Condemning NPC alone not warranted

October 12, 2018, 9:37 pm 

Never before in its history of a century and a half has the Sri Lanka Police and the IGP come in for so much criticism and even downright condemnation The President says that Jayasundara is not fit to be the IGP. The Minister in charge of Law and Order and his Deputy do not think so. The nation is confused. The media is having a field day.

A retired police driver who met me a few days back asked me, "Sir, why is the President gunning for the IGP. Whom to believe Sir. He even claims that the former President and the Army Commander Fonseka had run away from the country during the final stages of the War ; and it was he as the Acting Minister of Defence was the Commander in Chief when Prabahakaran was eliminated". I had no answer.

Gulping the last bit of his cup of tea this police driver remarked, Ï wonder whether there is any official or even a Minister in the government capable of holding an inquiry against the IGP."

I tended to agree.

It did not take long for the surmise of the old police driver to gain credibility.

On 4th October an English daily carried a prominent headline on the first page, "NPC like an Elders Home" The report stated, "Higher Education minister Wijedasa Rajapakse stated yesterday he was doubtful if the NPC that was established under the 19th Amendment (SIC) was turning into an Elder’s Home.

The Minister had gone on to say that even though the government expected much from the NPC it had not delivered what was expected from it. "We hope to reform the NPC in future."

"Minister Rajapakse said activities of the underworld were beyond control due the influence of some politicians and high police officers.

"There are politicians and high ranking police officers behind the underworld. That is why it is beyond control.

"We expected solutions to these problems from the NPC. But it failed to perform."

This is a damning indictment on perhaps the most important Independent Commission set up under the Constitution.

The opinion expressed by Minister Rajapakse cannot be dismissed lightly. He is one of the learned few in an OL – dominated Parliament. His statement that the underworld is beyond control because there are politicians and high ranking police officers behind it cannot be disputed.

These despicable politicians and police officers need to be identified and named and shamed. It is a pity that the word shame has lost its meaning and significance in this country. What better proof than the shameless admission by a few parliamentarians of having accepted cash cheques amounting to several millions from the first suspect in the biggest scam in the Country’s history.

If the police officers concerned have come to the notice of the NPC and the latter had failed to take any meaningful action blaming the NPC is justified. Calling it an Elders’ Home is not enough. It then becomes a "Home of Sinecures" that deserves to be scrapped. The public must be anxiously awaiting the NPC’s response to the minister’s comment that has received wide publicity.

However, the NPC cannot be expected to do anything to politicians who hob-nob with the underworld. Presidents, Prime Ministers and Party Leaders have shown no interest in disciplining errant or corrupt politicians. Nothing happens to these scum. With all the overpowering stench that emanates from them they shamelessly brave the corridors of power and the highest of social circles.

The final paragraph of the editorial of the Sunday Times of 7th Oct. ‘Policing he Police’ successfully sums up the plight of the Independent Commissions. "The 17" Amendment to the Constitution set up the NPC in a bid to stem the decline and politicization of the police over a decade ago. It was meant to give back the spine the Police lost over the years. But like the Bribery and Corruption Commission also set up under the 17th Amendment, the politicians clawed back and got the better of the situation. It reduced what were to be Independent Commissions to almost rubber stamps of the government as they succumbed to the sheer weight of political pressure that pervades the national life of this country. "

It is abundantly clear that the Independent Commissions have become paper tigers. It is tragic indeed that they have been rendered toothless by the very people that created them. By ridiculing and condemning the Commissions the government is only looking up at the skies and spitting.

The erudite Dr. Rajapaksa’s remark that the NPC is like an Elders Home disparaging elders in general is puerile, unethical insulting and unkind Surprisingly it came out of the mouth of a Doctor of Philosophy!

In conclusion, as an alert and active ‘Elder’ who in his day had been privy to doings both open and underhand of politicians as well as policemen I can emphatically state that the prestige reputation and honour of the inmates particularly the two retired police officers of this "Elders Home’’ remain undiminished. Regrettably, the same cannot be said of the abode of the Honourable types by the Diyawanna who hold the reins of power.

Edward Gunawardena