Friday (19) marked 14 years since the end of the three-decade-long war; a sombre day by all means that is now marked with pomp and pageantry. Leaving all that aside, the issues that led to the war and the residual effects of the war such as the thousands who were displaced from their homes, the thousands left destitute, the thousands who yet remain classified as missing on both sides, and land issues that yet remain unresolved are wounds that continue to require healing.

Besides those core issues, during the entire period of the war, the standard excuse offered by politicians on either side of the political divide for rising poverty and lack of meaningful development was that billions that could be used for these purposes were being diverted to the war effort and that, when the war ended, all these resources would be made available for the benefit of the people.

Unfortunately for the people, who waited 30 long years for economic emancipation, that is not how things worked out and, 14 years later, the country lies bankrupt, helpless, and poverty-stricken, with unemployment at an all-time high.

But who in their wildest dreams would have thought that a country that did not go bankrupt even with a full-blown war in the north and east and at one point an insurrection too in the rest of the island would face that prospect long after the guns fell silent? Is it not right and proper that those who held office in the post-war period of the past 14 years be collectively held accountable for the current state of affairs?

The fact of the matter is that it is the same political leaders who presided over the destinies of this land long before the war began proper and during the entirety of it who are still in office and now commemorating the dead while still calling the shots. Meanwhile, the rest of the world has moved on by leaps and bounds – not least in terms of leadership.

How is it that the excuse of the war being made the scapegoat for poverty and the lack of development has been replaced by a whole host of new, other, more creative excuses? All the while never once has there been acceptance of failure of leadership to steer this country to prosperity when absolutely nothing was holding it back for the past 14 years.

The underlying reason why this country is where it is today and why no political leader has had the gumption to admit this is because it is nothing else but corruption that is at the root of it and all without exception are to blame for it. Today it has reached such uncontrollable proportions that even while the country lies bankrupt and the economy is haemorrhaging, corruption continues on a mega scale.

The controversy surrounding the compensation suit over the X-Press Pearl disaster is a classic example where no less a personality than the nation’s Justice Minister announced in Parliament of a $ 250 million bribe being purportedly paid to an individual to derail the lawsuit. What has been happening in the past two weeks, with even the case being filed in a wrong court in Singapore, certainly justifies the Minister’s claim. 

While it does not take a rocket scientist to prescribe the cause of the economic affliction or the remedy for it, it is indeed cause for concern that this affliction is yet to be treated the way it should be, considering the fact that the patient will soon be terminally ill unless urgent attention is provided.

Given the current context, it is only fair for the man on the street to question whether the quality of life of the average citizen in economic terms has improved since the end of the war. If the answer is no, does it not amount to a case of letting down those brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives so that the rest of us could have a better tomorrow? 

Today, exactly half of the country’s population has been categorised as being on the wrong side of the poverty line by the World Bank. Is it not an indictment on the quality of the leadership this country has had in the post-war period and, more importantly, an undermining of the ultimate sacrifice of so many brave men and women?

Scandal after scandal is being unearthed by the media on a regular basis involving mind-boggling amounts, but there has been little or no inclination on the part of law enforcement, the Bribery Commission, or for that matter the country’s leadership to investigate any of it. Rather, the inclination is to go after the messenger.

However, on the flip side, a new anti-corruption law is currently before Parliament supposedly to bring this cancer under control but, as in the case of most things in this country, the proposed cure will likely make things worse. This country has a history of laws being introduced to suit certain people and parties whenever they are in office at the cost of the rest of the country for years to come.

The latest version of the anti-corruption legislation that runs into over 100 pages of various mitigatory measures has one overriding clause that will effectively render the rest of the proposed law redundant or of little effect in practical terms. This is because the clause on page 119 states that any individual who is found to have made a false claim will be subjected to, in terms of the new law, a fine of Rs. 1 million or a prison sentence of 10 years or both.

Whistleblowing in the current context is already a risky business, but with this new provision being made into law, who in his or her right mind will risk the proposed harsh punitive measures in return for attempting to help cleanse this country of corruption? The end result of this piece of legislation will be to institutionalise already-rampant corruption.

The consequences of corruption that are plainly visible to the 22 million Sri Lankans these days will not only make economic recovery that much more difficult, but will also prevent genuine investment from coming into the country. At the end of the day, it will take a brave soul to park their money here, knowing well the inherent risks involved.

While corruption is a universal problem, most countries have got over it thanks to whistleblowers who take great risks in exposing corruption and those behind it. In a country where the investigating arm – the Police – itself is tainted with corruption, where even the serving IGP sees no issue in paying homage to his political masters by visiting them with gifts during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year and where the Bribery Commission has to date been unable to net a single big fish, the odds are heavily stacked in favour of the whistleblower becoming the victim.

A case in point is the Pandora Papers, where a consortium of international journalists did all the hard work on unearthing the complex money trail that led to the exposure of a Sri Lankan politician having stashed $ 160 million in offshore accounts, but despite the former President asking for a report in one month two years ago, local law enforcement has not thought it fit to even question the named individual.

This country has gone through enough – both before and after the war – to know that lopsided reform will not only hasten the slide to economic bankruptcy but also bankruptcy of essential professionals, who have had enough with excuses over several decades and have been left with no other option but to seek greener pastures elsewhere.