By Gamini Abeywardane
The incidents of high level corruption is so rampant in Sri Lanka, the matter was highlighted for the first time in a resolution against the country adopted in the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the resolution corruption has been interpreted as a factor that has a serious negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights.
It says that poor and those in marginalised and vulnerable situations, including women and girls, are at particular risk of suffering from the adverse impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights. Unlike the political factors and human rights violations in the war these are facts which Sri Lanka cannot deny and there is obligation on the part of the government to investigate into them.
The IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has publicly declared that mismanagement was the main cause for the collapse of Sri Lanka’s economy while the IMF delegation that worked on an aid package for Sri Lanka had acknowledged there was corruption and called for deterrent measures.
A few western governments had even gone to the extent of aiding Sri Lanka through agencies of the United Nations to avoid funds ending up in the pockets of politicians. That is the magnitude of Sri Lanka’s corruption issue which has received wide international publicity.
Dealing with the issue of corruption in our system has to take priority in all our efforts to salvage the country from its present economic plight. The most stringent constitutional and legal measures are necessary in this regard and punishing those responsible for the situation has to be an integral part of this exercise.
It is also noteworthy such matters have already brought before the highest courts in the country in the form of fundamental rights applications and some determinations are likely to be made in the future in this regard. Those are useful new developments that will be vital in effectively dealing with mismanagement in the country.
The existing anti-corruption mechanisms are obviously weak because the very politicians who introduced them under pressure from various sectors had made them to be so weak and have purposely kept loopholes because they needed escape valves.
Corruption and mismanagement are interrelated and they go hand in hand and there need to be a mechanism to punish those responsible for mismanagement as well. Unfortunately in Sri Lanka the civil service system we had where there was a line of responsibility for every cent spent has been destroyed with politicians taking the power into their hand. All acts of mismanagement are happening with participation of both politicians and officials, but the system provides room for both categories to escape ultimately no one taking responsibility for mismanagement.
A new draft anti-corruption law which has been released for public discussion is very important in this regard. The matter needs to be subjected to wide discussion and we must come up with a foolproof anticorruption mechanism modeled on some of the best such systems available in the western world that is powerful enough to cleanse our corrupt political system.
However, a similar legal and administrative remedy against mismanagement is also necessary for our country. Politicians should not be allowed to order the officials to place their signatures for the wrong things while they get away scot-free. Whoever willfully mismanages the affairs of the state for personal or political gains squandering public funds should not be allowed to get away without being punished and that is a fundamental feature of a well-organized state and if not it’s more akin to a tribal society.
Subscribe to our newsletter to get notification about new updates, information, etc..
