Diyawanna sharks and sprats

Saturday 8th October, 2022

The police are reported to have stepped up checks at the parliament complex to prevent workers from smuggling in narcotics and pilfering food items. Two parliament workers have been taken into custody recently. One of them had 100 grams of heroin on his person, and the other had stolen a can of milk and some other food items. Stringent action is called for against those who are caught with dangerous drugs, and the fact that people are experiencing economic hardships, and have to feed hungry mouths at home does not extenuate theft.

Curiously, no action has been taken anent Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s recent declaration that there are drug addicts among the members of the current Parliament; his call for making it mandatory for all lawmakers to be tested for drugs has gone unheeded. He has said that before setting up a rehabilitation bureau to conduct drug tests on the public, the government should make sure that all MPs undergo drug testing. Fair enough!

In early 2019, the then UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake caused quite a stir by saying that some MPs were addicted to drugs, but a committee that probed his allegation concluded that his claim had not been substantiated. He specifically said that as many as 24 MPs including four Cabinet ministers were addicted to cocaine, etc. He made this claim after the extradition of notorious drug baron, Makandure Madush, from Dubai. About two and a half years on, Opposition Leader Premadasa himself has levelled a similar allegation. Will Parliament care to conduct a thorough probe into his claim? People have a right to know whether the serious allegation against their representatives is true or false.

There are no doubt decent men and women in the current Parliament, but the conduct of some MPs has tarnished the image of the entire legislature. The best way the MPs could clear doubts and suspicions in the minds of the people is to take drug tests voluntarily if they have nothing to hide. They ought to emulate Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin, who took a drug test of her own volition and cleared her name, in August, following the release of a video of a private party, where she is seen dancing exuberantly. She effectively silenced her critics, who claimed she was taking drugs, and put the matter to rest. Her example is worthy of emulation. Opposition Leader Premadasa and the members of his parliamentary group should take drug tests first and set an example to others.

Many politicians with humble origins have amassed enormous amounts of wealth since taking to politics. Some of them are now living like Citizen Kane in the US, where they migrated and started out as gas station workers before returning here to engage in active politics. Their meteoric rise would not have been possible if not for their corrupt deals and theft of public funds, but they have got off scot-free although a parliament worker who stole a can of milk, etc., has been nabbed.

Big-time crooks controlling the incumbent administration, which has become a metaphor for corruption, have also put paid to the efforts by the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) to expose state sector corruption and those responsible for crooked deals; they have engineered the exclusion of dissident SLPP MP Prof. Charitha Hearth from the COPE, which successfully conducted several high-profile investigations under his chairmanship. His ouster is a clear indication that the thieves in the garb of politicians who went into hiding while the people were out for their scalps are now regrouping and making up for lost time. They know that as for winning an election in the foreseeable future, they have the same chance as a cat in hell, and therefore they are all out to enrich themselves further before being kicked out of power. Prof. Hearth was an obstacle in their path.

If a person who steals some milk and other food items, bought with public funds for the consumption of a bunch of overnourished politicians, deserves to be arrested, how should those who help themselves to state resources at the expense of millions of poor, malnourished people including children be dealt with? We will know the answer to this question when the next popular uprising comes about!