It is no stranger to us in Sri Lanka that politicians are ridiculed by society for what they say and do. The reason is that it is an experience that is recorded according to which government governs the country. But they are not the only ones who are ridiculed by politicians. Colloquial terms and words are often ridiculed because of political usage. One example of this is that the ‘good governance government’ that operated in Sri Lanka between 2015 and 2019 ridiculed the very word ‘good governance’. Another example of this is that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, which used’suba anagathayak ‘ as its theme, has finally dragged the future of all Sri Lankans into the open hapless situation.
The presidential commissions appointed by the presidents to cover up the dishonest frauds of the politicians have also been ridiculed by the aforementioned words. To talk about the presidential commissions, which have become a system of embezzling crores of public money, we decide to draw your attention to the commissions appointed by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who was ousted by the people’s struggle on July 09, and the public money embezzled by them.
President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was elected to the presidency for a six-year term with a mandate of over 600,000 people. But he was able to be in hat position only for a period of two and a half years. Now society itself is questioning what he did for the country in that short time. Indeed, this writer does not say that he did nothing. He is the one who went on to transform the country into a carbanized manure overnight and threw two crore twenty lakhs into the ditch. He is the one who cut taxes and lost hundreds of billions of income to the country to reward the smugglers who spent money on his election. Among the things are the way he established presidential commissions and presidential task forces and the embezzlement of billions of rupees of public money.
After becoming the seventh Executive President of Sri Lanka, he started work by appointing the Presidential Commission. Appointing the commission in January 2020, he said that the purpose of the commission is to investigate the political revenge that took place during the good governance government. The last commission he established was in last May. That was the commission to investigate the fires acts of vandalism that took place in the country from March 31 to May 15. In this way, he has established five presidential commissions and nearly 18 presidential task forces. The total amount misappropriated through that should be calculated in billions and not in millions of rupees.
The first commission appointed by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was the Commission to Investigate Political Revenge. Then the Special Presidential Commission appointed to investigate the alleged irregularities in Edirisinghe Trust Investment Limited, the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate the previously appointed Presidential Commissions, the Special Presidential Commission appointed to investigate human rights violations and the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate the customs irregularities. He established many presidential commissions. He finally appointed the Commission of Inquiry to investigate the arson and vandalism that occurred in the country from the aforementioned March 31 to May 15. In addition, he also appointed a special Presidential Commission of Inquiry to implement the recommendations of the Commission of on Political Retributions appointed by himself.
The Commission on Political Revenge, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Upali Abeyratne, has been heavily criticized since its inception. National People’s Power Member of Parliament Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated in Parliament that it exceeds his authority. Apart from that, the commission recommended providing relief even to those who were prosecuted according to the existing legal framework of the country. It was seen that politicians who had not worked for a single hour in their life as public servants filed complaints before the commission, and the commission investigated them and gave recommendations.
Although the main purpose of appointing the commission is to investigate and provide relief to the political reprisals suffered by public servants, it is a wonderful incident that some of the people who filed complaints were not public servants. The best example is the incident involving Duminda Silva. Former Member of Parliament Arumadura Lawrence Romelo Duminda Silva (R. Duminda Silva), who was found guilty of the murder of Bharata Laxman and sentenced to death by the court, and the sentence was confirmed by the Court of Appeal, his father filed a complaint before the commission saying that his son suffered political revenge while he was detained in Walikada Prison.
The Commission’s extension of time to file the complaint is a special event and the legal opinion regarding the legal matter was that the Commission should not have accepted the complaint for two reasons. The first reason is that Duminda Silva is not a public servant. The other is that he was sentenced to death by a court decision and not by a political decision.
Despite the situation, it was recommended that the commission appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to find out about political revenges should be given some relief to Duminda Silva and at the same time the supporters of the government worked to socialize the opinion that Duminda should be pardoned. Even Venerable Murutthettuve Ananda Thero said that he should be relieved. Duminda was granted presidential pardon, but after considering the petition filed by the parties led by Hirunika Premachandra, the Supreme Court canceled the presidential pardon and re-imprisoned Duminda. It is needless to say that it is a truth revelation not only to the commission but also to the president who appointed the commission.
In this way, even if not one of the recommendations given by the commissions appointed by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were implemented, all expenses such as the rent payment for the offices rented on behalf of the commissions, staff maintenance, etc. were borne by the public money. The exact amount has not yet been calculated. But the Sunday Times newspaper, which published an article last week investigating under the Freedom of Information Act, states that the amount spent for this commission in 2020-2021 is Rupees 3,370 lakh .
From that point of view, it is clear that these figures do not include the last commission appointed by the President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in 2022, the commission on ‘Arsons that took place in the country from March 31 to May 15’ and the commissions held in 2022. It is clear that after adding that amount, the aforementioned 3,370 lakhs will increase further.
Not only did President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appoint the commission, but also the current President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is also a champion. Many presidential commissions were established during the good governance government in which he held the position of Prime Minister. Among those commissions are the commissions appointed to investigate the bond fraud, the commission appointed to investigate the Easter attack, and the commission appointed to investigate SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering, and Mihin Lanka.
It is still a mystery today what recommendations were given and what steps were taken accordingly. But it has now been revealed that the amount spent on that commission is 2,540 lakh rupees. According to that, it is clear that the amount of public money that has been spent only for the so-called presidential commissions during the last eight years is 5,040 lakh rupees.
Apart from this, the amount of money spent on nearly 18 presidential task forces appointed by the President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has not been disclosed till now. Looking at the model of the Presidential Task Force for One Country, One Law it is clear how irresponsibly the appoints to the task forces are made. Needless to say, giving the chairmanship of that commission to a monk like Reverend Galagodaatte Gananasara, which was appointed to make recommendations on very important legal issues, was highly disliked by people who appreciated the peaceful and communal harmony of the country. The monk who destroyed the communal harmony by spreading hateful views against the Muslims in this country was imprisoned for contempt of court some time ago.
In addition, the Presidential Task Force on Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province, the Presidential Task Force on Green Agriculture, the Task Force on Economic Revitalization and Poverty Alleviation, the Presidential Task Force on Education in Sri Lanka, and a green social economy with sustainable solutions to climate change. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa set up a number of Presidential Task Forces including the Presidential Task Force for the Appointment of Sri Lankan, the Presidential Task Force on Education in Sri Lanka, the Presidential Task Force for Building a Secure Country, a Disciplined, Moral and Law-Abiding Society and which recommendations were made by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It is still unknown how many of those recommendations were implemented. Also, the amount of money spent for this task force has not been revealed even today.
It is clear that the Presidential Commissions established at the cost of more than 5,000 lakhs of public money in a bankrupt country where a large part of the population is malnourished, it has become a ‘nadagama without a portion of the drum’ or a beat of a drum. In fact, what happened with this commission was trying to forget all the issues that the people feel strongly about. Some president in the future has to take a tough decision on the presidential commissions, which are a ‘tool’ used by presidents and bankrupt governments to strengthen their existence, although they are not worth five cents to the country. But we should not be surprised if a future president also thinks of appointing a ‘Presidential Commission’ to get the necessary recommendations.
Aruna Laxman Fernando
