JOINT OPPOSITION AND DESPERATE MEASURES
Posted on March 2nd, 2016
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
When you watch the TV or read daily papers, one can note that there is plenty of mu slinging at each other by both government members and joint opposition .
Many ministers keep talking about money stashed in Dubai .and the recipients of the barrage react by boasting that government has not found a single cent anywhere ,some have promised cur their bellies and some will cut their throats if they find !
They may need long knives to cut bellies and throats because they over grown and big and fat !
We readers and listeners of this lost island, wonder who tells the truth as the confidence is lost about both sections
This week a son of a now paralysed ex minister of marine industry was claiming that a Mega Corruption Deal has taken place during a Yahpalanaya minister who was in their ranks just few months back ,and subsequently jumped to the other side
Irony is that same ex minister was also running the same ministry few years back , there were allegations that a certain investor who wanted space in a harbour to put up a canning factory was claiming that the ex minister wanted one rupee for each can !
Obviously the investor bolted away after spending money for the foundation leaving a can of worms of corruption !!
Do Sri Lankans have short memory like the fish ? or are we so naïve and stupid to believe these stories ??
It is like a devils dance in down south traditions where the Kattadiyas” keep talking to the devil” actor dancing on the tree swaying to and for and keep taking to each other with amusing dialog !!!!!!!!!
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
March 2nd, 2016 at 11:34 am
In Sri Lanka, the word corruption is used only to discredit your political opponents. They exchange allegations and counter allegations against each other, without taking positive action to eradicate corruptions
Corruption is a universal phenomenon. It is not something new either. Corruption in one form or another existed since time immemorial. A review of penal codes utilized in various ancient civilizations clearly demonstrate that bribery was a serious problem among the Jews, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Greeks, the Romans as well as the Aztecs of the New World (Thakur, 1979:7). In ancient India large-scale corruption dominated public life (Thakur, 1979:12).
The Transparency International provides the raison d’etre for this concern. “Corruption at the highest levels distorts competition so denying the public access to the competitive marketplace. It induces wrong decisions resulting in: wrong projects, wrong prices, wrong contractors, substandard delivery to recoup overpricing, promotes corruption at lower levels and eroded public confidence in leaders. At lower levels, petty corruptions are damaging because they add to transaction costs, exclude those who cannot pay, foster contempt for public servants amongst public and erode capacity for revenue collection” (Pope, 1996:23). There are still other reasons as to why now corruption
Corruption is an intractable problem. It is like diabetes, can only be controlled, but not totally eliminated. It may not be possible to root out corruption completely at all levels but it is possible to contain it within tolerable limits.
But States must take measures to ensure public services are subject to safeguards that promote transparency, efficiency and merit-based recruitment. Public servants should be subject to codes of conduct, financial disclosures and disciplinary measures. Transparency and accountability in public finance must be promoted, and specific anti-corruption requirements, especially in the judiciary and in public procurement, must be established.
None of these preventive measures are happening in Sri Lanka
None of these preventive measures are happening in Sri Lanka.
There is no legislation that prevent conflict of interests in politicians and administrators in Sri Lanka. Conflict of interests is a situation that has the potential to undermine the impartiality of a person because of the possibility of a clash between the person’s self-interest and professional interest or public interest. Good example is the case against Sarath Fonseka in which he was accused of having clash between the person’s self-interest and professional interest or public interest when his son in law acquired a contract for supply of goods to the army while Sarath Fonseka was acting as the army commander.
March 2nd, 2016 at 2:57 pm
‘Do Sri Lankans have short memory like the fish ?’ funny, you better ask yourself, when you’d take visas to go to NE & IPKF killing the Sri Lankans, then you calling the Indians to come to our country. Your genes need some testing!
March 2nd, 2016 at 3:12 pm
නීලමහයෝදයගෙ කොමෙන්ට් එක දොස්තර හෝ ආවාර්ය මහතාගෙ මුල ලියවිල්ල වගෙ දෙගුනයක් දිගයිනෙ.
March 2nd, 2016 at 3:16 pm
Is this you Sarath. ‘Walkers Colombo Shipyard will invest US$ 8.5 and US$ 25 million in Mutwal and Galle in a ship repair and ship building entity, its MD Dr Sarath Obeysekera said on Tuesday’