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The
legacy of CBK Very few incumbents are joyful at their term of office coming to an end and seeing someone (other than their kith and kin) taking their seat. And very few successors say anything nice about the predecessors - it was the same with all former Presidents. But Ms. Kumaratunga's exit has been shrouded with more than all that. It has been marred by some elements of sleaze that her predecessors had hardly been tainted by. There have been reports of her purchasing houses and apartments overseas, most of which may not even be true. Triggered by her frequent trips to the UK and France, these reports have snowballed simply because she -- unlike Caesar's wife -- has not been above suspicion. There was never a hint of similar stories about President J.R. Jayewardene or D.B. Wijetunga or even R. Premadasa, whatever their faults -- buying houses abroad; they were simply not thought of that way. In the case of Ms. Kumaratunga, stories have been allowed to circulate and her own conduct has not helped. When she increased the frequency of her visits to the UK, asking for appointments with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and being turned down, it became a matter of national pride. She ignored the snubs, but we cared. That was why we began asking at the time whether her visits, always unannounced on the grounds of security concerns, were State visits or otherwise, and it was only then that the President's Office began saying what they were; classifying them accordingly. In
Sri Lanka, however, there are some acts that test her credibility. The other issues -- quite apart from building a Presidential Palace for herself (a project now abandoned after wasting Rs. 900 million on it), are the recent last minute efforts to pass 1 1/2 acres of State freehold land worth Rs. 350 million for herself in the vicinity of that abandoned project. And then, on the eve of the November 17 elections -- the very day before the elections - transferring a fantastic Rs. 600 million in two cheques from the President's Fund of which she was the Chairperson to a hastily set-up Trust, of which she was the founder. A classic case of taking from the right hand and giving the left hand; or as the pithy Sinhala idiom puts it 'handa athey thiyanakota kaagen ahannada' -- who is there to ask permission from when the spoon is in your hand. This rekindles memories of the last-minute writing of deeds on the eve of the Land Reform Law being passed in Parliament in 1972; the subject of a Vote of No Confidence on Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1975. The former President has taken a parting shot in a press release explaining her position (not at all convincingly though) and referred to the new President's own 'Helping Hambantota Fund' that is also shrouded in mystery. We have stated in these very columns that President Mahinda Rajapakse ought not to have invoked the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to stop such an inquiry because it has only fuelled concern over his own integrity in the use of public funds. But two wrongs don't make a right. Already the JVP has raised the issue of large Cabinets as a waste of public funds. The example of tightening belts must come from the political leadership of the country. You cannot expect a government servant to switch off an extra bulb at a micro-level or instill financial discipline at a macro-level when the political leadership does not lead by example. It is praiseworthy that the new President has cancelled the Rs. 600 million cheques allocated by former President Kumaratunga to her own Trust but it smacks of political tit-for-tat. Such measures must come as a public duty. Transparency International this week issued a report on the misuse of State property at the recent Presidential elections. These are indictments on good governance in Sri Lanka. This new government must not hesitate to take stern measures -- as a matter of course -- whenever matters concerning the abuse of public funds come to its attention. The public purse belongs to the people. Not to the rulers to serve themselves. |
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