Corruption as political weapon
Editorial-December 14, 2014
There are two things that all politicians seek mandates at elections to eliminate—poverty and corruption. But, as is common knowledge, they do precious little to make good their pledges. Instead, we have seen most politicians eliminate their own poverty through corruption while marketing their humble origins as the progeny of farmers and slum dwellers to woo and dupe poor voters. They amass so much of wealth through corrupt deals that they bequeath their children billions of rupees so that the latter can not only live in clover without being employed but also bribe the public with various handouts in return for votes.
In what may be considered an all-out attempt to destroy former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) politically in retaliation for her efforts to bring it down, the government has reproduced the Chaura Rajina (Bandit Queen), a book by former Ravaya editor Victor Ivan on CBK, as a special newspaper supplement. The damning allegations therein against her have gone unchallenged legally or otherwise.
Interestingly, in the run-up to the 1994 parliamentary polls CBK declared that during her self-exile in London following her husband Vijaya Kumaratunga’s assassination in the late 1980s her children had been wearing hand-me-downs. Claiming that she was dependent on bank overdrafts, she made a solemn pledge to eliminate bribery and corruption as a national priority. But, she has come to be described in derogatory terms by one of her erstwhile chums who backed her to the hilt then! We refrain from commenting on the allegations in Ivan’s book; suffice it to say that Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion!
Opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena claims that the government leaders’ corrupt deals have resulted in massive cost overrides in road construction projects among other things. He has also made several other allegations of corruption against his former political masters. UPFA MP Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, who broke ranks with the government, has recently told this newspaper, in an interview, that Sirisena once, in a conversation with him, criticized ‘corrupt road construction deals’ while the latter was still part of the incumbent administration. So, the question is why Sirisena did not take up the issue of corruption at Cabinet meetings. He would have remained mum if he had succeeded in securing the post of prime minister.
Similarly, the government is accusing Sirisena and his family members of various rackets ranging from hoarding paddy, illegal sand mining and logging and, above all, having abused political power to open the sluice gates of a reservoir in Polonnaruwa to prevent a family hotel in its reservation being submerged during rains thus creating water shortages in the areas for the past so many years. Why didn’t those who are making these allegations take any action while Sirisena was in the government?
Strangely, those who make themselves out to be paragons of virtue by accusing others of corruption don’t want their claims investigated. They only use allegations of corruption as a political weapon against their rivals. They only promise to appoint special commissions for that purpose! In 1994, CBK promised to investigate the plunder of state resources under governments since 1977 and confiscate the illegally acquired wealth of the UNP politicians. But, after being ensconced in power, instead of carrying out that pledge, her government with the help of Opposition MPs from the UNP and the JVP stripped the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) of powers to initiate inquiries without waiting for formal complaints.
We are reminded of a pithy slogan that the JVP once coined to condemn both the SLFP and the UNP for their corruption and abuse of power—unuth ekai, munuth ekai, which roughly put into English means ‘there is no difference between both of them’. The JHU changed the slogan to ‘unuth ekai, munuth eka, thopith ekai—‘all three parties [the UNP, the SLP and the JVP] are the same’. And, frustrated voters who know all politicians for what they really are may say: thopi okkoma ekai—all of you are the same!
