Editorial

2nd November 1997

SLAF : Govt must act

A top level Committee headed by the senior most official in Sri Lanka’s defence establishment, Defence Secretary Chandrananda de Silva, has revealed the commissions, omissions and negligence in the procurement of aircraft into the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Significant highlights of the findings of this Committee, appointed by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, were reported exclusively in The Sunday Times last week.

These findings, quite clearly, stricture the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force in this regard. In this instance, it is Air Marshal Oliver Ranasinghe. It should be rightly so, whether it be by direct answerability, or by implication of his wider responsibilities of office, as Commander. It is unfortunately all too common a practice in Sri Lanka to hang an underling for lapses never mind the answerability of the head of the department.

Even to a public helplessly having to live with and suffer the ever increasing cancer of corruption, negligence and arrogance at all levels of the bureaucracy, the findings of this Committee were nevertheless a shock.

Now that the Sri Lanka Air Force has come under scrutiny, it is appropriate and timely that the procurement process in the other services also come under investigation.

With the SLAF exposure, a Pandora’s box has been opened. Many questions regarding purchases by the services of equipment which are reportedly ineffective, or obsolete, or non-task oriented, or not cost effective, or surplus to needs, now become pertinent. Its relevancy is not merely a matter of correct procedure, paper work and “red-tape” within or outside tender policy but more importantly as procurement to the armed forces is also a matter concerning life and death. More particularly so when in the throes of a war.

War is a tragic and expensive “game.” Arms sales are a major source of revenue to the manufacturing countries. They are also enormously lucrative trade to commercial intermediaries and an attractive source of income to those in the defence establishment who are corrupt and morally weak. The enormity of money involved, the allure of other material benefits and foreign travel junkets can induce those lacking moral principle and strong will. It is to safeguard against such eventualities that financial and procurement procedures have been systematised. Should military exigency require urgent procurement, then fast track procedures need to be established.

As the Committee has explicitly highlighted, ad hoc procurement, however urgent the requirement will be, will not result in the purchase of the best equipment. On the contrary, it is more likely to jeopardise efficiency and risk human life, as indeed illustrated in the Committee report.

It is public speculation that this war will not end as long as there is money to be made by those that matter. Be that as it may, it is an open secret that there is an emerging nouveau riche military bureaucracy. It will augur well for the Government to carefully examine this aspect.

The Committee report on the SLAF must surely open the eyes of Government, even if it was blinded before, to the reality that there prevails considerable negligence, inefficiency and lack of responsibility in the top echelons of the defence establishment in regard to procurement of equipment.

Rumours of malpractice, whether right or wrong, should enhance the concern of Government to implement immediate and meaningful action to inquire into these aspects in full and adopt measures to correct administrative lapses. At the same time, it should initiate the sternest action against any and all who have misplaced or abused the sacred trust placed on them by the Government and the public.

It must be remembered that this entire matter is not a mere question of administrative and procedural lapses. The implications are much more serious.

The lack of responsibility exercised, the demonstrated negligence and other misdemeanours have resulted in the loss of valuable lives of men fighting the cause of this nation. This is intolerable and unforgivable. And unless the Government intervenes now, IMMEDIATELY, to stem the rot, more lives could be lost.

The Government owes this to the people of this country.

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