Crooks, masses and deities in distress

Wednesday 10th November, 2021

A beggar woman has been arrested for going on a shopping spree by using a credit card that a kind-hearted lady happened to drop while giving her some money. It has been revealed that the culprit has amassed a considerable amount of wealth by begging, and owns two houses. Among the goods she has fraudulently purchased are a washing machine, a stock of liquor (for her husband) and a lot of expensive food items.

One can only hope the bogus beggar will get her just deserts and be made to regret having done what she did. But isn’t this similar to what the leaders of successive governments have done to the public all these years?

One sees no difference between the so-called leaders and the beggar woman who enriched herself by abusing the munificence of the public and through fraudulent means. They and their families have not only lived off the generous people but also stolen state funds, and thrived on borrowings, leaving debt repayment to the public. But none of them are ever made to pay for their frauds unlike the aforesaid beggar woman; cases filed against them after they lose power are invariably discarded when they make a comeback. The despicable process of the state prosecutor unflinchingly withdrawing cases against those in power has made a mockery of the judicial process. It is against this background that the present government’s much-advertised one-country-one-law programme should be viewed.

SJB MP Sarath Fonseka has recently made a damning revelation; someone in the yahapalana government received a backhander to the tune of USD 20 million, when a controversial airbus deal was cancelled and compensation amounting to USD 150 million paid to the company concerned. The yahapalana politicians formed a government, promising to have the leaders of the previous dispensation thrown behind for bribery and corruption, among other things. Here is an issue the proponents of ‘One country; One law’ can take up; they can find out who the unnamed corrupt yahapalana grandee is and take legal action against him. Fonseka, a minister in the previous government, is there to give evidence, and the government can order an investigation maybe in retaliation for the scathing attacks it has come under from the Opposition over the Pandora Papers disclosures. But you can bet your bottom dollar that the ruling politicians will not care to do so, for they are busy making up for lost time, and devising ways and means of having cases against them terminated.

Meanwhile, the police have gone into overdrive to trace the assets of a narco kingpin called Kudu Ruwan; they have already seized several vehicles the criminal purchased with drug money. They deserve to be commended for their efforts and should be given a free hand to crack down on the netherworld of crime. But everybody knows that the assets of politicians and their progeny have also been acquired with stolen funds, but nobody does anything about them. Some political brats are holidaying overseas, we are told. They are not employed and have no legitimate source of income; they are obviously living on public funds their parents have helped themselves to.

Kleptocracy has got so entrenched in this land like no other that not even the assets belonging to deities seem to be safe. A gold salver is reported to have been stolen from the Kataragama Maha Devale, of all places. When the state coffers are not safe and politicians and their kith and kin are living in the lap of luxury with stolen public funds, is it surprising that the educated, intelligent youth are leaving this country in their droves? At this rate, the day may not be far off when even the deities in distress, who are believed to have been here for millennia, run away just like the youth so that the corrupt political leaders and their children will be able to reign supreme.