5th Column

My dear Cheerio Sirisena,

I thought of writing to you because you are once again making headlines even though you are no longer the big boss that you used to be. Unfortunately for you, the headlines you are generating are not favourable for you and I’m sure you are wondering what would happen next.

I am referring to this commission report that says criminal proceedings should be instituted against you for not doing your job properly at the time of the Easter bomb attacks two years ago. I can almost hear you saying, “I wasn’t even in the country at the time, I was gallivanting in Singapore!”

Cheerio Sirisena, we are a bit sick and tired of all these committees and commissions that have been appointed to probe this attack. If you recall, a day after the attack, you appointed a three-member committee comprising of a Supreme Court Judge, a former Police chief and a ministry secretary.

Before they submitted their report, Karu, who then presided over the House by the Lake appointed a ‘select’ committee. This was a few months after you and the Green party parted on not-so-amicable terms when you sacked the Green Man, who was then reinstated by the highest court in the land.

The ‘select’ committee held hearings were in public – and they made you look silly. The committee you appointed and the ‘select’ committee ran in parallel and at one stage, we saw the ridiculous spectacle of the ‘select’ committee summoning your committee to give evidence before them!

As expected, the ‘select’ committee blamed you for ignorance and incompetence while your committee didn’t make any specific recommendations. That is when you decided to go one step further. So, you appointed a fully-fledged five-member commission, all of them being judges.

This is where matters become very ironical for you, Cheerio Sirisena. It is this very same commission, appointed by you which has now concluded their work and are recommending that criminal proceedings be initiated against you. It cannot get any worse than that for you, can it?

It is not as if matters can be hushed up and swept under the carpet easily. On the one hand, the commission’s findings are available to the public now, and on the other hand we hear the Cardinal constantly saying that he needs justice done for those who died – and he can’t be ignored either.

Of course, some things have changed since when the commission was first appointed by you. You are no longer in your old job, someone else is in charge and the commissioners now report to him – but I am sure, being the men of integrity that they are supposed to be, they would only do what is right.

What is interesting is that, this commission, while being critical of the Green Man for being lethargic once he was sidelined by you, makes no findings against him and he is now going around saying ‘I told you I have done nothing wrong’. It is not for nothing that he is called a master of survival.

If I were you, Cheerio Sirisena, I wouldn’t be surprised. Remember the General? He ran against Mahinda maama and ended up in prison. You yourself said that you feared being six feet under if you lost against Mahinda maama. You didn’t, but you could also be looking at some jail time now.

These recommendations do make matters complicated for everyone, including Gota maama. Despite all your reservations, you finally ended up on his side, contesting on his party’s list and getting elected on that. The reality was that you had no choice. If you ran by yourself, you wouldn’t have got elected!

You, and the Blues who are still with you, ensured a two-thirds majority. This majority allowed Gota maama and the ‘pohottuwa’ chaps to enact the 20th Amendment that gave Gota maama more powers than what even JR had, which he can now use to punish you. So, you have dug your own grave.

If you do get charged, the Blues will leave the government and that can create more headaches for Gota maama, so I don’t think he really wants that either. Maybe that is why he appointed yet another committee of ministers to look into what the Commission recommended and come up with an idea.

This committee consists of Chamal, Johnston, Udaya, Ramesh and Rohitha. They are not the best brains in the House. That is why the Cardinal said we shouldn’t have those without even ‘O’ Levels deciding what should be done. So, the big question is, who among this lot doesn’t have ‘O’ Levels?

Four committees or commissions have looked into this matter and come up with recommendations. Will the law be allowed to take its natural course or will we see, yet again, that laws apply only to certain persons? We will be waiting as eagerly you are, Cheerio Sirisena, to see what happens next.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: You don’t really need to worry about the final outcome, Cheerio Sirisena. Even if you are found guilty, Gota maama also has the power to pardon you. All you have to do is speak as you are told to speak and do as you are told to do. In other words, just act like you did before you ran for the top job!