LOWERING THE BOTTOM LINE IN PUBLIC CONDUCT-Caution Note to the President

By Shyamon Jayasinghe

The fall of any figure of authority begins with the fall in image. The rest simply follows- sooner or later. I cannot understand why President Rajapakse has thrown all caution to the wind by doing things that would eventually spoil his image and the image of the government he heads. Just two examples would be enough to explain my point: The perks for his son Yoshitha –newcomer to the Sri Lanka Navy and the issue of Mihin Air- the proposed budget airline. Dear editor, please publish this in the interests of our country. Let us create the threat of exposure when misdeeds do occur.

It is easy for any unbiased person to see that these two events smack of partisanship, nepotism, disdain for the rule of law and appropriate procedure and general abuse of power. The general concept of corruption hovers over the meaning of these acts. The President is given such enormous powers in the constitution and is made immune from legal action with the assumed expectation that he acts and is seen to act impartially without favour and that he acts in the interest of the nation. He is expected to be a towering figure above the generality of rough and selfish political. For this purpose the President must keep his private life apart from his public life. The two cannot be seen to get mixed.

In the Yoshitha incident the President got his son appointed to the SLN and publicly instructed the Navy high command to “treat Yoshitha like everybody else’. This admonishment by His Excellency had been broadcast over the media and images of a great presidential sacrifice to the nation had been conveyed by the media. Well, let that be. In the meantime, the A’Level requirements for a plum scholarship to Dartmouth had been lowered obviously to accommodate young Yoshitha whom ‘hey presto’ slipped in “on merit” leaving numerous other more qualified soldiers behind in the line.

Having done a thing like that the President undermines his ability to ensure that his ministers and officials in the Public Service act without favour or nepotism or partiality. It is hard to believe that the President can do this sort of thing so openly and brazenly and without subtlety. The implication is that he cannot separate his private interests in his public role and that he doesn’t care about the public consequences of his actions.

The case of Mihin Air is equally bad and even more damaging. This is a private company floated by the President’s brother Defence Secretary Gotabhaya and Presidential advisor Sajin somebody. Installing a new airline requires a complicated procedure where the huge investment involved has to be scrutinised both by the technical personnel and by the Treasury and ministry in charge of investment. Before any of these institutions could take a good look at the proposal the powerful Directors were finalising proposals and even doing interviews of staff. Even the Foreign Ministry was not aware of this. Nor was the ministry in charge of the ETF, which had been named as one of the fund providers, been informed. The President at first pretended he knew nothing about this. However, subsequently the proposal is aid to have been tabled before cabinet by the President himself!

What are we to make of these unbelievable actions? Can the President any longer control the growing corruption in government ranks and among the ranks of ministers as reported by COPE? Corruption is spreading like never before like a cancer. I have a report from a relation of mine about a lady in the Immigration Dept who openly asked for Rs 1000 ( “Ehe nam daahak dennako”) to get a legal duty performed . My Sister-in law had one of her lands acquired in Kalutara District and the Grama Sevaka is pestering for one per cent while the Divisional Secretary has asked “for a donation to the office”. A former Public Trustee has been declared guilty of fraud. The Sports Minister has been reported to the president for alleged serious frauds relating to illegal commissions from migrant workers. Then there is the VAT scandal where billions had been involved. The list is growing by the day and nobody cares.

Can the President afford to care?