Friday 2nd February, 2024

The Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe government has overtaken King Kekille, who according to Sri Lankan folk stories, always punished the innocent and spared the wrongdoers in the cases heard before him. The present-day Sri Lankan leaders behave in such a way that one wonders whether King Kekille actually lived in this country, and they are his descendants.

On Tuesday, the police crushed a peaceful protest a group of civil society activists held in front of the CID Headquarters, Colombo, calling for the arrest of Minister Keheliya Rambukwella for some procurement rackets during his tenure as the Minister of Health. Their call struck a responsive chord with all Sri Lankans who want bribery and corruption eliminated and the corrupt brought to justice.

But the police, obviously acting at the behest of the Kekille government, as it were, arrested four protesters instead of Rambukwella! They were bundled into police vehicles and taken away. Thankfully, the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered Rambukwella to report to the CID.

When government politicians’ vehicles speed like bats out of hell and rear-end trucks, causing fatal accidents, the ruling party worthies demand action against the truckers! They think they and their kith and kin are above the law, and no one else has any right to be ahead of them—even on the road.

The CID has been scratching the surface of health sector corruption. Kalinga Indatissa, PC, told the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court on 15 Nov., 2023 that the mastermind behind the procurement of fake immunoglobulin was in the Cabinet. He dared the CID to arrest the culprit.

The police continue to arrest hundreds of drug addicts daily as part of their Yukthiya (Justice) operation. But the person who masterminded the fake immunoglobulin procurement deal is still at large, and the police swoop on those who campaign for his arrest!

The SLPP-UNP administration has no qualms about shielding its corrupt members while flaunting the Anti-Corruption Act, which it touts as a silver bullet that can help eliminate bribery and corruption! By protecting the corrupt openly, it has proved that the much-advertised Anti-Corruption Act is not worth the paper it is written on.

Sports Minister Harin Fernando goes around, crowing about the lifting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) ban on Sri Lanka Cricket. He seems to have a very low opinion about the intelligence of the Sri Lanka public. That the corrupt elements in the Sri Lankan cricket administration requested the ICC to impose a ban after being sacked by the then Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe is public knowledge.

It is unthinkable that an international sports governing body has no scruples about defending a bunch of corrupt cricket officials despite irrefutable evidence of corruption against them, provided by no less a person than the Auditor General of a sovereign state. It looks as if the descendants of King Kekille had got into the ICC’s key positions as well!

It is high time the administration of the gentleman’s game was handed over to gentlemen. There is no other way to preserve the values and traditions associated with cricket. Three-piece suits do not make gentlemen.

Regrettably, the ICC, which is expected to promote the spirit of fair play, sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct of players on and off the field, has failed to be different from the corrupt government of Sri Lanka.