IMF cannot ignore corruption and human rights

Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe on Thursday expressed hope that the Government will be able to finalise a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would lead to a comprehensive bailout package. With Sri Lanka defaulting on its debt in May this year the options of raising credit on the international money markets do not exist. Many of Sri Lanka’s bilateral economic partners will see the IMF agreement as a foundation for economic recovery and are reluctant to provide further funding without such a confidence measure. The debt restructuring agreements and the IMF bailout package would also be interdependent. 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has repeatedly emphasised the necessity for the IMF engagement and sold his unlikely ascend to the presidency on the premise that he is the only political leader capable of negotiating with the IMF. It suffices to say that much is riding on a staff level agreement and then a comprehensive bailout from the IMF.

It is for this very reason that the IMF too holds a responsibility towards the people of Sri Lanka to ensure that the relief it provides is for the betterment of the suffering masses and not to prop up a regime that lacks popular legitimacy. In its dealings with the Wickremesinghe administration the IMF and Sri Lanka’s other economic partners owe a duty of care to ensure that democracy and human rights are protected by an administration which has in its short span shown contemptuous disregard for these.

One of the first acts of President Wickremesinghe was to declare a State of Emergency. It has been used to curtail the rights of the people including their right to assembly, free speech and expression. Scores of protesters and leaders of the movement that toppled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa have been arrested. The early signs of the Wickremesinghe regime are troubling for its scant disregard for rights and the quick utilisation of the military to clamp down on people’s rights.

The other area which the IMF and international partners should focus on is corruption. The same individuals who were the perpetrators, enablers and beneficiaries of these corrupt dealings during the Rajapaksa administration now continue in positions of power in the Wickremesinghe administration. The individuals from his own party that have been empowered by the president also garner little confidence. The same individuals who were involved in massive scale corruption, enablers of weapons dealers and ‘bag men’ of the Yahapalana Government, in which Wickremesinghe was the prime minister, have found their way into favour by the new president. 

It is ironic that rather than holding such individuals to account the current administration has decided to compensate them for apparent political victimisation. Tens of millions of rupees is to be distributed among those who face corruption charges. It is clear that the IMF will be dealing with one of the most corrupt regimes in Sri Lanka’s history with the ruling elites themselves accused of some of the most blatant financial crimes.

It is imperative that the IMF not only demands transparency to address corruption and mismanagement of funds that will be provided to Sri Lanka but also ensures that the Wickremesinghe administration adheres to the basic standards of human rights and democracy. If not, the IMF rather than helping the people of Sri Lanka, will be abetting a regime that would bring further misery and hardships.