Cutpurses’ ruse

Thursday 5th October, 2023

Cutpurses who find themselves in situations where they have to take to their heels to escape from their pursuers pretend to be good guys; they sprint, shouting, “Pickpocket, pickpocket!”. Politicians employ the same ruse as the light-fingered individuals in a spot when the irate people are out for their scalps. They pretend to champion good governance and accuse others of bribery and corruption.

The SLPP-UNP government, which is troubled by the prospect of being kicked out of power for bankrupting the country and inflicting unbearable economic burdens on the public, is trying to sell the new Anti-Corruption Act as the proverbial silver bullet that can put an end to bribery and corruption. The ruling party MPs, of all people, are calling for its implementation, and faulting the Constitutional Council (CC) for delaying the reconstitution of the national anti-graft commission.

SLPP MP and former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has inveighed against the CC, in Parliament, calling it the most inefficient institution. He has said the CC has to be dissolved for delaying the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Act. According to media reports, he has gone to the extent of saying that it is not the houses of the MPs that the people should surround but those of the CC members. Interestingly, the Speaker and the Prime Minister are members of the CC. If the media has not misquoted Aluthgamage, he can be accused of instigating the people to storm the houses of the CC members for the delay in the appointment of the anti-graft commission. His statement can also be considered tantamount to an endorsement of mob aggression. He is not alone in advocating such action. UNP MP Wajira Abeywardene has gone on record as saying, before the Parliamentary Select Committee investigating the causes of the country’s bankruptcy, that residential addresses of certain Finance Ministry and the Central Bank officials whom he has blamed for declaring the country bankrupt should be made available to the mobs who attack the houses of politicians. What’s the world coming to when the so-called lawmakers make such incendiary statements in a highly volatile political environment?

Aluthgamage would have the public believe that if the anti-graft commission is constituted, hey presto, bribery and corruption will vanish from the country. But there is no guarantee that the commission will succeed after its reconstitution. Under successive governments, powerful politicians have prevented the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption from carrying out its duties and functions properly and living up to the people’s expectations. High-profile cases filed against Opposition politicians invariably collapse when they return to power. One should not be so naïve as to think that the new anti-corruption laws will be an effective antidote to political interference, which has not spared even the CC, and already rendered the Election Commission impotent.

The government seems to think that the Anti-Corruption Act will help assuage public anger. Let the ruling party worthies be urged to stop bellowing rhetoric and reveal the assets they possessed at the time of entering Parliament and their current net worth, and account for the accretion of their wealth. It may not be possible to trace their wealth stashed away overseas, but their traceable assets such as palatial houses and super luxury vehicles alone are proof of their affluence.

When some MPs, including ministers, demanded compensation for their houses destroyed during last year’s political upheavals, we argued that compensation should not be paid for any properties if their owners had not declared them as assets to the Inland Revenue Department and could not explain how funds had been raised for the acquisition thereof. The government is reported to have initiated the process of compensating the MPs who lost their properties at the hands of violent mobs. It must be pressured to reveal the basis on which it has estimated damages, and whether the gutted properties had been declared as assets by the MPs concerned. Will the Opposition press for an answer in Parliament?