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100 days no benchmark, Govt. on track to bring about change, says Public Security Minister
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana and Damith Wickramasekara
As the subject minister holding the portfolio of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananda Wijepala plays a key role in the implementation of the National People’s Power (NPP) government’s ambitious agenda for the country. A close confidant of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Mr. Wijepala has served previously as his private secretary. Today, he holds the position of Chief of Staff to the President in addition to his ministerial portfolio.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times, Mr. Wijepala addresses a wide range of topics, including the government’s performance over the past 100 days, current and future challenges, the fight against corruption, reforms within the police, and controversies surrounding the ongoing ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ programme.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
100 days of AKD presidency
Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala
While it is now more than 100 days since Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected president, it is less than two months since the new government was formed after the 2024 general election, Mr. Wijepala pointed out. “We never presented a 100-day programme. However, it has been mentioned in the media, in society, and even in Parliament, largely because previous governments highlighted such a benchmark in their programmes.”
He pointed out that the NPP won the election as a single party and didn’t need to make any promises to coalition partners since it was never a coalition. “Our accord is with the people. I would call it a bond. We have a responsibility to ensure that the hopes they had when they voted us into office are realised. We presented our vision to the people via our manifesto, ‘A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life.’ The people accepted this manifesto and elected us.”
A new political culture
While the NPP never presented a 100-day programme, it has nevertheless managed to affect several significant changes within the short period it has been in power, the minister pointed out. “For one, we have managed to change the political culture that prevailed in this country for the past 76 years,” he said.
“Politicians who were nurtured by this political culture never became people’s representatives who actually lived among the people. This is because the political class carried forward politics practised by the nobility. They did not do politics to make the lives of ordinary people better. They were in politics for themselves and enriched themselves and their families with the tools required to live a life that flaunted their nobility, from vehicles to bodyguards to luxury houses. That created a widening gap between the politicians and the people.”
Those who ruled the country in this manner eventually led it to bankruptcy, which was when the people decided to give power to a new group in the form of the NPP, said Mr. Wijepala. “We were able to change the old political culture within this short period and create those who are true people’s representatives in every sense of the word. They are not separate from the people. They live among them.”
Reducing rural poverty
With reducing rural poverty another main objective in President Dissanayake’s manifesto, the new government has already increased payments under the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefits scheme. It also recently announced an allowance of Rs. 6,000 for children from underprivileged families to buy school items and stationery. Given that there were accusations that the ‘Aswesuma’ scheme had not been fairly implemented and that many who qualified for Aswesuma benefits had been left out of the scheme, the government decided at the last Cabinet meeting to extend the Rs. 6,000 allowance to each child in government schools with less than 300 students, said Mr. Wijepala.
About 2.4 million out of about 5.7 million families in the country are still in poverty, being covered either by Aswesuma or the Samurdhi welfare schemes. As part of efforts to lift people out of poverty, the Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment Ministry will soon launch a survey of families covered by these welfare schemes to collect information about the family members. Officials will look at aspects such as the qualifications and skills the father and mother possess, what sort of resources are available to them, the education level of their children, whether they have any vocational qualifications, etc. After conducting a thorough analysis of such factors, the officials will be tasked with devising a specific project for each household to help them out of poverty. The government will intervene to help them obtain capital to implement that project. It will also help them to find a market for their products so that they can obtain a good monthly income, the minister elaborated. “The hope is that the projects will succeed and eventually, they will move out of poverty and would no longer require welfare payments. We have already laid the foundation for this project.”
The government is also focused on developing the agricultural sector. “We have substantially increased the fertiliser subsidy from Rs. 15,000 per hectare to Rs. 25,000 per hectare. The ultimate objective is to make agriculture, which is currently a loss-making profession, into a profitable one. Several measures, such as developing seeds through seed production farms, agricultural mechanisation, and conducting more research are being planned to reach this objective.
Rule of law and the police
“We said to the people that the rule of law should be established. We cannot do that without extensive reforms to the criminal justice system,” said the minister. He added that most institutions in the system have become politicised and they must be made independent. With regard to the police, the government’s appointment of the present Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) is part of efforts to ensure that independence, he said. Moreover, for the first time in history, the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is a female officer. Mr. Wijepala said he believes several more female OICs will be appointed soon.
He acknowledged that though it is the police’s responsibility to maintain the rule of law, many criminal acts carried out by the underworld and linked to the illicit drug trade have also occurred even after the NPP government was elected to office. “We are not prepared to boast that we have managed to control these activities. However, we are making efforts to stem them. We have already instructed the Special Task Force (STF) to identify police divisions where a large number of underworld activities are taking place and implement an operational mechanism to thwart them.”
The police have been made independent at the senior levels. However, a lot of structural changes must still be made to turn the police into a truly independent department, the minister said.
He also revealed that the government plans to recruit 237 Tamil-speaking graduates to the police to serve in the north and east. A separate gazette will also be issued for the recruitment of police officers to serve in the north and east, he revealed. “The language barrier is a major obstacle for people in the north and east when interacting with police. We want to make these interactions cordial and easy. It is with this intention that we are planning to increase the number of Tamil-speaking officers in the region.”
As the Minister of Public Security who oversees the police, Mr. Wijepala said he is working hard to ensure that acts of corruption a minority of officers are involved in are stopped and the department as a whole becomes more efficient. “This can’t be done by enforcing laws alone. We need to provide police officers with better facilities and also give them other incentives to perform. There are things we can do to this effect, such as granting cash rewards and bonuses to officers who successfully complete investigations.”
There are other issues affecting police personnel that the government needs to resolve, including matters related to promotions, allowances, and uniforms, the minister noted. Some progress has already been made in certain instances, he observed, pointing out that the government last month settled arrears amounting to Rs. 3 billion for the payment of outstanding food and accommodation allowances of police officers.
Clean Sri Lanka
‘Clean Sri Lanka’ is a flagship project of President Dissanayake and his government. “The ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ project aims to clean the entire system that has decayed over the years. This includes a social, economic and political transformation. Among others, it is about creating a citizen devoid of corruption, having a clean environment, and rescuing children and future generations from the drug menace. As such, the Public Security Ministry has a major role to play in this project.”
Referring to the controversy associated with the removal of certain modifications and accessories from vehicles as part of the project, Mr. Wijepala stressed that the government’s aim is to create disciplined drivers and save lives that would otherwise be lost due to road accidents.
On average, seven fatal accidents occur daily in Sri Lanka, claiming 7-9 lives. Thanks to renewed efforts of the police, there have been some recent days where not a single fatal accident was recorded, the minister said. For example, not a single death was reported due to a road accident on Christmas Day.
Authorities are focused on removing unsafe modifications and accessories that could lead to accidents, he added. The government had initially given drivers until January 19 to remove such modifications, but this has now been changed to an awareness and education campaign lasting three months. This is to educate drivers on the need to remove such unsafe modifications and accessories from their vehicles. No legal action will be filed against anyone over the issue during these three months. “We believe that eventually, the drivers themselves will voluntarily remove any unsafe modifications or accessories,” Mr. Wijepala added.
Passport issue
The dire shortage of passports was a crisis the NPP inherited from the previous government but which it too has struggled to control. Mr. Wijepala, under whose purview the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) remains, pointed out that the government has not been able to float another tender for the procurement of e-passports since the tender over the procurement of five million e-passports is currently being challenged in the Court of Appeal. The previous Cabinet had authorised the procurement of 750,000 machine-readable passports as a stopgap measure, with permission from the court. The current stock of passports is sufficient to last until September, the minister said.
From this week onwards, the number of passports issued on a daily basis has been increased from 1200 to 2500, he claimed. “We believe we will need a further 500,000 machine-readable passports, and we will call an open tender for that soon.”
Some 30,000 passports will be set aside for candidates sitting for the Korean language proficiency examination. A further 5,000 will be reserved for Sri Lankans residing overseas whose passports have expired. There is also a backlog of about 130,000 passports that are being cleared. Meanwhile, a special counter has been set aside at the DIE for those who need to obtain their passport urgently. For example, if a person has a job offer to take up in February but has been given a date in April to submit the application, he or she can go to this counter with relevant documents to obtain a passport before the travel date. “Though we haven’t solved the issue 100%, we have been able to manage it. We believe that it will be resolved soon,” the minister said.
Easter Sunday attack investigation
Investigations into the Easter Sunday attack have gone to a new phase since the NPP came to power. As part of this process, investigators hope to question Azad Maulana, a former aide to Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias ‘Pillayan.’ Moulana was the main ‘whistleblower’ in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary about the attacks. The minister said the NPP government has given a pledge to Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith to fully investigate the attacks and will honour that promise. “Not just Catholics but all Sri Lankans need to know the truth behind this attack. Our objective is to find all those responsible and bring them to justice. The investigation is now proceeding very well. The public will be able to see the results for themselves soon.”
NPP and JVP
On the relationship between the NPP and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Mr. Wijepala described the JVP as the “nucleus” of the NPP. It was through the JVP that the NPP came into being. However, it is the NPP that has now formed a government after having contested under the compass symbol. “Many members of the JVP contributed immensely to this campaign, and many of them have now become ministers or MPs. There is no need to look at the NPP and the JVP separately. We have a vision, a plan, a programme and an objective. We are moving towards that objective. Some elements in the opposition are trying to make it seem as if there is a conflict between the NPP and JVP. This is false. We are working to fulfil the mandate given to us by the people.”
Rice shortage
The minister put down the shortage of rice and coconuts as a seasonal issue. “We can’t be blamed fully for such issues since we did not lay the foundation for creating them. Previous governments too imported rice. They gave away quotas to associates to import rice. This time, however, not a single rupee is going to anyone’s pocket. The rice is being imported at the lowest price, and we are being fully transparent about the process.”
He said the government plans to gradually move away from rice imports by making the country self-sufficient in rice. “To do that, however, we need to have at least a three-month buffer stock of rice.”
Local government elections
The government expects that the Election Commission will hold the long-delayed local government elections before the National New Year in April. Legislation paving the way to call for fresh nominations for the election and cancel the previous nomination lists has already been presented to Parliament. “There is no point in going by the previous lists anymore since some parties have splintered into factions. Some candidates have passed away while others have gone overseas. Moreover, some young people who would have been 16 and, as such, ineligible to contest at the time the previous nomination lists were submitted, have now turned 18, and there might be those among them who wish to contest the election,” the minister explained.
He expressed confidence that voters will once again back the NPP at the upcoming local polls as well, allowing the government to set up local government bodies, which will also play a crucial role in making the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ programme a success.
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