{"id":108856,"date":"2020-11-20T16:16:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T23:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108856"},"modified":"2020-11-21T15:18:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T22:18:15","slug":"the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c5d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/20\/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c5d\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POHOTTUWA GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA Part 2 C5d"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

After the 2015 election, the US got into several critical sectors,\nthe Sri Lanka\u2018s economy, Sri Lanka\u2018s Parliament and Sri Lanka\u2018s armed forces.\n\u2018We want to see Sri Lanka as a truly democratic, prosperous, happy and\nreconciled country in the future,\u2019 US said. .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House Democracy Partnership of the US House of\nRepresentatives   is a bipartisan,\ntwenty-member commission of the U.S. House of Representatives  that works directly with partner countries\naround the world to support the development of effective, independent, and\nresponsive legislative institutions. Partner states are eligible to participate\nin training seminars for staff, peer-to-peer exchange programs with the U.S.\nHouse of Representatives and receive capacity building assistance in critical\nareas such as constituent relations, legislative oversight, committee\noperations, and research and library services.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2017, the House\nDemocracy Partnership was implementing projects in Afghanistan, Myanmar,\nColombia, Georgia, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon,\nLiberia, Macedonia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Timo-Leste and Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

House\nDemocracy Partnership of the US House of Representatives   launched a Collaboration Agreement with the\nParliament of Sri Lanka. The purpose\nwas to strengthen the partnership between the two legislatures.   Speaker\nKaru Jayasuriya signed for Sri Lanka. Elsewhere it was said that the\nPartnership was signed on September 14, 2016 in Washington D.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US \/ Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue, is a regular policy\nconsultation designed to discuss and identify opportunities for cooperation\nacross the full range of bilateral and regional issues, the US said. US Under Secretary for Political Affairs\nambassador Shannon was scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in November 2017 to take\npart in the next round of the Partnership talks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a media\nconference in Washington in February 2016 to formally announce the start of the\nPartnership Dialogue. The participants were US Secretary of State John Kerry and\nForeign minister Mangala Samaraweera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerry told\nthe cameras that this was the start of a strategic dialogue with Sri Lanka.\nMangala Samaraweera said the cordial relations between USA and Sri Lanka was\nnow elevated to a new level. He was looking forward to the inaugural meeting of\nthe US-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue. Mangala was not his usual bouncy self,\nhe looked nervous and strained. This clip is available on Youtube  https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dQ7SdFkhcdg<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A delegation\nfrom the U.S. House of Representatives came in February 2017 for three days of\nmeetings, as part of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) . The 8 member\ndelegation is the largest ever US Congress Group to visit Sri Lanka. It\nincluded 4 each from Democratic  and\nRepublican Parties. The aim of the visit was to promote the on-going\npartnership between HDP and the Sri Lanka Parliament  and deepen bilateral relations.  The visit serves to underscore the strong\nsupport for Sri Lanka by both parties  in\nthe U.S. Congress, US said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delegation consisted of three American Congress members,\nmembers of the Congressional staff , one member each from House Democracy\nPartnership Majority and  House Democracy\nPartnership Minority, and Chaplain of the US House of Representatives. The delegation\nwas accompanied by a  US military escort.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The  delegation \nmet President Sirisena and held discussions about the steps to be taken\nto further strengthen bilateral relations. The delegation  told President Sirisena that USA will stand\nby Sri Lanka in its challenging journey towards economic development. The\ndelegation also met Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mangala Samaraweera and\ndiscussed issues of mutual interest. The\nUS delegation visited Hambantota sea port and Yala national sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana government also joined another US  project, \u2018Strengthening Democratic Governance\nand Accountability Project\u2019 (SDGAP). This \nis a project for the  reform Sri\nLanka\u2019s public sector. USAID\nallocated  USD 13 million for the  project in September  2016 and the program was launched in\nNovember  2016.  SDGAP was subject to the laws and regulations\nof the United States, with oversight from USAID\u2019s Office of Inspector General. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

US  selected a private US\ncompany Development Alternatives, Inc (DAI) of Maryland, to implement the\nproject. DAI would work closely with the Parliament, Independent Commissions\nand related ministries.  This decision was\nheavily criticized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAI has been speedily denounced in Sri Lanka    as a CIA front. Lasanda Kurukulasuriya\ndescribed  DAI as a CIA front\norganization dedicated to destabilizing governments unfavorable to US\ninterests.\u2019 She noted that under the terms of the agreement, the SDGAP project\nis not subject to Sri Lankan law but to the laws and regulations of the US. It\ndoes not come under the purview of Sri Lanka\u2019s Auditor General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development Alternatives Incorporated is a known CIA front. Its\nspecialty is \u2018democracy promotion\u2019  said Kamal\nWickremasinghe.   US funds  are transferred to opposition parties and\nother pro-American groups in countries of strategic interest, such as Sri Lanka\n, using the pretext of \u2018promoting democracy\u2019. \nThe pretext of promoting democracy\u201d is a modern form of CIA subversion\ntactics, added Lasanda, seeking to infiltrate and penetrate civil society\ngroups and provide funding to encourage regime change\u201d in strategically\nimportant nations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development Alternatives Incorporated   carries out the \u2018dirty work\u2019 of CIA\u2019s Office\nof Transition Initiatives(OTI) that sits at the head of a network of front\nentities which include International Republican Institute (IRI), National\nEndowment for Democracy (NED), National Democratic Institute for International\nAffairs (NDI), Freedom House and numerous others, said Kamal Wickremasinghe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The OTI\u2019s charter is to\nfinance the formation of, and deep infiltration of civil society groups (NGOs)\nfor use in their subversive activities including regime change in strategically\nimportant nations with governments unwilling to succumb to US dictates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wickremasinghe observes that DAI also plans to \u2018engage\u2019 with the\nSri Lanka Institute of Development Administration to introduce international\nbest practices into the role of public servants in policy development and\nimplementation. It    will provide\ntechnical assistance and grants to support government and civil society\nstakeholders to address priority laws and policies identified as affecting the\nrights of women and under-represented groups. \nThese words reveal, says Wickremasinghe, to the discerning reader, the\nulterior motives behind the impending US intervention in our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analyst observed that the CIA has been here for ages, under the\nground.  We all know that.  The political NGOs in the island, working in\nhuman rights, ethnic studies, social science, women, children, poverty and so\non were funded indirectly by the CIA. The JVP was considered a CIA\ncreation.  Until now such support was\ncovert. Now it has become overt. USA is getting more confident in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka joined the Open government Partnership of the USA in 2015.The Open\nGovernment Partnership is a multilateral initiative by the United\nStates launched in 2011 to provide an international platform for domestic\nreformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and\nresponsive to citizens.  From its initial 8 countries – Brazil,\nIndonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United\nStates \u2013 the OGP has now grown to 69 participating\ncountries. Sri Lanka is the only South Asian participating country in the\nOGP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The first step towards full OGP participation\nis meeting the OGP eligibility criteria. In order to be eligible to participate\nin OGP, governments must demonstrate a minimum level of commitment to open\ngovernment principles in four key areas of Fiscal Transparency, Access to\nInformation, Income and Asset Disclosures, and Citizen Engagement. Sri Lanka\nbecame eligible to join early in 2015 having met the required criteria and\nscoring 14 of a total of 16 points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Membership in\nthe OGP is by invitation only and Sri Lanka\u2019s Yahapalana government was invited\nto join the OGP, the first South Asian nation to have qualified and to have\njoined the OGP. Sri Lanka joined the OGP in October\n2015. Through the endorsement of the OGP declaration, member countries\ncommit, essentially to foster a domestic culture which empowers a country\u2019s\ncitizens and delivers better governance for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OGP\nis overseen by a Steering Committee, which includes\nrepresentatives of governments and civil society organizations. The key\ninstrument for the implementation of open governance in Sri Lanka is the OGP\nNational Action Plan (NAP). This plan was carefully prepared with community\nbased dialogues in all nine provinces of the country. The National Action Plan\ncontains policy reform commitments in about nine different thematic areas of\ngovernance including but not limited to education, health, environment, ICT,\nright to information and women\u2019s affairs. For education the objective is\ntransparent and impartial teacher recruitment policy.  For Health it is CKDU and two other\nobjectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NGOs\ninvolved in the OGP in Sri Lanka include \nCenter for Policy Alternatives, (CPA) \nInternational center for Ethnic studies (ICES), Sarvodaya, Transparency\nInternational , Management Development Centre, (a Sri Lankan NGO providing\ntraining for the Development of the Community by enhancing the Knowledge,\nSkills and Attitudes) and Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) est. April 1997 is\nan association of agencies working in, and supporting work in, Sri Lanka for\npeace building and humanitarian work.  It\nhas a fully-fledged secretariat with its own specific capabilities. it helps\ndisseminate information, bring weight in discussions related to the conflict\nsituation of the country and lobbying through a large membership, maintaining\nlinks bottom-up and across tires, providing convenient access to information on\nneeds of specific conflict-affected communities, government policies regarding\npertinent issues, and international agencies working in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHA believes in respecting diversity and the promotion and\nachievement of fundamental rights and freedom, which provides equal\nopportunities for development for all Sri Lankans. Areas of operation are <\/strong>Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Puttalam, Matara, Mannar, Kalutara, Jaffna,\nHambantota, Galle, Badulla and Ampara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US\nthen went on to meddle with Sri Lanka \u2018s economy. A 3 year\neconomic plan for Sri Lanka, put together by a team of foreign and local\nexperts led by Ricardo Hausmann, Director of Harvard\u2019s centre for International\ndevelopment was presented at Sri Lanka Economic Forum, January 2016. The plan would be funded by the Open Society\nFoundation of George Soros. Soros was also one of the main participants along\nwith Harvard\u2019s Joseph Stieglitz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local\neconomists and social scientist criticized this plan and wanted it dismissed. Hausmann\u2019s presentation was compared to a\npower point presentation of a postgraduate student. Hausmann has offered no sound policy\nalternative to Sri Lanka problems. He has used Venezuela as an example, the\nparticipants said. Stieglitz fared no better. His analysis is defective,\nparticipants said. He showed no understanding of the country\u2019s needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soros  will set up an office here. He was  looking for investment in Sri Lanka  as well as assist the government economic\nprogamme. Soros  presence will boost foreign investment, said\nYahapalana, enthusiastically. Critics pointed out that Soros is a financial\nspeculator who has made his money by manipulating currency markets.   He is the last person we need here, they\nsaid.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Ricardo Hausmann and   Robert Z. Lawrence,  Professor of International trade and\ninvestment were in Sri Lanka for over a year, starting 2016, to restructure\nexports, reported the media.    They \nhave been looking at ways to improve \ngrowth using Export Development Board,, Board of Investment, Sri Lanka\nTourism development Board and  Ministry\nof Development Strategies. Further,  Harvard Business School and  World Bank were advising the BOI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Harvard Centre for International Development (HCID) is helping\nSri Lanka in attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs) promoting emerging\nexports, targeting new non-existent industries, identifying and engaging with\npotential new investors, fixing the investment climate for new emerging\nindustries and figuring out how to create new tourist destinations. Five teams\nof experts are working with Harvard, all focused on issues relating to exports\nand FDIs.BOI staff has also been receiving training programmes conducted by\nHarvard University\u2019s Centre for International Development, McKinsey Consulting\nand the World Bank Group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media also observed in 2016  that \nthere were two teams heading to Harvard for a Harvard study\nprogramme,  each unaware of the other,\none  from Prime Minister\u2019s Office and the\nother from the  Finance ministry.  (  Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS After the 2015 election, the US got into several critical sectors, the Sri Lanka\u2018s economy, Sri Lanka\u2018s Parliament and Sri Lanka\u2018s armed forces. \u2018We want to see Sri Lanka as a truly democratic, prosperous, happy and reconciled country in the future,\u2019 US said. . The House Democracy Partnership of the US House of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}