Sunday Times 2
Black money vs public resources
In my article last Sunday I averred to the fact that secretaries to ministries are part of public resources, and how their political partisanship draws officials in their ministries also to join the campaign.
Last week, the Sunday Times also carried an article by former DIG Anton Jeyanathan regarding black money amassed by government politicians from drug traffickers, casino kings and commission kakkas. He said the enormous amounts spent on pre-election campaigns were black money that they had amassed.
I agree with him. But let me tell you this — it is not in the nature of these greedy politicians to spend their own money, however ill-gotten it is, on election propaganda when State resources are available to them aplenty even without having to ask for it. With the President himself as the government candidate, ministry secretaries who are the chief accounting officers and other powerful officials in the fray squandering public resources for election propaganda, it has become fair game for all in the government bandwagon. That is why ‘files’ are referred to by the boss to threaten those who cross over. Showing the stick (the files) and offering the carrot (cabinet portfolios) have been the pattern of governance by this Government resulting in an enormous burden on the people.
The cost of the mushrooming cabinet portfolios could otherwise have been utilised to grant welfare facilities to the poor. To thieves in league, ‘files’ will be a deterrent to crossing over to the rival side. It is to the credit of the cabinet ministers who crossed over to the opposition that they can challenge the President to show their files and continue to remain in the opposition and expose the corrupt governance under an authoritarian president.
The loss to public resources is unimaginable. Public money is utilised to provide meals and bribe the voters while the misuse of State vehicles, fuel, buildings, electrical and electronic equipment and electricity on various pretexts, is rampant.
Early this Monday, about 200 state buses drawn from Ratnapura, Kalawana and adjoining districts were parked in front of the Panadura depot to be utilised for the transport of crowds to the UPFA Presidential election campaign meeting in Panadura that evening. Inquiries have revealed that transport was free of charge for the crowds brought for the meeting.
The President has been treating public officials lavishly at his official residence with State funds. The Rajapaksas have even tried to arrogate to themselves the credit due to our war heroes who fought in the front – many sacrificing their lives. When it is ‘all public resources to the fore’ led by the President himself, who on the government side will spend his own money?
A government minister has gone on record stating that government politicians have earned enough and do not need to be corrupt any more. This does not hold water because the word ‘enough’ is not in the vocabulary of the corrupt. Moreover, they will hold on to their amassed wealth like their own lives, as they know that chances of their being returned to parliament are bleak. To them it is ‘now or never’ and rather than spending their own money on the election campaign, they will even pocket more from the State coffers unlawfully drawn for the election campaign.
(The writer is a retired senior superintendent of police.)