By Gandara John

In January 2015, the Americans heavy-handedly interfered in Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election, pumping into the country massive sums of monies through their preferred conduits like the Evangelical Church and Foreign-Government Funded Organisations (FGFO), better known as NGOs and collectively described by Western Civilisation as ‘Civil Society’.

On 08 Jan 15 Rajapaksa was defeated, narrowly, and Sirisena limped into office, sheepishly.

On the next day – 09 Jan 15 – Sirisena, eclipsed his egg-hopper flop of November 2018, when he executed a Constitutional Coup, appointing Wickramasinghe as Prime Minister while the sitting Prime Minister yet enjoyed the confidence of Parliament.

On 26 Jan 15,  the puppet regime drafted to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as its Governor, Mahendran, an ill-reputed Singaporean money launderer who enjoyed the confidence  of the US and Wickramasinghe. (See Mahendran’s job profile).

With an American puppet regime in saddle, with American mercenaries controlling key Government institutions, the last phase of the American plan to take-over Sri Lanka took shape.

At the time the puppet regime took control of the country, the country’s economy was relatively healthy ‘with a GDP growth rate of 5%. The growth rate was well above its regional peers. Sri Lanka was the second wealthiest nation in South Asia after the Maldives and according to the World Bank, ‘an upper middle-income nation’.  Sri Lanka had met the Development Goal target of halving extreme poverty and was on track to meet most of the other targets, outperforming other South Asian countries(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Sri_Lanka)

The density of vehicles in Colombo at that time, was not a nightmare as it is now, with speeds averaging 22 KMPH at peak hours (See Prof Amal Kumarage’s comments to the Sunday Times http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120212/News/nws_18.html)

With the Government just 40 days into office Karunanayake, the Finance Minister at the time, and Mahendran were ordered  to report to Washington.

On 17^th/18^th  February 2015, Karunanayake and Mahendran met with Indrawati (MD of the World Bank), Lagarde (MD of the IMF), Toloui (Asst Sec for Treasury), Biswal (Asst Sec of State for South Asia) and senior officials of the White House (members of the Global Economics and Finance Department); accompanying them was Kariyawasam who was then a servant of the Sri Lankan public too. (See Sri Lanka embassy web site of 19 Feb 15).

Karunanayake, on instructions, requested a loan of 4 Billion USD from the IMF. Lagarde, in response, indicated that she would be happy to have further discussions on this matter in Colombo (See IMF website of 18 Feb 15).

Lagarde wanted Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to meet some IMF conditions which  reportedly included tax reforms, increased privatisation of State owned enterprises,  crippling of the transport system, reducing Central Bank Intervention in the Foreign Exchange market, cutting-down the country’s Foreign Exchange Reserves and suspending the 1.4 Billion USD Chinese investment in the China Port City project. (see https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/03/20/sril-m20.html)

To ensure that instructions were complied with,  Lagarde despatched to Colombo an IMF monitoring team led by Todd Schneider and Changyong Rhee (Director Asia-Pacific Dept of the IMF); and the World Bank sent a team led by Annette Dixon (Vice President for South Asia).

Eight days later, on 27 Feb 15, Karunanayake introduced a tax scheme which enabled the import of vehicles that were 3 years old; previously, the import ceiling had been 2 years.  (http://www.autobay.lk/import-your-vehicle/duty-rates-27-february-2014/).

The flood gates were opened; from an average of 3,200 vehicles per month being imported in 2014, there was over a 400% increase in 2015. In the month of September 2015 alone, the number of vehicles imported was a staggering 14,301, an all time high.

Subsequent to Karunanayake’s decision on 27 Feb 15,  in the nine months that followed, 486,000 vehicles were imported. (https://www.lankabusinessonline.com/sri-lanka-vehicle-registrations-hit-another-high-in-sept-jbs/).

In October 2015, the old regulations (the pre 27 Feb 15 period regulations), were brought back. Karunanayake had diabolically closed the stable door after the horse had bolted; Karunanayake was successful in crippling the traffic in Colombo, which today averages a speed of 6 KMPH at peak times.

Karunanayake was the pathfinder to the MCC; the MCC now had the justification to intervene in Sri Lanka’s ‘transport’ sector.

On the same day, 27 Feb 15, Wickramasinghe, Samarawickrema, Hashim, Karunanayake and Mahendran, as reported, staged the country’s biggest robbery, when they looted the Central Bank in broad daylight.

The looting of the Central Bank and initiating measures to gridlock Colombo vehicular traffic, were done under the watchful eyes of the two monitoring teams from the IMF and the World Bank, who had their boots on the ground in Colombo, at that time.

On 04 Mar 15, the IMF team-leader Schneider, speaking from Colombo, rejected the 4 Billion USD loan request made by Karunanayake purportedly because Sri Lanka did not qualify; he said, There is no need for a bailout; Sri Lanka’s Foreign Reserves are comfortable”.

The stage was set. With no IMF monies forthcoming, with measures taken to deliberately run down the economy (on the advice of the IMF), Sri Lanka would be receptive when the MCC made overtures to the country.

In December 2015, Sri Lanka was selected for a MCC threshold program; the threshold program is one where much lesser monies are pledged by the US in return for the ‘targeted’ country grooming itself to stated US standards, values and vision. If the country does not groom itself accordingly, the country is not even eligible to be considered by the MCC .

The MCC is a diabolic program; initially, the ‘victim’ country allows itself, of its own volition, to be mentally colonised and subjugated to US standards and dictates; subsequently, if such country is approved by the MCC, the ‘victim’ country then agrees to be physically colonised and occupied through  the terms of the MCC Compact that are spelt out.

In 2015, Sri Lanka had not groomed itself entirely to the satisfaction of the US, and her application was rejected; she was required to do more.

In 2016 the Bandits  looted the Central Bank once again. The MCC selected the country for the Compact program in December 2016.

When in 2017,  the MCC reviewed how well Sri Lanka had groomed herself to US standards, Sri Lanka had, by then, repealed the Foreign Exchange Control Act and replaced it with the ‘Foreign Exchange Act’ which did not allow the Central Bank to control money laundering; Sri Lanka legislated a New Income Tax Act prepared in the US. Furthermore, Sri Lanka’s GDP growth rate was down to 3.1

Sri Lanka was selected for the MCC Compact in 2017

In the MCC Executive summary, at https://www.mcc.gov/resources/story/story-cbj-fy2019-executive-summary,

to the US Congress, it is pointed out that the Sri Lankan Compact will advance US values and interests that will support stability in a region of significant strategic importance; the MCC Compact with Sri Lanka advances US security in the region. 

 The summary goes on to say that Sri Lanka’s Compact is aimed at reducing transport congestion in the Western Province and providing access to land for US agricultural and industrial investors, thus optimising the use of State Lands for commercial purposes by the US.

Interestingly, like Sri Lanka, the MCC has selected Cabo Verde, an island Nation off the coast of West Africa for a Compact programme; the MCC reveals that the country is strategically at the crossroads of mid-Atlantic air and sea routes and with the MCC programme in place, the US is able to access the Land of that country and transfer land Titles to US Companies, within 3 days, thus advancing security and stability in West Africa.

The MCC programme is the crux of US colonialism.