Chanaka Bandarage

Governments in the past – from Dudley Senanayake (1965 – 1970) to Gotabhaya Rajapaksha (2019 – 2022) introduced National Programs of gigantic nature.  All of them ended in failure.

Why?

They failed to carry people with them.

One program that was successful to an extent was Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike’s ‘Grow More Food Campaign’ (1972 – 1976). That government somewhat forcibly enforced the Program on people. School children played a prominent role in it – actively growing manioc, chillies, sorghum and many crops in school yards (the playgrounds were untouched).

The upshot was that the country became self-sufficient in almost every essential food item. By the end of that government, say by 1976, the country had stopped importing all foods that can be grown locally. JR came (in 1977) and opened up the flood gates – every item from – sugar, rice to the hairpin was imported. The trend continues to this date, in very big scale. JR’s Open Market economy killed the local agriculture and industries.

JR’s Gamudawa and Mahaveli can also be considered somewhat successful National Programs but they did not require people’s active input/participation to make them successful.

On 1 January 2025 this government commenced the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ program with a big bash. Some luminaries attended the grand function. It was an invitee only event. The Common man – ordinary mothers and fathers who are supposed to do the cleaning were absent. The opposition blamed that the government spent Rs 70 – 80 lakhs for the event.

Where are those luminaries today? In actual ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ events they are not to be seen. An article published in Lankaweb on 4 January 2025 by this writer emphasised that the President and his Ministers must actively participate in ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ events.  Has this really happened? The public have witnessed many NPP Ministers and MPs leaving their traditional attire and switching to Western tie/coat, trousers. They are in no real mood to do cleaning.

Today less than 6 months after the introduction, not only the masses but the government itself seems to have lost interest in the program.

Is ‘Clean Sri Lanka‘ slowly dying down?

From the beginning the government messed up the scheme. It stated that ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ means not just cleaning of the environment but it is about almost everything that the government does.

Only a strange person would adopt such a policy. According to the government ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ encompasses government’s almost every activity – cleaning of the environment, society, economy, ethics etc. Clearly the government has mixed apples with oranges.

How can the government expect the public to actively participate in such a bizarre scheme?

Even after the recent Ramboda bus tragedy, the government stated that ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ will fix future such incidents. No, they should be fixed by the government’s road and transport policies.

Overall, Sri Lanka is an extremely unclean country. Most of our sea, beaches, internal waterways, roads/street gutters, public toilets, train/bus stations are extremely unclean.

Most public and private sector buildings need a facelift. There is too much use of plastic and polythene; also there are too many hoardings/billboards. Tuition masters are big time culprits; they pollute the environment with big cut outs/advertisements.

People dump garbage everywhere. Public spitting of betel chew must be halted immediately. Colombo’s streets and pavements are full of betel chew spit. Those who walk on them barefoot could get sick. At schools good habits/hygiene, patriotism are not taught enough.

Most private restaurants, eateries, schools, public hospitals need a good clean up and once cleanliness is established that must be maintained.

In such context, it is a fantastic idea for the government to start a National Program to mobilise people to clean up the country.

It must be a massive people’s movement. Every citizen possible must have been absorbed in to it. Also, it must be an ongoing Movement.

But, that momentum was not created from the beginning.

AKD had enormous public support and affection in January in 2025. Is it there now? Doubtful.

if AKD then called, people would have come in droves. When Gotabhaya won, thousands of young people turned up voluntarily to draw beautiful artwork on public walls. The public cheered at them. That was a spontaneous action by the populous.

True, cleaning has been done by ‘Clean Sri Lanka’. But by whom? Government servants through various Shramadanas, tri-forces personnel, Police and Civil Defence Force. For what they do, they receive wages and perks from the government (paid for by the taxpayer). ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ should be much more than this – where is people’s involvement/participation?

True, some in the private sector and NGOs/individuals have done cleaning, this is good. But, what is required is a massive scale people’s involvement/participation.

The government’s fault – the need to clean up the country and its urgency was not embedded into people’s psyche. Even now, people are unaware that they must be a part and parcel of the program. Everybody wants somebody else to do the hard yards. Sirimavo marketed her campaign well using the then available media. Thus, it succeeded.

The fact that there has not been mass scale people’s involvement in the project is the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’s biggest drawback.

Let us hope that the government realises this shortcoming and do things to rectify it. Ordinary mothers, fathers, young children must participate en mass. This must happen island wide.

In his 4 January 2025 article the writer suggested the following:

For the program to succeed, the President must declare that every first Saturday of the month is the ‘Clean Sri Lanka Community Clean Up Day’, from 8 am to 11 am. All vehicular traffic must be stopped for those 3 hours.

All Sri Lankans aged 18 to 65 must participate. Those who are medically unfit must be excused.

As people are clever at dodging, the participation of each adult must be made compulsory. Those who abscond must be subject to a severe fine.

But, if the government wants to do it purely on voluntary basis, then the mass involvement of people through ‘Shramadana’ is the best way. The late Dr A.T. Ariyarathne’s Shramadana movement of the 60s and 70s come to mind. It was so successful. This 2^nd method is not good and effective as the 1^st.”

It seems the government failed to heed to the writer’s suggestion.

The government went on the traditional pathway that all previous governments had done and failed – entrusting the work to the public servants, without people’s participation.

Paul Kagame has turned Rwanda into one of the cleanest countries not just in Africa but in the whole world. There, they have a monthly ‘Clean Up Rwanda Day’ where the country’s total population participates. Paul Kagame himself, his Ministers, high officials turn up on the last Saturday morning of every month to participate in the clean-up program.

Sadly, AKD could not do what Paul Kagame did in Rwanda.

But, all is not too late. As stated before, the government can still rectify and bounce back. The need to clean Sri Lanka is imminent; that cannot be compromised.

The Writer, an International Lawyer, was the Principal Barrister & Solicitor of a leading Australian law practice for a very long period of time.