It is a week of major political upheaval. A week when the very existence of the coalition of ‘national unity’ has been questioned, and the leaders of the key coalition parties had to make fresh commitments to keep alive the government of unity; amidst the rising swell of the local government poll campaign making new demands from the political leadership of the government.
The impact of the Treasury Bond issue, the details of which have now been revealed by the Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), remains the kernel of political issues and rivalry, and gives the local poll campaign what some consider as a referendum on the ‘yahapalana’ government, as well as the Joint Opposition that is making every effort to drive the public mind in its favour, against the policies that saw the election of President Maithripala Sirisena in January 2015, and the victory of a UNP-led coalition with the SLFP in August that year.
The rising criticism and open attacks on President Sirisena by several back bench and also some front line members of the UNP did cause a major crisis, which led the President to even move away from the Cabinet meeting earlier this week. The subsequent move by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to assure the President that the UNP members would be controlled, did help in bringing about some political reconciliation between the President and the UNP. But the heat of the poll campaign remains a threat to the unity of government, requiring determined moves to maintain the coalition unity, in the midst of major divisions and contradictions on government policy.
While the Prime Minister has cautioned his MPs against attacks on the President, what action would the President take against leading SLFP members, ministers too, openly attacking the PM?
Operations
President Sirisena did have the better week, following all that rowdyism seen on Parliament the previous week, with his declaration of Two Operations, in the fight against corruption. The first was the appointment of the PCoI which revealed what is clearly the biggest fraud in public affairs and funds in the country. Next was his move to initiate legal action against those involved in the Bond issue, in keeping with the findings of the Commission Report.
Commission Report is available to the public, being on the Internet and easily accessible, it has brought out many aspects of a convoluted fraud involving public funds, and has clearly identified four persons as the key villains of the piece, namely, Arjuna Mahendran the then Governor of the Central Bank, Arjun Aloysius, the key operator of Perpetual Treasuries, Kasun Palisena the CEO of Perpetual Treasuries, and the former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.
Although Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe about whom there are many public allegations of involvement in his fraud, but has not been found to be such by the PCoI, the Commission does make this important observation: “We consider that, the confidence which the Hon. Prime Minister states he placed in the assurances given to him by Mr. Mahendran, was misplaced. We are of the view that, the more prudent course of action would have been for the Hon. Prime Minister to have independently verified whether Mr. Mahendran was, in fact, honouring the assurances he gave the Hon. Prime Minister. We regret that, the Hon. Prime Minister did not take that course of action.” This is certainly a situation which the Prime Minister will have to face up to in the coming weeks and months, as the debate of the Bond issue gets even hotter. It is the stuff of politics; he must be used to in his 40 years in Parliament and politics.
He made an address to the nation on Thursday evening, emphasizing the UNP’s commitment to continue the fight against corruption, was of the view the many millions lost through the Perpetual Treasuries’ frauds, could be recovered with no loss to the country, from the millions of that company’s funds already been held back by the Central Bank. He stated the party had appointed a three-member committee headed by Minister Tilak Marapana, to go into areas where action may be needed with regard to the Commission findings. There is little doubt that as the poll campaign moves on, with more public discussion of the findings in the Report, the Prime Minister and the UNP will certainly have to face more comment, criticism and censure, which will be the stuff of a highly strained coalition; the future of which may be decided after the local government polls.
Much credit
Despite the heavy criticism directed at the government by the JO on the Bond issue, the manner in which this probe has been carried out by the PCoI, the very substantial report that has been produced, and the fact that it has already been presented to Parliament (which will decide when it will be debated), and that it has already been put on the Internet, certainly gives much credit to the government. It underscores President Sirisena’s repeated statements in campaign rallies that the government remains committed to its pledge to fight corruption, of the past and the present.
In fact, the government draws much credit from the fact that this is the first time in the past several decades that a government, and a coalition, has carried out a timely and thorough probe into a major fraud in the country; has released the report, and has taken steps to bring those involved in the fraud to justice, with the least delay.
This is certainly not the stuff seen in this country in the years of the previous Rajapaksa Regime, and earlier administrations of both the SLFP and UNP. It stands out as a beacon of the commitment to fight corruption at the core of the campaign for the Common Candidate in January 2015, and gives strength to the forces of civil society that continue the call to fight corruption. There is little that the JO, the SLPP and Rajapaksa supporters could seriously draw from this record of fighting corruption, and is likely to help push for more of such action against those corrupt in the past, and now trying to cover up their offences with the scum of the Bond issue.
More to follow
While that Bond issue is the highlight of the stuff of politics today, there is also the report submitted to the President on the probes into more than 30 matters relating to fraud, corruption, and violation of administrative practice by the Presidential Commission on Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC). This report too has been submitted to Parliament, and hopefully will be the subject of an early debate.
The PRECIFAC reports cover a considerable amount of corruption under the previous Rajapaksa Regime, and is in fact a direct follow up of the policies of the coalition of National Unity formed in 2015. The material from these reports will certainly affect the members of the JO and SLPP, and could well involve some members of the SLFP who are in government today. It is, therefore, a matter of importance that the focus on the Bond issue findings should not by any means lead to covering up the frauds of the previous administration. The President’s instructions to the Attorney General, the Bribery Commission, and other institutions involved in probing and fighting corruption, must ensure that action on PRECIFAC issues must move with the same speed with intended action on the Bond issue.
Presidential term
The decision of the Supreme Court on the President’s own request to find out whether the term of the Executive Presidency would be five or six years, according to the 19th Amendment, where the Court was unanimously clear that it is five years, did negatively affect the President’s image, while he said it was only a clarification sought in view of contradictory positions. There was the clear suspicion in the mind of the public that this was a move to go back to a six year presidency, with the approval of the Supreme Court, and certainly went against the many statements the President had made in public, from the day he took office as President on January 9, 2015.
It is regrettable that the legal advisors to the government, particularly the Attorney General, was supportive of the six year term, when the explanatory comments in the Constitution left little room for any doubt about five years. The declaration of the five year presidency has now given rise to other issues, with leading members of the SLFP in government stating that President Sirisena would be the SLFP’s candidate for the next Presidential Election. This certainly contradicts what President Sirisena has said from the time he was sworn in, and it is best if the matter is clarified with speed, before it adds to the simmering divisions that exist between the UNP and SLFP.
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