Prime Minister must clean his stables at least now

 Jul 14, 2017

The President at last is in no mood to turn a blind eye to corruption, nepotism and under performing ministers. While the President has had the guts to clean up the government and infuse new people into the Administration, the Prime Minister has continued to provide cover for his corrupt or incompetent officials.

Starting with the Srilankan board, the CEO of Srilankan is the most incompetent person the airline has ever hired, but the Prime Minister despite many revelations has continued to give cover to him.

Ajith Dias the Chairman has also been a total failure. He is accused of doing business with the former CEO and giving cover to the previous board. Both the CEO and the Chairman however continues in office, despite being shamelessly humiliated by the Cabinet.

The President and many SLFP Ministers say the government has not got one development project off the ground because of people like Charitha Ratwatte and Paskaralingem a notorious wheeler-dealer who was found guilty by a Presidential Commission.

On many occasions he has been accused of favoring corrupt businesses on many public websites. The PM has continued undaunted. Minister Sagala Rathnayake has been accused of delaying tactics to favour the Rajapakses.

The President and Health Minister has openly accused him. Minister Kiriella is notoriously corrupt. Malik Samarawickrama’s shadow is all over the place. These are all very close associates of the PM.

When the Bond Report is out in a few months, the PMs image will further get tarnished. This could kill his last chance of becoming President of this country. Despite all this many people still say the Prime Minister is not corrupt.

At a time when he is about to celebrate 40 years as a parliamentarian he should take stock of his performance and take decisive steps to clean up his stables and get rid of the wasted and the corrupt to ensure he gives himself a reasonable chance to compete for the next Presidential Election. If not, the UNP once again for the third time, would shamelessly need to look for a common candidate.