attempt to change the general outlook in Sri Lanka – the land of their birth – and appear to be nonchalant when it comes to addressing corruption.
Given that Sri Lanka’s political establishment is arguably the largest laundry in the country the people have a legitimate expectation that those they elected to deliver good governance will take logical and significant steps to eradicating anonymous political financing.
It is time that Sri Lanka and its legislative arm, ups the ante and buckle down to drafting important laws that will address the scourge of a progressive society: corruption.
There can be no better place to start than in parliament.
