Open Letter To President & Prime Minister

By Vishwamithra1984 –March 29, 2017

“Susie, what shall I do – there isn’t room enough; not half enough, to hold what I was going to say. Won’t you tell the man who makes sheets of paper, that I haven’t the slightest respect for him!” ~Emily Dickinson

Dear Mr President and Mr Prime Minister,

It’s time we took stock of our current situation. Waiting for another year or two would be far too late. I’m not writing this letter to enlighten you, though there might be a slight chance that you do that once you finish reading this humble missive. It is to remind you of the various promises both of you extended towards the people of my country at the hustings prior to January 8, 2015. Please lend me the time and your ears, which I am sure you would, without much ado.

To a man and woman, nearly every one of the leaders of the Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), those few who crossed over with you, Mr President, those who belong to the ‘ordinary’ ranks of society, men and women who trekked miles and miles to organize election rallies and pocket-meetings who went from house to house, trying to canvass the Rajapaksa-voters and persuade them to vote for Maithripala Sirisena, made the same promise to voters: elect Maithripala Sirisena as our President and we will eradicate corruption and nepotism; we will take the country’s economy forward, we will replace crony-capitalism with economic principles based on equality and social justice.

We needed a paradigm-shift. It seems that instead of that shift, we have got a shift that has put the country totally enmeshed in a stagnant economy. Nevertheless, we are grateful to both of you for having tried to introduce a new and fair social and governance system by establishing the following:

• Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID)
• Special Presidential Commission
• Public Service  Commission
• Judicial service  Commission
• Election Commission
• National Police Commission
• Audit Commission (Yet to be passed by Parliament)
• Human Rights Commission
• Bribery or Corruption Commission
• Finance Commission
• Delimitation Commission
• National Procurement Commission

Whether these commissions will eventually deliver the ‘goods’ that they promised to deliver or not, the very appearance of delivering accountability, transparency and fairness to a population that was taken for a massive ride by the last regime of the Rajapaksa family and its cohorts in itself is somewhat a great relief to them who were unwilling victims of a social dynamic known as the ‘Rajapaksa Doctrine’. Basking in the glory of the war-victory in 2009 against the dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), the former first family was a personification of power-holding gone bad. Their avarice did not show any measurable bounds. Their self-righteous patriotism was phony and its vociferous articulation sounded hollow in the light of the massive corrupt practices they have been alleged to have committed.

The circus of those alleged mal-practitioners of government power and people’s trust have ended up in gross violation of all civilized practices of fair and balanced political leaders. Our government coffers did not belong to the Rajapaksa family and on the same note, they do not belong to you either Sirs. If the same accusations and allegations are in any way, shape or form hurled at your government, then Mr President and Mr Prime Minister, something has gone badly wrong somewhere. People are getting increasingly anxious and that anxiety is driving them to the edge of patience.

Their patience on the delivery of justice that results in punishment to the mal-practitioners of government power is waning. Their understanding of how unmerciful and rapacious the Rajapaksas were when in power has reached its zenith. It is not only the English-speaking cocktail cockroaches in Colombo who have understood the dimensions of that corruption and dishonesty; the ordinary three-wheel drivers, bus conductors and drivers, those who expend their physical labor to earn a miserable day’s pay, the average man who runs a small boutique to make ends meet for his family, the university graduate who managed to secure some kind of employment in a government department, the farmer who ploughs his farm day in and day out but fails to market his paddy because there is a glut in the marketplace, the unemployed lad who leaves his home with the first break of rays of the sun on an arid zone in search of employment, they all have been patiently waiting for justice to arrive at the doors of the Rajapaksas. And their patience is indeed weakening.

So, Mr President and Mr Prime Minister, what is your answer to these folks? Has the paradigm shifted? If yes, in which direction has it been shifted? These are legitimate questions, these are valid probes that both of you have to answer collectively or individually. The expectant voter at the 2015 Presidential Elections is still expecting results.

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