Good governance is all about delivering results, says – President Rajapaksa
A powerful pro-election presentation by top government and private sector personalities led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Wednesday promised the business community a systematic approach to good governance while assuring that there are ‘no’ cagey deals in the way business has been conducted over the years.
The President addresses the gathering.
This business forum, themed “MOMENTUM – A Nation Stabilised, Progress Continued” was simultaneously held in four hotels in Colombo through new technology which saw the President and his brother, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa addressing the audience and extolling the achievements in security, economic and social development in the past five years.
Responding to criticism over the past few years about corruption in government business, the President said: “Projects being implemented on the ground and development completed so far was evidence of competence and good governance on the part of the Government. Achieving results is good governance. Not achieving results is corruption. Corporate governance is delivering results.” He was addressing a packed audience business community, with some applauding statements on good governance.
“Sri Lanka will soon exceed per capita earnings of US$4,000 by next year. Yes … the election year is when we will harvest part of the success in the previous five years. Is this a record that you do not wish to share and be a part of? The strategies of the Government have made you partners in this pattern of progress. All of you share in this progress and have a major role in seeing this develop in the future without diversion into uncertain areas of unknown, untried and untested political thinking and practice,” he said, making a case for his re-election which was the objective of the forum which was widely perceived as being organised by the pro-Rajapaksa business community
Panellists. Pix by Indika Handuwala
“The post-conflict focus remains one of creating a platform for rapid social development and economic growth. This included restoring democracy throughout the country while ensuring that peace, security and stability are guaranteed. The very conduct of this election for the presidency is proof of the vibrancy of the democracy which has been restored.”
He added that an essential part of this development is the transformation of the urban environment to create clean, green, people-friendly and healthy cities and urban locations that give a higher quality of life for Sri Lankans and which also provide a physically friendly environment for investment in addition to the government’s economic policies.
A panel including Lalith Weeratunga Permanent Secretary to the President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, Nivard Cabraal Governor Central Bank, and MAS Holdings Group Director Dian Gomes, Cargills Deputy Chairman/CEO Ranjit Page, Jetwing Chairman Hiran Cooray and Chevron Lubricants Managing Director Kishu Gomes took questions from the crowd.
“Governance is all about delivery. It’s is measured by the delivery of results. If the results are not what were expected then that is bad governance,” said Mr. Cabraal said, venturing into the burning issue that the Rajapaksa regime has been facing. “It can mean very different things to different people. People can criticise the decisions made regarding development but they then also need to understand the processes, both practical and legal, behind those decisions,” Mr. Weeratunga said, highlighting that all Government procurement has a transparent process.
Cagey deals
Recollecting four different agreements and treaties that had been decided upon in the past in secret without the public’s knowledge or approval and sometimes without presidential approval as well, namely the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987, the Ceasefire Agreement signed in 2002, the Interim Self-Governing Authority or ISGA that was proposed in October 2003 and the P-TOMS agreement signed after the 2004 tsunami, Mr. Weeratunga emphasised that President Rajapaksa has always made sure that the people know what he plans to do and that the President is decisive. “That is the way you do things in a democracy. In fact, I use the archives a lot and I often send people to find certain things for me and I have found four instances of when there were decisions made on which the public were not consulted, all during the regimes of previous governments.”
On the issue of transparency, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa noted that in the case of the Shangri-La hotels, it came on its own initiative. “When a proposal like Shangri-La comes to BOI they want land and come to the UDA to check availability of lands which is also available on the web. When a good investment proposal comes to the BOI – I don’t know how you can categorise that as an unsolicited proposal. Do we reject that proposal or do we say ‘No, wait we will advertise this.’ Through BOI, Shangri-La had said they would like land near Galle Face and UDA accommodated the request given the importance of Shangri-La investment,” Mr. Rajapaksa explained.
He spoke of an instance on how he had tackled a garbage issue within two weeks.
Mr. Page addressing the audience at the Galadari Hotel called on the business community to be more involved in this development process, adding that Sri Lanka has to be built and developed with institutions. “Institutions that are sustainable. Companies have a role to play in development and they must play that role,” he said.
Mr. Gomes noted that the biggest change and asset is the conclusion of the war. “We used to have to travel abroad to present and prove to various investors that our processes were ethical. We now have to be more productive and competitive. The challenges will come internally. For example, and this is just a possibility, people may now want to work in the leisure industry rather than in the apparel industry. If the tourism industry suddenly has a capacity of 7,000 jobs, then we need to make sure we have 7,000 people who want to work in the apparel industry because people may prefer to switch to working in the tourism industry instead.”