Drug dealers as lawmakers

Editorial-December 19, 2013, 

Covering fire for a beleaguered Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne under pressure to resign over a letter issued from his office seeking a demurrage waiver for an importer who turned out to be a heroin smuggler has come from unexpected quarters. No sooner had Chief Opposition Whip and UNP MP Joseph Michael Perera hurled abuse at him in Parliament than UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera defended him in the House. The UNP seems divided over the issue.

Prime Minister Jayaratne was innocent, insisted MP Samaraweera on Wednesday, claiming that the former had done nothing wrong as most politicians issued such letters. There was a witch hunt against the Premier as he was one of the senior SLFPers who were not in the good books of the powers that be, Samaraweera claimed. Minister Tissa Vitharana has also defended the PM to the hilt. Samaraweera’s is the voice of the UNP leadership and the Premier could rest assured that the main Opposition party won’t flog the heroin issue during election campaigns. But, the JHU is out for his scalp!

Here is a situation where prejudgment has to be avoided, we reckon. Investigations into the heroin scandal are said to be on and, therefore, let the police and the judiciary handle the matter. However, the media should not be faulted for their ‘preoccupation’ with the issue which is of utmost national interest.

A prime minister is just a glorified minister when he comes from the same party as the president. But, it may be recalled that in 1993 the Prime Minister (D. B. Wijetunge) became the president, following the untimely demise of the then incumbent President (Ranasinghe Premadasa). Therefore, it behoves the prime minister to act with responsibility and be above suspicion like Caesar’s wife. PM Jayaratne should have known better than to allow letters to be issued on his behalf seeking favours for various people.

MP Samaraweera’s allegation that the present Parliament has some MPs living on drug money mustn’t go unprobed. That there are drug dealers among politicians is common knowledge. In fact, it was Prime Minister Jayaratne who told Parliament a few moons ago that politicians were protecting drug czars and that was why the drug menace couldn’t be eliminated. But, this is the first time such an allegation has been levelled, on the floor of the House, against the sitting MPs themselves. Now, each and every lawmaker is a suspect in the eyes of the ordinary public. Samaraweera ought to name the culprits so that all parliamentarians won’t get tarred with the same brush. He should at least name the political party to which those criminal elements belong. The national legislature which is empowered even to ‘try’ judges, among other things, must be rid of drug dealers, if any, forthwith.

Allegations that led to the impeachment of Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake and the incarceration of former Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka pale into insignificance in comparison to the one MP Samaraweera has levelled against parliamentarians. A fish is said to rot from the head down. So does a country!

Drug related offences carry severe penalties. A druggie caught with a few milligrammes of heroin in his possession is sent to jail. And, in some countries like Malaysia they are punishable by death. But, we are told that here in this blessed land drug dealers are making laws!

No wonder drug kingpins are carrying out their operations through the Colombo Port and the country is awash with narcotics. There is a pressing need, we repeat, for a high level probe into MP Samaraweera’s allegation.