A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, August 7, 2017
Sri Lanka: Remove Ravi and Investigate Ranil’s Involvement
There is every reason to investigate Ranil Wickremasinghe after removing Ravi Karunanayake from the Cabinet and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs immediately. If Mr Wickremasinghe is clean, he himself should come before the Commission and should give evidence.
( August 6, 2017, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) There
is no point in waiting for the Presidential Commission to conclude or
the No Confidence Motion to take place. There can be a Parliamentary
debate on the Penthouse Issue or Public Corruption in general for the
members to express their views and show their determination, if anything
remaining, against corrupt practices. The President must remove Ravi
Karunanayake, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, from the Cabinet
forthwith.
The Members of Parliament can ask Ravi Karunanayake to completely resign
from Parliament. If not, or even otherwise, it is left for the UNP to
remove him from the party membership and inform the Elections Commission
accordingly, for the world to see where he would stand thereafter.
Enough Evidence
There is enough evidence to politically determine that there had been a
shady deal between Ravi Karunanayake and the businessman Arjuna
Aloysius, who is being primarily investigated by the Presidential
Commission on the controversial Treasury Bond issue. Removing a Minister
from the Cabinet is a political act and not a legal procedure. The
legal procedure to take course, of course, one must wait for the
conclusion of the Presidential Commission.
The removal from a Cabinet must be done to clear the good name of any
government when a Minister is involved in unethical, corrupt or dubious
financial deals. ‘Justice should not only be done; it must also be seen
to be done.’ This principle also applies in the case of transparency,
accountability and responsibility.
The usual practice in a democracy is for the Minister to resign even in
the slightest doubt against his/her financial integrity. In these
columns, I have written about ‘A Bottle of Wine Throws a Premier Out!’
in June 2014. As I was writing, “The Premier of the New South Wales
(State) of Australia, Barry O’Farrell, announced his resignation
yesterday morning (16 April 2014) over the issue of receiving a bottle
wine as a gift that he failed to declare in 2011 in the ‘Pecuniary
Interest Register.” He didn’t claim the bottle of wine was received by
his wife or daughter. It became revealed only after three years only by
accident. But in the case Ravi Karunanayake it is already revealed.
As I stated then, “This
is a case of ‘accountability and responsibility’ that all Prime
Ministers, Chief Ministers, Ministers and all Members of Parliament or
members of any such representative institution in a functioning
democracy should abide by.”
But in the case of Sri Lanka, it is difficult to imagine that many of
our ministers or politicians would abide by these principles of
‘accountability and responsibility’ voluntarily. Our past practices were
so corrupt, they would think that these practices are their privileges.
Therefore, it is necessary for the President to act without delay. As
far as I am aware, contrary to what a Minister has told the Colombo
Telegraph, there is no prohibition whatsoever for the President to act
against a Minister when there is a No Confidence Motion scheduled in
Parliament. It can even be in the form of a Cabinet reshuffle.
If Delayed?
If the President delays action against Ravi Karunanayake, serious doubts
will be cast against him as well. If Ravi Karunanayake’s removal as the
Finance Minister was warranted for some reason, in the last Cabinet
reshuffle, there is now more reason to remove him as the Minister of
Foreign Affairs. His remaining days as the Foreign Minister would be a
total disgrace for the country as whole within the UN, among the
Commonwealth countries and in the whole world, East and West.
According to all reports available, Mr Karunanayake has not denied that
he was living in the said Penthouse and its rent was paid by Arjuna
Aloysius for nine months. What he has childishly denied is his knowledge
about the deal. According to him, it was done by his wife and daughter!
Even the daughter, in her face-book posting, has not denied the
accusations but asked “Why only one man’s name comes up all the time in such a huge government?”
There is all indication, in that questioning that directly or
indirectly, there are other people in the government who are involved in
the bond scam, if not the Penthouse issue.
This was the suspicion of many who observed and criticised the
unprecedented auctions of bonds, beginning February 2015. I had occasion
to analyse the bond issue of February 2015 which was announced for 1
billion first and then issued for 10 billion through direct intervention
of Arjuna Mahendran, the then Governor of the Central Bank (‘Awoth Atha Thamai:
Cabral is No Excuse for Mahendran,’ Sri Lanka Guardian, 23 May 2015).
The person benefitted was Arjuna Aloysius, his son in law.
Ranil Wickremasinghe?
The immediate reason for my article was Ranil Wickremasinghe’s
disgraceful defence of Arjuna Mahendran in Parliament on 21 May (also
thereafter) even distorting the findings of the Committee appointed by
him to ‘cover up’ what appeared to be controversial bond sales, at that
time. It was quite puzzling why Mr Wickremasinghe opted to defend
Mahendran so vehemently.
Of course, Mahendran was Wickremasinghe’s appointee and college friend,
from Royal. There also could have been some ideological reasons like
both believing strongly in ‘neo-liberalism’ where profit making is
freely allowed for entrepreneur classes at the expense of the ordinary
masses.
I also suspected another reason although somewhat hesitant to articulate
directly without much evidence before. That was about the UNP’s party
coffers. It was almost by accident that Ranil Wickremasinghe became the
Prime Minister in January 2015. By that time the UNP was in a bad shape
both organizationally and financially. It is quite possible that
Wickremasighe allowed Arjuna Aloysius to make money on the understanding
that he funds the UNP, particularly at the general elections.
This is of course not an established fact but a reasonable doubt or
accusation. This is how the capitalist political parties work. The SLFP
also cannot be innocent on these grounds, but the issue at present
particularly before the Presidential Commission is who benefitted from
the bond scams at the expense of the people of this country. This is
also the issue before the country and the people.
Even otherwise, Ranil Wickremasinghe’s possible complicity in the bond
scams cannot be ruled out. He, Ravi Karunanayake and Malik
Samarawickreme are a very close group within the party and in the
government. They are almost like a ‘kitchen cabinet.’ The Central Bank,
where all these shady deals happened, was under the Prime Minister.
Without his knowledge, it is unlikely that Arjuna Mahendran could act
unilaterally in favour of Arjuna Aloysius or Perpetual Treasuries. Even
on the Penthouse issue, it is quite unlikely that the other two in the
‘kitchen cabinet’ were not aware of what was going on.
Therefore, there is every reason to investigate Ranil Wickremasinghe
after removing Ravi Karunanayake from the Cabinet and as the Minister of
Foreign Affairs immediately. If Mr Wickremasinghe is clean, he himself
should come before the Commission and should give evidence.
Party Reforms for Good Governance
In January 2015, there was a major change in our political system, the
people of this country stalling the attempt of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his
family to grab presidential powers for a third term. There were many
and major allegations of corruption. These are still not properly
investigated. Almost the whole SLFP and many parties in the United
People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) were complicit in this corrupt-power
scheme. Although half-hearted, there have been some changes within the
SLFP as of now. These must move forward to make it a more democratic,
accountable and a responsible party.
However, the UNP is the same old political outfit, inheriting the
corrupt-power practices of JR Jayawardena and Premadasa times. The
present god-father of this scheme could be Ranil Wickremasighe. It has
been the practice of the leaders, the funders and the organizers of
these parties to enrich themselves and the parties through shady
business and other deals after coming to political power. As the UNP has
come to power after a very long spell, the urge for these corrupt
practices could be even higher. Some of the SLFP leaders who enriched
themselves during Rajapaksa or Kumaratunaga times may even appear or
pretend to be magnanimous or honest now! There should be a change within
the UNP as well to make the party more democratic, accountable and
responsible. The funding of these political parties also should be
transparent.
Two civil society organizations, the National Movement for a Just Society (NMJS) and the ‘Puravesi Balaya’ (People’s Power) are asking the supporters who voted for the January 2015 change to come to Colombo on the 15th August
to demand the government to implement their promises. One of their
slogans and demands undoubtedly would be a New Constitution. I would
suggest that the ‘Removal of Ravi Karunanayake’ should take more
prominence at this rally or the meeting as it would constitute the acid
test of this government’s avowed promise for good governance and
anti-corruption.