Conviction of Mahanama and Dissanayake: Need for whistle-blowing mechanism

BY J.A.A.S.RANASINGHE-December 27, 2019

Productivity Specialist/Management Consultant.

The Commission to Investiage Allegations of Bribery and Corruption should be applauded for successfully prosecuting the former Chief of Staff of the Presidential Secretariat I. K.H. Mahanama, and former Chairman of State Timber Corporation Piyadasa Dissanayake, for soliciting a bribe of Rs. 20 million from an Indian businessman to release the machinery and equipment belonging to Kantalai Sugar factory.

According to reports, the total amount of the bribe they solicited from the Indian businessman was said to be Rs. 54 million out of the total investment of USD 540 million.

This has undoubtedly sent a chilling message to the government officials who resort to unethical practices.

Elimination of Bribery and Corruption

I wish to draw the readers’ attention to a commitment made by the former President towards building a country free of fraud and corruption as far back as February 2018, almost three months prior to the aforesaid bribery detection.

According to reports in leading newspapers, he sought public support for building a national movement against bribery, corruption and waste. A special meeting to discuss an action plan for elimination of bribery and corruption, coordinated by the Presidential Secretariat, was held at the Department of Government Information on February 13, 2018.

National Movement against Waste and Corruption (NMAWC)

Everyone was invited to join the "National Movement Against Waste and Corruption" based at the Presidential Secretariat.

In response to this invitation, the writer, too, sent a proposal for a "whistleblower mechanism" in the public sector.

There was no response to my email or registered letter or reminders I sent to the Presidential Secretariat. Later, my inquiries revealed that all my correspondence addressed to the Presidential Secretariat had ended up on the desk of the Chief of the Staff!

I had serious doubts whether my proposal had even been referred to the so-called movement established by the President. Curiously, when I discussed this with my colleagues, they said the Presidential Secretariat was the most corrupt, inefficient and lethargic institution, and that my proposal would not be acted upon or even acknowledged by the corrupt officials there.

Few weeks later, to my utter astonishment, the aforesaid Chief of Staff was caught in the act of soliciting a huge bribe.

At least the Presidential Secretariat should have followed the responses NMAWC received and appraised the former President of any progressive action so far it had taken.

Neither the former President nor the Presidential Secretariat appeared to have taken any tangible measures on the proposals. Had the former President taken prompt action to institutionalise the ‘whistleblowing mechanism’ as a pilot project, in the Presidential Secretariat, embarrassment caused to him and the Public Service could have been avoided.

Even now, it is not too late for the new President to publish the proposals the Presidential Secretaria received.

CIABOC Response

In contrast, I received a response from the Commission to investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption, when it called for public views on the formulation of a national policy to eradicate bribery and corruption. I submitted a series of proposals, as well as articles I had published in the national newspapers and local and foreign journals for the last three decades to the Commission. I received an invitation to attend one of its workshops at Mount Lavinia Hotel, and when I made my team’s presentation, to my utter surprise, the Director General of CIABOC temporarily suspended my presentation and introduced me to the audience, stating that my proposals in response to their call had immensely benefitted the commission. However, such a recognition did not come from the Presidential Secretariat and that really demoralised me.

An Administration free from Corruption

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has, in his election manifesto (page 6), spelt out his vision for creating a corruption-free public service. This requries certain mechanisms to be installed. One is a "whistleblowing mechanism".

Learning from the past experience of having successfully implemented this mechanism, with the able assistance of a onetime high-profile Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, in the Private sector, I could help institutionalise this preventive mechanism in the public sector.

It is also suggested that the SLIDA (Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration) introduce a new module into its curriculum so that our efforts will bring tangible results over a period of time. What is needed is a paradigm shift in the thinking of SLAS personnel.