Corruption and Complicity: Perceptions from across Sri Lanka
Discussions around corruption and its prevalence often focus on the highest echelons of power. In Sri Lanka, irregularities around the Central Bank bond issue continue to make the news – with the President most recently extending the term of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry until December 31. Fewer people would think of the Rs 1000 slipped to a policeman during a routine traffic stop – and the vicious cycle it creates. In 2017, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC) received over 2000 complaints, the majority of them corruption-related. Yet, of the cases that went to Court, 42 of the 62 cases filed were related to bribes. Groundviews set out to ask people a simple question: What did the word corruption mean to them? Following on from this, did people recognise their own complicity in corruption when, for instance, paying a bribe? The responses, compiled across Jaffna, Ampara, Colombo, Deniyaya and Maskeliya, illustrated the many forms that corruption could take. In some instances, there was resignation, even a certain wry acknowledgment of complicity, in others, fear, reticence or anger.
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Editor’s Note: Also read “The Crackdown on Corruption” and “Examining Facets of Corruption in Sri Lanka“.
