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Corruption in politics has been an issue that has and will continue to hinder the prosperity of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is on the brink of completing its 69th year of Independence. This feat is achieved in the backdrop of numerous perennial concerns.
Corruption in politics has been an issue that has and will continue to hinder the prosperity of Sri Lanka. Politicians, whether Parliamentarians or not, have been accused of resorting to corruption in many folds that include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. Such Corruptive actions has facilitated many criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking within the country.
Corruption is a widely spoken topic amongst many spheres of the national landscape, however this problem is never addressed through legislation and actions. Most Large scale corruption by politicians have been almost impossible to be proven. The lacklustre ambition towards mitigating corruption in Sri Lanka is well evident with Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016 rating Sri Lanka as becoming even more corrupt.
Sri Lanka was ranked at 95 out of 176 countries when compared to 2015 when the country was ranked at 83 among 168 countries. The hilarious part about this performance is that the slump in perception amongst the public sector has been bought about in the presence of a Government placed in power to curb corruption. So the question now is whether we are in “Good Governance” or “Corrupt Governance”.
Running out of options
The people have already voted out a Government led by President Rajapakshe, only to find that the Government they put into power to curb corruption is no different. The Bond Scandal and the transparency in the Private Public Partnerships of Key Infrastructure Projects of the country have left many to ponder on the credibility of this regime as well. The so called Mr. Cleans are now Dirty.
Despite the bogus rhetoric from fractions within the Government, still no solid action has been implemented to boost confidence amongst the masses on the topic of curbing corruption. As in the past, the end result is that the people have been misled, fooled and made victims to the malicious personal agendas of the politicians.
There has never been a time where corruption has stood at the centre of debate amongst the political circles for a prolonged period. Both the present Government and the Joint Opposition have been accused of large-scale corruption, but still no cases have been proven or punishments enforced. In this light the question that will be raised amongst the people is “whom to trust” in the political landscape of Sri Lanka.
Simply stating, there is no option, in terms of electing a clean political force to govern. Certain elements such as the JVP have been dynamic at exposing many corruption scandals, but they too have failed to drive investigators to affirm the allegations levelled by them. With options narrowing, the faith of the country is largely at risk in the drive towards prosperity.
Shortcomings that drive corruption
Many politicians may know it already, but they have received a huge setback in public confidence. There has been no prudent conclusions yet reached
on many alleged corruptive actions from pre-2015 times such as the hedging deal, the Commonwealth Games and Greek bonds and the hiring of lobby firms.
With the bond scandal and many others faced by this Government, one could wonder whether there should be another force to bring governance to this country. This is in the wake of the depletion of public confidence in both present Government and the opposition parties. So why has this happen to Sri Lankan politics, let look at a few causes:
There has been a significant setback in the objectives entrusted within the administrative controls of various regulatory and auditing bodies such as Auditor-General’s office, Anti-Corruption Commissions and Public Account Committees established to prevent or hold guilty any corrupt dealings.
In terms of controls, there seems to be no separation between civil service and patrician politics. State institutions have been the hot spot to appoint cronies and peasants of ruling politicians. In certain instances ghost workers have enjoyed State assets at the expense of the tax payer. Many directives that have been implemented, require thorough inspection, these include, the declaration of assets of officials, provisions regarding the transparency in bidding, hiring of employees, accountable use of state resources and granting of public sector contracts.
There have been no strict controls of the State administration from the top tier of Government. This section of controls include the degree of corruption mitigation from the rulers. Executive reporting systems, institutional reforms and a restriction in the size including the administrative discretion of various ministries, departments and offices. Neither of the rulers have had the political will to curb corruption, as a curtailing mechanism can run against their private interests.
Sri Lanka has been engulfed with a large number of brokers that facilitate transactions involving projects and investments within the country. The rise in brokers managing a tender involving the foreign companies and home Governments are able to orchestrate deals in ways that hide their own profits as well as the illegality or immorality of the deal itself. Many accuse broker facilitated transactions as the major cause behind the exuberant costs involved with key infrastructure projects.
The globalisation of markets and State transactions have expanded the opportunity of concealed transactions between the home Government and various companies in the global market. Most companies national and international are resorting to corruption to gain easy access to resources, markets, and labour. Further, political figures, political parties and lobbyists are given gifts, donations and contributions in return for the support and benefits rendered to these corruptive acts.
Sri Lanka has seen a significant fall in the democratic system over the past 15 years or so. Strong democratic controls include the separation of powers, rule of law and legislative and judicial independence. These fundamentals of democratic systems have witnessed a deterioration. Such necessary elements ensure the political responsiveness of politicians and civil servants. The role played by civil and political organisations and the public in controlling and restricting corruption in the various State institutions, has also faltered.
An independent, competent Judiciary is one of the checks of legislative power. In order to control corruption, the courts will need independence from any interference, they will need appropriate financial, institutional, professional resources (investigators, prosecutors and judges) and a relevant authority to execute its rulings (Police).
Responsible Parliaments and its members, whether Ruling or Opposition can monitor and control the dealings of the Government and of the administration. Further, they can criticise, make suggestions and inform the general public. As members of Parliament, there is strong legislative right to know, make inquiries, set up oversight committees, undertake investigations and pose questions pertaining to Government actions and state actions. It is highly questionable to the extent to which public interest supersedes that of private interest of such individuals.
A free press and an active civil society (for instance non-Governmental watchdog organisations and monitoring associations) are also highly relevant counter powers to restrict corruption and executive abuse.
Conclusion
As the situation stands, the war against corruption seems to be directly counter-acted by ruling elites in which their existence depend upon corruption as a mechanism of wealth extraction and upon corrupt officials as the basis for political support.
The ‘Yahapalanaya’ Government seems to be following the previous regime as far as corruption is concerned. Power is used to let a follower get rich through corruption combined with the power to release him of his misdeeds. This is an efficient way of securing personal loyalty and subservience. This is the reason as to why many ruling coalition members and ministers have escaped from the net of the investigators.
The numerous anti-corruption campaigns are therefore rarely meant to change the structural setting of curbing corruption, but as a ploy to deceive the wider population. It is used as a disciplinary mechanism and as tool in the struggle against rivals, to preserve power through the protectionism of corrupt individuals.
[The writer is the Managing Director of LTC Ltd., a financial and investment banking services firm operating in Sri Lanka. He has a BEng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom and a MBA from the University of Colombo. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. He can be reached via email on [email protected] or www.ltcsl.com.]
