Yahapālanaya: Another Corrupt Government That Duplicates The Former
DNR Samaranayaka
A majority of the decisions that have been taken by the coalition government since it came to power in 2015 appear to be contrary to the expectations of the people who helped its formation. A clear indication of this is the number of articles that are very critical to the government now appearing not only on websites, but also in the print media. The newspapers such as The Daily Mirror, The Island, The Sunday Times, Ceylon Today, and The Weekend Leader were earlier not engaged in openly criticising previous governments, but they too are now highly critical about this government, especially with regard to its corrupt practices. Already, the government is experiencing a backlash from civil organizations about its broken promises. This is the first government in known history to face a barrage of criticisms from the public within the first year of administration.
The coalition government came into power promising to adopt an administrative system known as ‘Yahapalanaya’. It is normally referred to as a government devoid of undemocratic practices such as corruption, threats, abductions, suppression of freedom speech or similar unethical practices and without abusing the executive powers of the presidency. The commitment to Yahapalanaya was in fact promoted as the raison d’etre of this new coalition much to the comfort and support of the popular masses who were thoroughly disappointed with the corrupt practices manifested under the Rajapaksa regime. Thus on the promise and expectation of Yahaplanaya, this government was elected. Among the identified priorities of the coalition government were the action against political corruption, establishment of an Ethical Code of Conduct, and re-establishment of democracy and good governance.
Broken Promises
Since the formation of the coalition government, commissions such as the FCID and PRECIAC have been established to investigate political corruption which occurred under the former administration. However, the promises that were made to bring corrupt politicians to justice have not produced any results up to now. Every day it is reported that the politicians of the former administration are visiting the FCID or PRECIAC to record statements. Disappointingly, nothing much happens thereafter. Although the level of corruption was the main issue that led to the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa, and a highlight of the opposition campaign, it now seems apparent that this issue is no longer a priority. It would seem that the issue of corruption was of a huge concern to the ordinary masses was deliberately used by the then opposition as a massive stick to beat the previous government and ultimately come into power.
