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If the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) party learns just three lessons as it passes the one year high water mark in holding the reins of power, it would do well to be a little more self-critical, a tad less arrogant and certainly more accountable in governance.

 A ‘curate’s egg’ record

Absent this learning exercise, its worst enemies will inevitably emerge from within as a matter of rude political force – which we witness already – rather than from the Opposition. In fact, the combined Opposition is possibly the weakest that we have had in post-independent history, confining itself to bland tasteless rhetoric rather than concrete mobilisation of critical resistance at the grassroots.

Its leaders (young and old) visibly lack the political credibility as well as maturity to harness mass popular resistance. Essentially this is a political ‘holding exercise’ as it were; the Opposition holds its collective breath waiting for the tide to turn and the Government to ‘mess up’ as the colloquial saying goes. By itself, that is hardly a good prescription for the democratic well-being of the nation.

Even so and to be somewhat unkind, the Government’s performance record irresistibly reminds me of the self-effacing curate who, when given a stale egg at the bishop’s dinner, assured his host that, ‘parts of it are excellent.’ To offset the fury of NPP idealists who tend to lose their various marbles over any critique of their beloved ‘change-makers’, (much like the ‘yahapalanaya’ cheerleaders of the Wickremesinghe era, 2015-2019), let me add that this is not a harsh assessment.

Important hurrahs re the economy

Certainly, if the International Monetary Fund (IMF’s) optimistic prognostications are anything to go by, (though some might vehemently disagree), the Government’s continuation of the Ranil Wickremesinghe policies of economic recovery in Sri Lanka’s post-bankruptcy years, must be greeted with three claps and a hearty hurrah. But then again, the two pivotal anti-corruption laws which the NPP has been using to maximum political advantage are also creatures of a  predecessor Presidency.

These are firstly the Anti-Corruption Act, No 9 of 2023 hailed by former President Wickremesinghe in a paradox of remarkable political duplicity as being the ‘best in Asia’ while retaining numerous corruptors in his Cabinet in regard to whose nefarious doings the former President was apparently deaf, dumb and blind. Secondly, we have the Proceeds of Crime Act, No 5 of 2025, passed into law under the current administration but finalised earlier.

I will return to those laws later as they form an important part of an objective assessment of the Government’s record. Meanwhile, the cheery Minister of Foreign Affairs keeps on promising that a new law replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA, 1979) will be put before the people ‘soon.’ It remains to be seen if that too will follow Mr Wickremesinghe’s nightmarishly framed draft Counter-Terror Act (CTA) and the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB).

A question of black and white regimes

And then we have the much publicised arrests of underworld mafia dons boasting the most ridiculous nom du plumes. Recently, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake held forth on two parallel regimes operating in the country. ‘One is the legal and elected Government, the other is run by drugs, crime and illicit power’ he said, adding that, ‘we have chosen to challenge that black money regime head-on.’

All this is well and good but this is nothing that Sri Lankans do not know already. Ministers who gloat over ‘putting an end’ to a netherworld protected by political and police kingpins must be reminded that these are early days. We cannot easily forget a former Inspector General of Police whose so-called ‘Yukthiya’ (Justice) programme against drug traffickers. That was also hailed as ‘cleaning’ Sri Lanka.

That individual performed Buddhist ‘poojas’ while spearheading a range of criminal activities in the colour of uniform for which he was stripped of his post. In effect, the rot runs deep, all the way to the dark underbelly of political and police sewers. Expecting to ‘clean’ the rot by parading the arrests of narcotics peddlers is to be unconscionably naïve.

Public controversies over declarations of wealth

So to return to the NPP’s trumpeted anti-corruption plank, recent developments highlight ‘the good, the bad and the demonstrably ugly’ aspects of ‘walking the talk.’ Unaccountably high declarations of wealth by front-ranking Ministers of the NPP’s leading constituent, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) sit oddly with politicians identifying themselves with the ‘non-elite’ and who paraded their simple lifestyles as badges of honour.

These exposures have been emerged through declarations of assets and liabilities under the (new) Anti-Corruption Act enforced strictly by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC) from this year. That being said, the disclosures need not necessarily have led to public disputes. Rather, the controversy was aggravated by stumbling explanations offered by JVP front-rankers as to how the wealth was amassed.

Some Ministers have meanwhile refused point-blank to respond to any questions whatsoever, demanding that their media interlocutors file complaints with the CIABOC. In tandem, the independent functioning of the CIABOC itself has given rise to further disputes. Ludicrously it is being suggested by some enthusiastic defenders of the NPP that asking questions regarding the ‘independent functioning’ of a constitutional commission amounts to its ‘undermining.’

‘Right and ‘wrong’ criticisms

In other words, the narrative is framed as to whether the CIABOC is above the law or above public criticism? It is a blindingly obvious legal principle that ‘right and ‘wrong’ criticisms can be levelled against figures in the public eye whose shoulders are presumably broad enough to take the weight of that scrutiny. That applies in the case of members and officers of constitutional oversight bodies as well.

This question has come to be disputed in the wake of public scrutiny of the CIABOC’s enterprising Director General (DG) including journalists asking why the CIABOC is seemingly dragging its feet on allegations of corruption raised by activists against serving Ministers while proceeding at the speed of greased lightning to put the corrupt of the ‘previous regimes’ behind bars.

To be clear, one must (most energetically) hail the ‘old rogues’ being caught. But that, by itself, is not to say that a Nelsonian eye must be turned to the vagaries of those currently in power. In fact, the manner in which the law progresses against the power-holders is the true test of the democratic health of a country’s anti-corruption system. Measured on this meter, how does the NPP Government fare?

The independence of governance bodies

The CIABOC has complained of an acute staffing crisis which is a problem affecting all oversight commissions in Sri Lanka. Even so, that does not quite explain ostensibly stark differences between acting on corruption allegations against Government and Opposition politicians. These differences cannot be glossed over by political propaganda exercises. Rather what is needed is sober detailing of a particular legal process and the relevant principles that apply.

Neither is the answer to grumble as to ‘how’ a pending CIABOC file on corruption charges against a sitting Minister was ‘prematurely leaked’ to journalists. It is then said that this ‘leak’ has ‘disturbed’ that investigation.

The consequent inference is that this ‘leak’ has delayed filing of the case which, like Samuel Beckett’s absurdist interpretation in ‘Waiting for Godot’ seems a long time coming.

Certainly the decision to file or not to file remains with the Commission itself which is again, an obvious fact that need not be stressed. However, it remains imperative that the integrity of the anti-corruption drive must be safeguarded from political posturing.

That is vital not only for the country’s premier graft fighting body but for the health of Sri Lanka’s governance oversight bodies won through sustained struggles.