Columns

Glory be! Who would have thought this would happen. But then not too long ago someone did label Sri Lanka the Miracle of Asia. After all this is the time of year when Santa Claus is said to come round bearing gifts for the festive season which could hardly be festive if you have not collected a few cool millions out of a duty-free vehicle permit.

But there it was, as proud as an MP with an extra hundred thousand bucks monthly allowance that is meant to be gift-wrapped and handed over to the bride’s father or as a contribution to your close supporters so that they may enliven a 31st- night bajjau party with a dozen or so inebriating Dankotuwa home brew.

The news report I read that the powers-that-be and a few co-opted from the powers-that-were before they did the long jump straight into ministerial seats, would hold a national conference on how to deal with corruption in the country.

Since there are sundry accusations by the high and weighty against the media about distortion, misreporting and other such heinous crimes, the necessary precautions were to double check its veracity by searching for corroborative evidence from other sources, as we in this business say.

There it was in black and white. And in the state-owned media too! Having said that the National Anti-Corruption Conference will be held on December 9 under the patronage of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the report clarified its purpose thus: “the objective of the summit is to educate politicians, senior officers in the public and private sectors, other relevant parties and the general public to create a corruption-free society and to generate a discourse on eradicating bribes and corruption in the society.”

Because of time constraints this column had to be written before the conference started. But no doubt the news media would have carried the outcome of this “discourse” later that same day and over the weekend. So by now the public would be well aware of all the grandiose words and deeds that would magically as it were, soon transform this society into a land of milk and money.

Inspector-General of Police Pujith Jayasundara

There used to be an old saying, still very much in vogue one suspects, about setting a thief to catch a thief. One report cited the new director-general of CIABOC (the previous one having committed hara kiri of sorts by shedding her title and falling off her seat) saying that “all 225 members of parliament, members of Provincial Councils as well as senior government officials had been invited for Friday’s confab scheduled to be addressed by both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe”.

Seeing that the invitees are the 225 MPs, members of the provincial councils and senior public officials it shows what careful thought had gone into the selection of participants. One can off hand think of a few more categories which could surely have made a worthwhile-in not profitable-contribution to the national discussion given the kind of personal experience they would have had on the subject of bribery and corruption.

After all corruption takes so many forms including attempts to corrupt a system that offers, theoretically at least, equality before the law and often pretentious appeals for non-interference in the working of a system that forms the foundation of good governance.

But with modern technology in wide use today not even the privacy of a mobile phone conversation is safe from the ravenous snooping of the media as the head honcho of the police discovered the other day when he unexpectedly appeared on TV and has now acquired star billing.

Whether this was a highly devious attempt by advertisers to get some free publicity for their product visible in the palm of the long arm of the law is to be investigated, if the stories now in circulation are correct. It is understood that a six-man committee (gender discrimination again?) is to be appointed after the Christmas/New Year holidays to track down whoever is culpable for reportedly trying to influence and corrupt the police chief.

Whether this disgraceful episode which some speculate involves a minister would figure in the high-level discussions at the highly publicised national conference to rid this nation of bribery and corruption is, of course, not known at the time of writing.

I mean, how could any conference on the subject of corruption avoid mentioning this recorded happening where attempts were said to have been made to influence the police chief to take – or not take – a particular course of action, if the interpretation given by politicians, media and the public is anything to go by?

If the Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella is to be taken seriously, which would indeed require strenuous efforts at suspending disbelief, the Police Chief’s repeated references to “sir” in that conversation might even be to a former teacher.

For the Minister of Higher Education to come up with such puerile attempts to protect a party colleague – not the police chief – is a sure sign that Minister Kiriella needs to make use of his portfolio to try an acquire some education, let alone anything high as his portfolio indicates.

This of course is not the first time in recent months that he has put his foot in a part of the anatomy meant for an entirely different purpose. The implication of his childish explanation that the deferential “sir” could have been used in addressing a former teacher is that a teacher was trying to persuade the IGP to interfere in the performance of the duties of other senior officers tasked with the upholding of the law.

This is only one instance of the kind of corruption that has crept into our system over the years and has degraded society to such an extent that bribery and graft are considered intrinsic to our way of life and politicians are considered disposal waste.

The wheels of administration, whether they be small cogs or big moveable parts, will work ever so slowly (if they move at all) only if they are well lubricated with palm oil. How much lubrication is needed depends on how important the part is and how big the palm.

What did come as a surprise was the conference’s intention to “educate” the public, among others, on how to create a corruption-free society. If this is some kind of joke then we should have been forewarned to prepare to be amused.

The public does not need to be educated in this. The people are the unfortunate victims of the political and administration corruption that has seeped into the system. They are the citizens of Sri Lanka who have had to pay for the graft that passes from hand to hand to make the administrative machinery move at all.

This is not a condemnation of all our administrators or officers of the law. It is known that there are officers who perform their duties without having to resort to accepting or demanding bribes.

But they are few and far between. They too are prevented from acting with a clear conscience because of pressure that politicians bring to bear either directly or through their political connections.

There is no need to educate the public. It is the long suffering public that demanded that bribery and corruption be brought to an end and voted for those political leaders and parties that faithfully pledged to make a clean break with the past and bring about a clean, incorruptible, open and transparent administration.

Today those same voters including those from civic society organizations that helped the opposition to power are not only asking pertinent questions but castigating those who made the promises and now appear lackadaisical in fulfilling them.

What has happened to those who were accused of massive corruption during the previous administration by those politicians who preached the yahapalanaya philosophy during after last year’s two elections? Were they falsely accused and if not why have those who were said to have amassed more money than Treasury bond profiteers walking around (or been driven around) free?

These are the questions that those who voted for change ask but get no credible answers from quibbling politicians who with Mammon-like propensities avariciously gather wealth in stealth or sometimes more openly.

It is incredible that this conference is trying to educate politicians on how to create a corruption-free society. Do they really need to be educated, if such a thing is humanly possible. Instead of all these sanctimonious words would it not be more effective if the paths to corruption and bribe-taking are blocked.

The new director-general of the commission against corruption reportedly told a news conference that the President felt the need for the kind of conference planned in Colombo after attending the international anti-corruption conference that the former prime minister of the UK David Cameron held in London.
I followed that conference held at Lancaster House. There were some important lessons to be learnt from that if only participants were ready to digest those lessons and put them into practical use.

President Sirisena referred to the change of government in Sri Lanka ridding the country of a corrupt regime. He said a prime duty of the government was to root out corruption. He referred to adopting of the 19th amendment to the constitution which created independent commissions.

But honeyed words are not enough if corruption is a cancer that is eating away at the body politic. The leader of Colombia and the Norwegian Prime Minister reminded the conference of the very tangible steps their countries have taken to fight bribery and corruption.

In Colombia every single public transaction is made public so that public procurement is known to the people while in Norway procurement and licensing are transparent and the public have access to the documents under the freedom of information law.

But as the finance minister of Singapore said at the conference what is most important was the political will to do what needs to be done. He said the lynchpin to fighting corruption is strong enforcement. Also needed is a strong public service which we did have decades ago.

There is little use passing constitutional amendments and making grandiose speeches how the evil of corruption should be ended if they are not buttressed by the political will to achieve it. If that political will is dissipated by political expediency not all the Periclean oratory is going to create that corruption-free society.

Now that the MPs were assembled (how many actually attended would make an interesting statistic) to educate them on how to achieve a corruption-free society what on earth happened to that much publicised Code of Conduct for the mighty warriors representing the people?

Without taking some of the obvious steps to minimize corruption if not end it, the government is too weak-kneed to effect genuine change fearing that it will antagonise their friends and political stalwarts. So, to adapt the words of Mathew Arnold, the real steps that would transform society as the people expected and still expect, are powerless to be born.