NPP’s ignominious qualification-gate

Even though barely a month has passed since the NPP achieved a landmark two-third majority, the ruling political alliance finds itself in an embarrassing state of affairs due to its own actions. The credibility of the Government has been severely undermined with Speaker Asoka Ranwala having to resign from the coveted post over allegations of falsely claiming a PhD. 

The controversy has provided an opportunity for the deflated Opposition to have a field day with its followers ridiculing the Government over social media platforms.

Upon Ranwala’s unanimous election as Speaker, the Parliament issued a communiqué, mentioning he held a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa as well as a doctorate from Waseda University – Japan. However, it appears the former CPC trade union leader does not even have a bachelor’s degree leave alone a PhD. Speaker is considered as the third most influential citizen in the country, and importantly he heads the Constitutional Council, which sanctions some of the most prominent appointments associated with the State – Chief Justice, Attorney General, and Auditor General. Therefore, for the person who is entrusted with such a significant responsibility to be accused of falsifying academic credentials was a severe indictment on the entire country apart from tarnishing the nation’s image internationally.

In a great irony of fate, the Gampaha District MP who had to resign for claiming bogus qualifications was at the forefront of public agitations that demanded the abolition of SAITM by accusing the then private medical college of providing substandard degrees. Some have also questioned Sri Lanka’s shortest-serving Speaker’s eligibility to remain as an MP as people in his constituency would have been inclined to vote for him, driven by the belief that his bogus educational achievements were true.

During the election cycle, the narrative was driven by the NPP propagandists that their alliance was full of intellectual brilliance with a plethora of doctors, professors, engineers and PhD holders running the show. On the other hand, all non-NPP main political groups were portrayed as inferior in terms of academic accomplishments. This self-proclaimed superiority in addition to the made-up holier-than-thou image of the social media-driven political movement has now diminished with a number of their MPs facing accusations of deliberately misrepresenting academic qualifications. 

Even Deputy Speaker Rizvie Salih too was found at fault for inflating his professional status to a specialist doctor despite him being a general medical practitioner. Furthermore, it was revealed that Minister of Urban Development Aruna Karunatilake had used the title of “Dr” although he is yet to complete his doctorate.

In the recent past, the society has begun to place a lot of emphasis on the paper qualifications of politicians. People need to bear in mind that leaders like D.S. Senanayake, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and R. Premadasa did not have stellar academic backgrounds, but they had the common sense and intelligence to provide the political leadership to overcome the challenges the nation had to experience when they were occupying positions of power and authority. In contrast, highly learned individuals like Dr. P.B. Jayasundera and Prof. W.D. Lakshman were held responsible for causing the 2022 devastating economic crisis by their errors of omission and commission, making their impressive scholastic accomplishments futile. 

The new leaders of the country came into power on the promise of offering a fresh start while vowing to overhaul a corrupt and rotten system. But with serious question marks about their integrity and trustworthiness, people would seriously doubt the pledged commitment towards undertaking a systemic change based on good governance and the rule of law and order. Those who promise resurgence and change for the better must first set an example by themselves before trying to reform the society.