“No country can progress if its politics is more profitable than its industries. In a country where those in government are richer than entrepreneurs, they manufacture poverty” – Peter Obi

Who is Peter Gregory Obi? He is a businessman and Nigerian political leader. Having been the Labour Party candidate at the last Nigerian Presidential Election in February, Obi has disputed the result that declared the incumbent as the winner and a court verdict is due on the matter. Obi has not only become a symbol of defiance but also the undisputed leader of the youth in that country, which like our own has been wrecked by corruption and political plunder. 

The essence of Obi’s observation is profoundly significant to us because he seems to have captured the plight of the Sri Lankan nation better than his own.

According to our current leadership, this bankrupt nation will become a fully-developed country in 25 years if the status quo is allowed to prevail. The question that requires pondering is where will every other country be in 25 years, including neighbour India, given the hectic pace at which it is conquering the world? 

In this rapidly-evolving information age where what is cutting edge today is obsolete tomorrow, 25 years is the equivalent of 100 years’ worth of snail’s pace ‘development’ we are accustomed to in this part of the world and the expectation that we will have to plod our way for the next 25 years just to get to where a lot of others did 25 years ago, is quite a stretch. 

Notwithstanding this 25-year promise of economic nirvana, there is nothing to show in the regime’s current economic policy that suggests even a foundation being in the works for such a dream, given that the current economic programme is solely about finding money to pay bills and hefty loans. The methodology that has been chosen for that task is taxation and sale of assets. We are yet to see anything resembling a comprehensive programme designed to raise the national GDP through export development like the 200 garment factory programme of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa or the Mahaweli export crop development.

Therefore, before looking at 25 years hence, the nation’s interests will be better served by first looking back at the last 25 and identifying where we went wrong. The dominant theme of such an exercise in soul-searching will likely turn out to be corruption and the role played by the political class in creating this monster. As Obi points out, except for a handful of genuine politicians, the majority have become as wealthy as actual entrepreneurs simply by virtue of holding political office.

The state of the State sector, the legacy of our politicians of the last couple of decades, is testament to the multifaceted face of corruption, with politicisation coupled with overstaffing by three or four times the actual manpower requirement weighing on the woeful state of the economy.

It is in this context that one is compelled to question the glut of legislation that is currently being presented before Parliament, when the actual need of the hour is to bring about legislation to prevent political and politically-motivated corruption – none of which seem to be in the offing.

That Sri Lanka is a land of contradictions is quite the understatement. People are used to saying one thing and doing the opposite, quite in step with their political leaders. However, despite the general acceptance of their fair share of burdens in daily life, one cannot recall a time in recent memory at least where the citizenry have been relegated to mere bystanders in their own country while their Government bulldozes legislation that will do everything else other than tackle the burning issue: resurrecting the country’s economy.

At no time in recent memory has a leadership attempted to put the noose around the very people who put them in office, some by default, just so that they can continue in office and do whatever they please without the trouble of having to face protests. Given the spectacular success of the people’s struggle last year, it is understandable that the political authority is still smarting from it and the current wave of repressive legislation in the guise of sheep’s clothing is expressly designed to prevent a recurrence.

The Anti-Terrorism Bill, successor to the Yahapalana-era Counter Terrorism Bill, is surely the ultimate contradiction in this land of contradictions with the not-so-subtle piece of proposed legislation aiming to turn the country into an open prison, riding on the pretext of preventing terrorism.

Another justification for the hurried presentation of this odious piece of legislation devoid of any sort of community consultation has been the longstanding call by the international community to do away with the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has acquired quite a reputation for blatant violation of human rights. Interestingly enough, this repressive act has done little to prevent terrorism during the 40 years of its existence including three decades of full blown war, an insurrection in ’88/’89, or even the Easter attacks in 2019.

However, in the face of stiff resistance by religious leaders, civil society, and the international community, saner counsel seems to have prevailed with the bill being held back pending further discussion. While there is no argument about the need for a strong anti-terror law in the modern context, what is missing here is basic respect for the fundamental rights of the people. 

While the widely-held belief among civil society is that there are enough and more laws to ensure law and order and fight corruption, what is lacking is implementation of the existing law. It is no secret that there is one law for politicians and another for everyone else.

For instance, the Anti-Corruption Bill must have as its focal point laws to not only prevent the country’s assets being robbed by politicians, but also to punish those who have already robbed and brought the country to its knees. In other words, merely locking the stable door after the horse has bolted will not suffice because measures must be taken to catch the horse and bring it back to the stable and restore it to its rightful owners.

To further highlight the paradox that is taking place in Government these days, we had the Executive threatening teachers and lecturers who refrained from marking Advanced Level answer scripts with having their assets seized by the State, while on the same day the Justice Minister stated that a huge bribe had been paid by the shipping company that owned the ill-fated X-Press Pearl ship to an individual to delay or deny litigation with regard to compensation for damage.

Despite the quantum of compensation being twice the value of the IMF bailout, there appears to be little inclination on the part of the regime to investigate and seize the assets of the bribe giver. Then again, why have the assets of those named in the Pandora Papers not yet been confiscated given the extensive investigations done by a consortium of international journalists and telltale evidence of money laundering already made available?

Therefore it is clear that the regime, like all before it, is only beating about the bush and not addressing the elephant in the room. Corruption, in its myriad forms that govern every aspect of the governance structure, must necessarily be fought from within first before looking elsewhere and the only thing required to do that is political will.