Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has continued to have only one elected government though different political parties wielded power at different times.
The only challenge to their writ in two and half decades came from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which claimed they had their own "Government" in the North and wanted to set up one in the East.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who gave political leadership to the military campaign, routed the Tiger guerrillas in May last year. Since then, the UPFA Government's writ runs in every nook and corner of the country. The message that there is only one Government with one voice is clear not only to Sri Lankans but also to the world outside.
Yet, two learned professors, whose main responsibility, judging by the positions they hold, is to keep the public informed correctly of developments in Sri Lanka, devoid of disinformation and misinformation, spoke in two different voices last Sunday. A transparently shoddy attempt to hide the truth and prove last week's front-page lead story in the Sunday Times wrong united them. One was to suggest it would help Tiger guerrilla lobbyists abroad, a hackneyed line of attack when media reports are not to their liking. The other entertained fears, based on fiction than facts, that it would give a different message to the conflict affected people in the North and East. The Sunday Times today exposes why their amateur efforts failed.
The duo issued two different statements on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, each giving different interpretations. Rupavahini, ITN, the state-run television networks, SLBC radio and the Daily News were among those which gave prime airtime or front-page prominence to these gross untruths dished out by them. Last Wednesday, the Daily News had to even publish on its front page what it called a "corrections and clarifications" over errors in its own report.
The first response came from Professor Ariyaratne Athugala, Director General of the Government Department of Information. The news.lk, the official website his department runs had the following to say last Sunday morning:
"The Government has not imposed any restriction whatsoever on the ongoing development projects being carried out in the northern or eastern provinces. There are larger volumes of development projects with local and international funding carried out in the two provinces to uplift the livelihood of the people of the area.
"Government vehemently denies the report published in a section of the media headlined Basil stops donor- funded new buildings in north east. The news item concerned was far from the truth and it contained several inaccuracies.
"In-fact Economic Development Minister who is overseeing large number of projects has taken the steps to accelerate the implementation of projects that are needed for the well being of the people and there was no need for the government to stop any project in the north and the east.
"It is very unfortunate that this particular news item has been published by a leading English weekly paper as its lead story at a time when the pro-LTTE lobbyists overseas were trying to portray a negative image on the post-conflict developments in the country.
"The particular news item also cast aspersion about the construction of 50,000 houses by the Government of India.
"The government wishes to say categorically that there are no restrictions on any of the ongoing project inclusive of this Indian aided housing project but on the contrary the government has already taken the speedy action to facilitate the construction of 50,000 housing units by the government of India for the people in the north and the east.
"Even before the terrorism was defeated the government had identified the needs of the area for infrastructure development and accordingly the donor funding was sought for identified projects and it is these projects that are being implemented in those areas. Hence, the government has no reasons to impose restrictions on any of these ongoing projects."
The second statement came from Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara, Director General (Development and Communication) of the Ministry of Economic Development last Sunday. This is what he says:
"This statement has reference to the headline in today's (2010.12.19) Sunday Times under the title "Basil stops donor funded new buildings in North and East".
This statement is totally incorrect and misleading and will give entirely different message to international lending institutions such as World Bank, ADB and JICA etc and conflict affected people in North and East.
"The circular issued by the Ministry has not given any reference to Houses as there is no intension (sic) to stop or curtail any on-going or new housing projects in north and east. Therefore this does not apply to on-going 50,000 housing project by government of Sri Lanka utilizing a loan provided by the World Bank and proposed housing project donated by Government of India which also consists of construction of 5000 new houses and repair of 45000 houses.
"Most of the rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in North and East are being implemented utilizing the loan funds made available to Government by lending organizations such as World Bank, ADB and JICA and these are not donations and required to pay back with interest.
Therefore Government of Sri Lanka has to ensure this money is used more effectively for the benefit of conflict affected population in Sri Lanka.
"These loan funds are used to re-construct much needed infrastructure such as irrigation tanks including some major irrigation tanks such as Giants Tank, Akathimurruppu and Akkarayankulam, provincial and rural roads, power supply, water supply projects, reconstruction of damage schools hospitals, MPCS buildings, fertilizer and paddy stores and community level projects to promote agriculture, livestock, fisheries and cottage industries to support livelihood.
"At present several hundreds of partly damage (sic) buildings in North and repair of these buildings is an urgent need to strengthen civil administration in North. But there were some instances where new building construction have been undertaken without giving preference to reconstruction of damage buildings.
Therefore the circular instruction was to give priority to reconstruction of damage (sic) buildings in North and East in future projects over construction of new buildings. But on-going new building projects shall not be affected due to the above decision."
However, The Sunday Times has this to say. We stand by the story in its entirety. It is, factually accurate in every detail. The box story on this page, is the circular issued by Nihal Somaweera, Additional Secretary/Regional Development (on behalf of the Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Development) and it confirms Minister Basil Rajapaksa did in fact give the order contained in the story in the Sunday Times last week. That is further proof of the accuracy of the news report. Also published on this page is the list of Ministries, state and foreign agencies to which copies were distributed. That includes the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Co-operation Agency.
Evidently, the two professors have not read the circular nor the Sunday Times report properly. They seem to have merely rushed to draft a retraction on 'orders received'. If indeed they did read the story properly, they have failed to understand the contents. This is why Professor Athugala says, the government has "imposed no restrictions whatsoever". He then gets carried away and adds that it was "published by a leading English weekly paper as its lead story at a time when the pro-LTTE lobbyists overseas were trying to portray a negative image on the post-conflict developments in the country." He also claims that the Sunday Times has "cast aspersions" on the construction of 50,000 houses by India. Obviously, he does not understand what "aspersion" means. In trying to deny a factual account, where he is unable to explain where it is wrong, he is unable to hide the obvious embarrassment caused by the circular and not by our report.
It is therefore his own assertions and accusations, to hide the truth, that could easily further the interests of the so-called LTTE lobbyists. The long distribution list stands testimony to the number of Ministries, international organisations and local agencies which became privy to Minister Basil Rajapaksa's directive. When there indeed is a restriction, how can he claim there is none? If one is to go by Prof. Athugala's logic, then what the senior official of the Ministry of Economic Development has said quoting Minister Rajapaksa in a circular is false. His professorial colleague has, however, contradicted Prof. Athugala and accepted that there indeed is a circular.
Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara says, (sic) "The circular issued by the Ministry has not given any reference to Houses as there is no intention to stop or curtail any on-going or new housing projects in north and east"
His claim that "there is no intention to stop or curtail" is made only after the circular was issued. It is after Minister Rajapaksa has directed that "no new buildings should be constructed." Nowhere in the Sunday Times report do we say that the circular (please see full text in box story on this page) refers to curtailment of construction of houses. If he reads the report, he would realise that we have raised issue over what is clearly an uncertainty over the houses by saying "……It is not immediately clear whether the construction of 50,000 houses by the Government of India - to be carried out on a financial grant from New Delhi - will be affected by this decision." A doubt over this arose after the circular was issued. The circular has quite clearly not exempted the construction of houses.
It merely says "no new buildings" be constructed with donor funded "loan and/or grant" projects. To any reasonably prudent reader, houses are buildings. The circular has thus created a serious doubt whether the directive covered houses, a matter of interest to the beneficiaries and their next of kin, who, as the professor admits, are "conflict affected people." Thus, it was a matter of public interest not to mention the donor countries and international agencies too.
Prof. Madduma Bandara's claim is not only untrue but can, contrary to his own assertions, be misleading and will give an entirely different message to international lending institutions such as World Bank, ADB and JICA etc, conflict affected people in North and East and Sri Lankans at large. The circular copied to the international agencies (please see below story), the Sunday Times is aware, caused concerns for them too.
Some are still unclear whether their assistance for infrastructure development, which involves construction of new buildings, would now have to be abandoned. They are to seek a categorical clarification from the Government.
When two voices instead of one, backed by those with little choice but to spread untruths indulge in a campaign, the Government's credibility suffers. This is why discerning sections of the public find most official assertions hard to believe and difficult to swallow. The correct message seldom or never reaches out. Not even when they are disseminated by learned professors. It is worse when they fail miserably to make truths into untruths or simply utter lies.
Here is the clear-cut directive
Nihal Somaweera, Additional Secretary/Regional Development sent out the following circular on behalf of the Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa on December 9, 2010. Besides those listed in this circular, an attachment (see facsimile on this page) contains the Ministries and agencies to which it was distributed.
"Special Ministerial Directive with regard to the Construction of Buildings in the North and East"
The Minister of Economic Development, Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, has instructed that no new buildings should be constructed under the donor-funded loan and/or grant projects being implemented under the purview of the Ministry of Economic Development, in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. He has further indicated that projects should give priority to the renovation/reconstruction of existing buildings over the construction of new buildings, in the North and the East.
The above directive will not be applicable in the case of the construction of storage facilities/warehouse facilities for storing paddy and other crops, for which purpose concurrence will be granted by the Secretary/Economic Development on a case by case basis. If there is a special need for the construction of new buildings other than storage facilities, under exceptional circumstances, the prior concurrence of Secretary/Economic Development should be sought by the relevant Ministry/institution.
You are kindly requested to take special note of the above directive with regard to the implementation of projects coming under the purview of the Ministry of Economic Development in the North and the East. (This letter is addressed to several line Ministries/agencies considering their association with the implementation of certain projects coming under the purview of the Ministry of Economic Development).
Your kind attention is also drawn to the need for all sub-project components of projects to be approved by the relevant District Co-ordinating Committee (DCCs) at their regular Meetings, prior to implementation, as per existing regulations governing the management of projects.
Sgd. Nihal Somaweera
Copies: Addl. Secretary/Regional Development
for Secretary / Economic Development
Copies: Hon. Governor, Northern Province
Hon. Governor, Eastern Province
Director General - Department of External Resources
Director General - Department of National Budget
Director General - Department of Foreign Aid & Budget Monitoring
Country Director - World Bank
Country Director - Asian Development Bank
Chief Representative - Japan International Co-operation Agency
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