By Asoka Seneviratne –

Asoka Seneviratne

Sri Lankans are finally ready to bid farewell to the three major parties. They are fed up with the old guard who have been cris crossing parties like leaches to remain in power, and eventually led our beloved homeland to financial ruin. It is widely believed and hoped that AKD will be elected to be our next President. I personally hope he will. Not so much know their agenda and policies but there is no other option.

But like thousands more, I am confused why Anura Kumara Dissanayake has not revealed his platform. Sri Lankans are screaming for a wholesale system change. They expect AKD and his team to deliver.

People are not expecting a change of face, but a change of the political structure that will create proper checks and balances, ensure independence of our criminal justice system, restore the rule of law and more.  With this in mind, here are my questions for AKD and his team

Anura Kumara Dissanayake | Photo Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi

What are your legislative priorities, how do you plan to create independence of the police and the judiciary  from the government, what will be number of ministers in your administration, what criterion will be used when electing ministers, what will be the oversight process for these ministers to hold them accountable, what will be your process when appointing heads of government agencies and corporation, how do you plan to have oversight over these appointees, how do you plan to address corruption, what will be your plan to attract investment both local and  international,

How do you plan to manage local government accountable and efficient, how do you plan to grow our economy, how do you plan  appoint judges, how do you plan isolate the judiciary, legislative branch  and the executive from each other, what will be your policies to address unemployment problem, how do you plan to address the issue of higher education, what options will you give those hundreds of thousands of smart kids coming out of A levels who fails to enter universities, will you allow foreign universities in Sri Lanka?.

And most importantly, how do you plan to recover the loot from the previous leaders of all parties? Will you be passing legislation to bring the culprits to justice even if you have to enact legislation with retroactive effect, will you use such loot to pay off our debts?

Do you plan to introduce a fresh and smart constitution that provides proper checks and balances and accountability, how will such a constitution enable the Rule of Law with absolutely no interference from other branches of government?

In such a constitution, will the Attorney General be a pawn of the leadership or truly work for the people to treat all law breakers with equal standards no matter who, will your administration have police minister appointed by leadership  and if so how can the police function without interference from the leadership, what mechanisms are there to ensure this most important issue plaguing SL for decades, restoring law enforcement without fear or favor.

How will you ensure that Peoples bank and Bank of Ceylon don’t become personal cash pot for the benefit of leadership and their stooges knowing that billions have been lent with no collateral, will AKD and Co do away with so many layers of local government with overlapping duties and some of them have become hatcheries of corruption to benefit the local elected leaders.

Will an AKD government enshrine in our constitution that the date for general and presidential elections are fixed to a date on calendar and not at the calling of the leadership?

Another crucial question. Where does NPP get funding? They must be. But will AKD resort to the same old by rewarding the money men by leaps and bounds when in power. All over the world big money plays a role in elections. They expect hefty returns. Will AKD and Co explain this aspect in the name of transparency?

The list can go on and on.

While I am no fan of JRJ, before he came to power in 1977, he spelled out a large number of details of his platform long before elections such as a wholesale change of constitution, creation of free trade zones, floating the rupee, allowing imports, creating a market economy etc. While many of his policies and the constitution planted the seeds of corruption and decay of our democracy, he did put his agenda forward well in time.

Those Sri Lankans who don’t eat grass are not expecting a change of faces. They are expecting wholesale structural changes aimed at wiping out our corruption, enabling equal justice under the law, create transparency and hold leaders accountable.

If these vitals are fixed, economic prosperity will follow naturally, and decent foreign investment will follow. Lankans are smart and hardworking people. They just need a fair chance and the governments have failed in providing these.

First, large foreign corporations must see that we have solid democracy, not a banana republic type where leaders use the police to beat up and intimidate their own people for simply protesting injustice and sky-high cost of living. And postponing elections for fear of losing and continue to trick people into lies and deception.

Sri Lanka is at a vital crossroad right now. It is a do or die situation. Do we continue the status quo and let the country be continued to be robbed to bankruptcy or do we change course totally and get onto a whole new track?

The young team of AKD is not tested in running a nation. But they have been in the forefront of highlighting corruption, violations of rule of law by politicos, mismanagement of governments etc. both in and out of the parliament. They deserve a chance. To some extent they have earned it too.

AKD and the team needs to now stop talking about all evil by all three parties and start opening up about their solutions.

So let us hope that AKD will soon release their platform in detail and it is a good one, not just a list of promises not to be kept.