The Political Column

18th March 2001

Batty's lone battle against corruption

By our Political Correspondent
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Bribery and corruption have been a perennial problem not only in Sri Lanka but also the world over as this week's Indian case that forced the defence minister to resign shows.Minister Batty Weerakoon: drops bombshell in House

In Sri Lanka, no government has so far been able to come up with an effective method to stem the rot largely because of the alleged involvement of lawmakers themselves.

It is alleged that many politicians are hand in glove with big businessmen who are plundering public money and misleading the government authority. An exasperated Minister Batty Weerakoon last week let loose his frustration at the state of affairs when he attacked corrupt politicians and officials who were maintaining an unholy nexus with arms dealers and unscrupulous businessmen.

That a minister had admitted that there had been corruption at the highest administrative level involving military dealings is indeed a sad indictment on the government, however much it crows about transparency.

When opposition members asked him whether these corrupt officials included presidential secretary Kusumsiri Balapatabendi or Defence Secretary Chandrananda de Silva, Mr. Weerakoon said no. But he hinted at the involvement of another high-ranking official. The minister lamented that the Bribery and Corruption Commission was not working effectively though it had wide powers.

Bribery and corruption were also the topic of discussion at a recent high-level PA meeting where Weerakoon and Communist Party's top-notch D.E.W. Gunasekera expressed serious concern over these social evils.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga who gave a patient hearing to the matters raised by the duo, directed Minister Weerakoon to find out what amendments should be effected to the Bribery and Corruption Law if they felt its provisions were inadequate to deal with the situation. 

The socialist minister got into action soon and summoned Attorney-General K. C. Kamalasabayson and Bribery Commission Director General Rienzie Arsecularatne for a discussion at his ministry.

The two officials told the minister that they had completed investigations on a public official and would file charges against him shortly. But the Minister observed that the commission was not doing much to net big sharks. 

In parliament this week, Mr. Weerakoon said that a diplomat had told him that no arms deal was clean in this country. It is learnt that the diplomat concerned was Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka but it was not too clear whether the minister was referring to the present high commissioner.

The Vajpayee government is facing its worst crisis over an arms bribery scandal after journalists who posed off as arms dealers filmed a top BJP official accepting money to push a deal. The Bofors gun deal was another scandal that shocked India. 

Though corruption in Sri Lankans is not on the scale of Bofors, we cannot dismiss allegations that some top military officials accumulated wealth, which they could not account for. The main problem is the inadequacy of the Sri Lankan law to deal with corruption.

Minister Weerakoon who holds the justice portfolio now contemplates amendments to the Bribery Act with the aim of confiscating wealth accumulated through illegal means. It is no secret that arms dealers and politicians who get commissions do not want this war to end. They must be ever grateful to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and who knows some of these people must be funding the LTTE as well to keep the war machine going. In the end it is the ordinary masses who suffer and who had to pay through their noses for everything they buy, for every consumer item is subject to a defence tax.

Latest statistics and economic indicators show that at least 2.1 million families are below the poverty line - an unprecedented figure in terms of Sri Lankan standards. 

Besides war and corruption, another topic that keeps Sri Lankans occupied is cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka is once again making news with the election to this prestigious body to be held in late this month.

The nominations closed last week and with it ended speculation about Speaker Anura Bandaranaike's entry into the fray to contest the board presidency.

The incumbent President Thilanga Sumathipala, who is running for a third term, will be pitted against a weak candidate, Sumith Perera from Badureliya Sports Club. But cricket sources believe Mr. Perera would withdraw his candidacy before the contest because his canvassing power is no match to that of Mr. Sumathipala..

Earlier Upali Dharmadasa, a one-time president, and his brother Jayantha wanted Mr. Bandaranaike to contest the post which had in the past been held by illustrious personalities such as J.R. Jayewardene, Gamini Dissanayake, N. M. Perera and Robert Senanayake.

Mr. Bandaranaike who apparently wanted to be ranked among these personalities consulted his school day friend, Sports Minister Lakshman Kiriella. The sports law stipulates that an incumbent president could run for a third term only if he had the consent of the minister.

Mr. Kiriella reportedly told Mr. Bandaranaike not to run for the board presidency as the post of Speaker he holds is number three in the order of protocol. "Try to climb up the ladder" was Kiriella's advice.

"Even if I do not issue the letter of consent, Mr. Sumathipala would field one of his men and defeat you out at the election," Mr. Kiriella is reported to have told Mr. Bandaranaike.

Even if Mr. Sumathipala does not contest, he will still be an ex-officio member in the Executive Committee as the past President of the BCCSL.

Another cricket-related controversy is the standard of umpiring in the current Sri Lanka-England Test series and the behaviour of some players.

Sri Lankans are also complaining about the one-sided commentaries by English commentators who have been assigned by the World's Sport Group. Though Ranjith Fernando is the only Sri Lankan in the panel of commentators, he was unable to put his points across other than agreeing with what the white sahibs were saying on television and radio. 

Sri Lankans were also questioning about the fairness of match referee Hanumant Singh. Mr. Singh who imposed a tough four-match suspended sentence on Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya for expressing dissent over an umpiring decision, was lenient on Mike Atherton and Robert Croft. Atherton was involved in a finger-wagging conversation with the umpire while Croft is said to have broken a glass pane in the Galle stadium though the latter incident was hushed up.

Meanwhile, the 25-day Satyagraha in the plantation sector ended on Thursday with a compromise formula. Plantations trade unions had demanded a basic salary of Rs. 121 a day and a special Rs. 400 cost of living allowance. 

The Ceylon Workers' Congress which spearheaded the campaign was strongly backed by rival unions of P. Chandrasekeran's Up-Country People's Front union and the Ceylon Workers' Alliance led by S. Sathasivam. Though it appears to be a struggle by the estate plantation workers, there is definitely a political flavour to the whole affair. 

Mr. Sathasivam and Chandrasekeran have both joined the main opposition UNP. Minister and CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman sent a letter to the Commissioner General of Labour repudiating the collective agreement between the estate workers and the Employers Federation of Ceylon. The letter dated March 8 states: 

"We are attaching hereto form 'A' under the Industrial Disputes Act No. 43 of 1950 Regulation (3) and the form duly completed for your kind attention to affect the repudiation of the collective agreement No. 9 of 2000 between the Employers Federation of Ceylon on the one hand the Ceylon Workers' Congress, the Lanka Jathika Estates Workers' Union and Joint Plantations Trade Union Centre on the other, concluded on the 20th June of 2000. Your early action in this regard would be gratefully appreciated."

At the meeting of PA leaders, President Kumaratunga was urged to intervene in the estate crisis and settle it. The President, however, entrusted Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to tackle the crisis. But Mr. Wickremanayake was to be in Pakistan on an official visit. Thus the matter fell on Labour Minister Alavi Moulana whose efforts seemed to produce little success.

Developments during the past week added much fuel to the estate crisis. Minister S. B. Dissanayake who got through to CWC officials in Hatton asked them to call off the protest campaign because it would affect the country's economy. CWC parliamentarian M. Marimuttu who answered the phone told the Minister that the government had apparently deserted them in their fight against the employers and asked whether the PA wanted them only for elections.

But Mr. Dissanayake said he did not want to listen to him and wanted to talk to Mr. Thondaman. Later, Mr. Dissanayake managed to get through to Mr. Thondaman and told him to accept Rs. 5 per day increase and settle the matter. Mr. Thondaman asked whether it was worthwhile to do so after staging a satyagraha for almost 20 odd days. A heated exchange of words followed.

An apparently agitated Mr. Dissanayake told Mr. Thondaman that the workers would not even get that if the struggle continues any longer. Mr. Thondaman shot back saying he knew how to deal with employers. Mr. Dissanayake's reply was "Try if you can". Mr. Arumugam then dropped the bombshell saying he would quit the government. 

An angry Mr. Dissanayake told Minister Arumugam he could go ahead and resign and that they would appoint someone else in his place. Mr. Arumugam too was angry when he heard these words from Mr. Dissanayake and replied, "We will see how everything would take place."

Having learnt about the heated argument between the two ministers, Minister Mangala Samaraweera invited Mr. Thondaman to his Colombo residence for talks. When Mr. Thondaman narrated the verbal duel with Mr. Dissanayake, Mr. Samaraweera pacified him saying that Mr. Thondaman should not take Mr. Dissanayake's views as necessarily those of the entire government. 

He urged him not to leave the cabinet, but Mr. Thondaman told him the party had taken a collective decision to quit the government if things were not settled by Friday. 

Mr. Thondaman also met Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte who also said that Mr. Dissanayake had no say in the matter and advised Mr. Thondaman not to take him seriously. Minister Richard Pathirana also held the same view. P.A. General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne also intervened in the matter in a bid to bring about a settlement. He told Mr. Thondaman that Mr. Dissanayake could not take a decision on his own for the party and advised Mr. Thondaman to continue in the cabinet.

The plantations crisis was also discussed at the ministers' meeting at Temple Trees. At this meeting presided over by the Leader of the House Richard Pathirana, Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, Minister Alavi Moulana and several others called for an early settlement to the crisis. Minister Reggie Ranatunga said the matters should be settled before March 19, the day on which voting on budget will take place.

By then the Employers Federation had a series of meetings with trade union representatives at the Labour Ministry with Ministers Alavi Moulana, S. B. Dissanayake, Treasury Secretary P. B. Jayasundara and Presidential Secretary K. Balapatabendi, attending as mediators.

At one of these meetings there were near fisticuffs. Later Mr. Moulana got the two delegations into two separate rooms while the mediators discussed with each delegation separately on the issue.

In the meantime, Minister Dissanayake is reported to have met Mr. Thondaman in parliament and expressed regret for what took place a week ago. He reportedly told Minister Thondaman that the demands made by the plantation workers were reasonable and what he was trying to tell him was that such a struggle should not have been continued against the government at a time when the government was placed in a predicament.

While all this was happening, the planters also had a meeting with Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte. They claimed that the law and order situation in the estates was becoming worse and asked the minister to provide security for the management. The Minister told them had the plantation companies agreed to pay the Rs. 400 allowance, this situation could have been avoided.

The main opposition UNP, armed with the chairmanship of the parliamentary committee on public enterprises (COPE) is targeting several key institutions for scrutiny.

Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake in a letter to COPE Chairman John Amaratunga requested him to immediately summon a list of institutions before the COPE. The institutions mentioned are the Urban Development Authority, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the People's Bank and the Bank of Ceylon. 

Mr. Karunanayake pointed out that the President herself had stated that 40 percent of the ministers were corrupt, suggesting that ministries that come under them were corrupt as well. He asked why the President had not initiated any action if she knew there was corruption in the state sector.

In the opposition UNP problems are numerous. They appear to have shelved the plan to defeat the government at the second reading of the Budget on March 19.

The UNP's plan was to lure some of the PA members to vote against the budget, but now the UNP hierarchy is dragging its feet on the matter.

UNP's senior members are showing discontentment over the failure of the party top brass to pull out a segment from the PA to support the UNP.

The UNP was expecting that the CWC would pull out of the government and vote against the budget due to their differences over the estate crisis. But the government seems to have pre-empted UNP hopes.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, some UNP parliamentarians, prominent among them being A. H. M. Azwer, raised the query as to who was the constitutional head of the government in the absence of the President and the Prime Minister.

Mr. Bandarnaike was not in a hurry to claim that he was in charge. He patiently said let the constitution take its own course and put an end to the problem.

Mr. Bandaranaike had a successful tour of India where he attended a conference of South Asian Speakers. He met Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Congress Party Leader Sonia Gandhi. At the meeting with Mr. Vajpayee, both of them referred to the role of President Kumaratunga in the region. "There is no equal to her," Mr. Vajpayee said.

One could now interpret this in many ways. But many analysts concede her increasing political astuteness and that she will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.

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