By Lalith Dhammika Mendis –

Sri Lanka (SL)

SL, renowned as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, boasts a vibrant and diverse cultural heritage and pristine natural endowments. It is blessed with spectacular sandy beaches, mesmerizing hilly terrain, abundant natural water streams and rivers, cascading waterfalls, lush greenery, dense forestlands, a vast expanse of tea lands in cool climes, numerous historical monuments and religious sites speaking of a great civilization, breathtaking scenic beauty and a rich biodiversity that attracts Millions of people from the world over.

Chronicles reveal that SL was dubbed the “Granary of the East” during King Parakramabahu the Great’s reign, the golden era. Despite suffering the ravages of colonial rule, SL emerged as the country with Asia’s third-highest per capita income at the time of independence. However, socioeconomic and political vicissitudes experienced in SL’s post-independence history to date have plunged millions of people into abject poverty with many struggling to make ends meet today. Society has undergone a tremendous deterioration of moral values. The pursuit of self-gain and overarching commercial and vested interests at the expense of common well-being has taken root in every conceivable sphere of activity over decades. This has caused moral decadence and the dissipation of ethics and just principles that form the very essence of human conduct.

Corruption emerging through Socio-Political Decadence

During the early decades following independence, the masses predominantly elected regimes, considering the political-economic policies adopted by those vying for political authority. However, the thrust gradually shifted to welfare spending and social support policies adopted by political rivals in determining who wins the popular mandate. People rallied around the political parties of their choice, which witnessed the emergence of political demigods with cult followings. This ensued the formation of Political parties led by charismatic leaders with large chunks of voter bases.  It gave birth to a sycophantic layer currying favour with political masters. The system of bartering votes for freebies, goodies, and favours started taking root.

The 1978 presidential election marked a watershed in electoral politics in post-independent SL. Since then, developments have revealed a paradigm shift in political culture. Politicians mobilized the masses to gain electoral support and, in return, did some favours to sustain their hold on power.  The system of cronyism that ensued in this backdrop saw agile and dynamic elements becoming the go-betweens of politicians, complicitous state apparatus, and masses. These intermediaries became influential facilitators, whose involvement became sine qua non for people when dealing with the state sector to obtain public services. People were supported to procure needed services, benefits, and solutions in exchange for their allegiance and electoral support. Further evolution of cronyism witnessed well-connected intermediaries using political clout to promote business interests of fat cats to secure lucrative government contracts, obviously in return for attractive kickbacks. This paved the way for the birth of Crony Capitalism, which, to a great extent, is responsible for the economic quagmire the country is stuck in today. The devious collaborators bent on deriving lucre ingeniously crafted mechanisms to subvert established checks and balances and derive financial benefits through shady deals.

This phenomenon thrived under successive dispensations and political patronage, which nurtured cronyism, favouritism, discrimination, nepotism, and crony-capitalism, witnessed the emergence of unholy alliances designed to profit from public sector contracts, projects, procurements, etc. This evolved into an institutionalized mechanism, entrenching itself as an essential gateway in accessing the state sector dealings. Persistent greed to amass lucre and consolidate power saw the genesis of the clan of bullyboys, toughies, and gangsters working as go-getters, accomplices, and right-hand men of the syndicates operated by political higher-ups and fat cats collaborating with complicit state apparatus to profit from shady deals.   

Self-serving dynamics defiling the social fabric kept worsening in the context of the decay set in the political establishment, saw moral values, ethics, social norms, and the propriety of conduct evanesce into oblivion. The guiding principles and morals, such as transparency, fairness, impartiality, financial prudence, accountability, adherence to the rule of law, and good governance, quickly dissipated in the face of the juggernaut of crass commercialism that came hand in glove with political clout overwhelming every facet of public affairs. This caused corruption to flourish and firmly take root sucking the lifeblood of the economy. While unscrupulous, fraudulent elements profiting from underhanded deals were busy relishing fast-growing riches, the masses had to endure the untold hardships of skyrocketing cost of living, suffering in wretched conditions.

The widening influence of growing gangsterism, expanding drug peddling syndicates, and fast mushrooming underworld criminal networks with blessings at apex levels of power and the heightening clout of influence peddlers witnessed society undergoing diminution in moral values, dissipation of ethics, and absence of morality in human relations and behavior. The social outlook emerging in its wake witnessed possession of wealth, clout, and connections with who’s who that counts most became overriding considerations in interactions and dealings in public life, where qualifications, competencies, and merits were no longer reckoned as the determinants of success or otherwise.

Gravity of Corruption and Inauspicious Consequences

The corruption that flourished unchecked with the blessings at the highest levels of authority sucking life blood of the nation witnessed Sri Lanka falling into dire straits beset with serious socio-economic woes. As reported by Transparency International, Sri Lanka was ranked 121^st on the global corruption perception index in 2024 out of the 180 countries measured. This was the lowest rank associated with SL and reveals the severity of the corruption prevailing in this country.

Corruption has serious adverse consequences for socioeconomic development. It stunts economic progress, disincentivizes investment, and erodes public trust in the established system of governance.  Moreover, it leads to financial losses and undermines the prudent allocation of resources for public well-being, impacting social development. Besides, corruption impedes proper application and adherence to the rule of law and promotes illegal, unethical, and anti-social behaviour. Corruption fosters preferential treatment, discrimination, and favoritism and impairs healthy relations between individuals and those between the government and the business community. Corruption at the highest levels of power leads to a lack of accountability due to the absence of transparency.

Sri Lanka has suffered immensely from worsening economic woes due to rampant corruption, which caused colossal misuse, abuse, misappropriation, and embezzlement of public resources over the years. Whilst the public suffered under heavy, painful economic burdens, a coterie of elites and a privileged class had their way to exploit public resources for self-gain in gay abandon. Deliberately weakened and subverted checks and balances and built-in safeguards designed to protect public funds caused money to be repurposed for grandiose projects at the expense of public benefit. In the aftermath, the man in the street fell from frying pan to fire, whilst heartless, unscrupulous elements exploited public resources using every conceivable opportunity for self-gain. This situation witnessed the fortunes of many, including sycophants and stooges, currying favour with politicos, fat cats, and higher-ups, going from rags to riches.

The prodigious scale of corruption that prevailed in SL impoverished the nation with a colossal debt burden. SL in this situation was compelled to resort to more and more borrowings to pay for what had already been borrowed. It was caught in a vicious debt spiral and fell victim to an inescapable debt trap due to its greater appetite for International Sovereign Bonds (ISB’s) and increasing reliance on a regional powerhouse for financial assistance. Thus, SL was entrapped in a spell of predatory lending in its quest to finance post-conflict mega infrastructure development projects, strongly alleged to have been riddled with corruption. Many white elephant structures standing on Sri Lankan soil today provide ample testimony to the dubious motives of those who raised massive foreign borrowings at exorbitant rates, disregarding the logic of financial prudence to finance these projects. As reported by the Advocata Institute, ISBs initially accounted for 12% of the external debt, tripled from 2010 to 2021.  Moreover, ISBs were said to carry coupon rates from 5% to 8% and accounted for a whopping 70% of the interest payments made in 2021. Most of these debt-funded infrastructure investments lacked the reciprocal capacity to generate revenue and caused a further Debt Spiral.

Poverty – a Grave Consequence of Corruption

As per the UNDP Sovereign Debt Crisis Report covering 1998 to 2022, SL’s External Debt to GDP ratio peaked in 2022 at 74.7%, with 2008 reporting the lowest at 38.8%. The total National Debt rose to 115.54% of the GDP in 2022. During this period, exports as a percentage of GDP declined from the highest in 2000 at 39% to 21.4% in 2022. The fast-developing crisis was exacerbated with national tax revenue drastically depleting to its lowest of 7.37% of GDP in 2021

As per the Annual Report of the Central Bank for 2022, Sri Lanka ranked the second-worst affected country in the South Asian Region in terms of wasting among children defined as “low-weight-for-height,” which indicates severe loss of weight in children under five years of age. The report further states that underweight children of the same age groups have accounted for 20% since the year 2000. Demographic & Health Survey – 2016 reveals that 31.7 percent of the children in the estate sector are stunted as compared to 14.7% and 17% respectively in urban and rural areas. This is mainly due to socio-economic factors such as disparities in disposable incomes and economic security.

UNDP and Oxford University have developed the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to measure poverty beyond monetary deprivations based on three dimensions: Monetary Poverty & Access to Education, and Basic Infrastructure Services. Child Multidimensional Poverty Indicator (CMPI) of

SL, based on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 2019, reveals that one-third of the children in the age group of 0 to 4 are multidimensionally poor and either underweight or stunted. Lack of access to education for children, measured as part of the CMPI criteria, is bound to lead to adverse socio-economic outcomes in the future, with pervasive implications

Multidimensional Poverty in SL

The Department of Census and Statistics revealed in January 2022 what is enumerated below on multidimensional poverty in SL.

National MPI:

* Approximately one out of every six (16.0%) in Sri Lanka is multidimensionally poor.

* More than half (51.3%) of all people living in estate areas are living in multidimensional poverty.

* More than eight out of every ten (80.9%) people who are poor live in rural areas.

* People aged 65 or over are the poorest age group in Sri Lanka, with the highest incidence (17.9%) as well as intensity of poverty and MPI.

Child MPI:

* More than four out of every ten (42.2%) children under the age of five are multidimensionally poor.

* One third (33.4%) of children aged 0–4 years old are multidimensionally poor and either underweight or stunted.

* One sixth (16.4%) of children aged 0–4 years old are multidimensionally poor and deprived in early child development.

* Nearly half of children 0–11 months (46.6%) and 4 years old (47.5%) are poor, mainly due to undernutrition and not attending pre-school (respectively).

What should the Clean Sri Lanka Initiative (CSLI) entail

The Topmost Priority

The topmost priority for the CSLI is to rid the country of the menace of corruption, which is largely responsible for the intricate, catastrophic mess SL finds itself in today. It requires strengthening the state legal apparatus with strong teeth, competent personnel, robust law enforcement, effective investigative mechanisms, and cutting-edge technology to speedily bring perpetrators to book and mete out the sternest possible exemplary punishments to deter corrupt practices. Moreover, the Hon. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake could take a cue from Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore, and adopt a zero-tolerance policy on corruption by introducing stringent laws, implementing robust checks and balances, review mechanisms, and deterrent penal measures for violations to control public sector affairs. All state procurements should be made in line with the national procurement law and guidelines. To ensure the highest level of transparency in public affairs, they should be kept under the spotlight and the microscope of the National Audit Office (NAO). The move to eradicate corruption should focus on catching big sharks, not merely the small fries of less consequence, which amounts to cheap showmanship intended to derive mileage, as ridding the cancer of corruption should commence at the highest levels of political and state hierarchies.

Bringing about Constructive and Progressive Attitudinal Change

CSLI does not confine itself to cleaning the environment and public infrastructure, although they are important. It should primarily entail a profound transformative endeavour designed to inculcate broader human thinking that fosters socially conducive behavioural thinking, empathic thinking, coupled with progressive thinking in the mindset of the people, aimed at a revolutionary social transformation to bring about “Inclusive Socio-Economic Prosperity” that has eluded this nation for far too long. Despite this typically being a “Long Haul Endeavour”, urgent action is needed to bring about the all-important mindset change in the masses through instructional and informative approaches to offering guidance. It is meaningless to merely press on physical cleanliness unless measures are initiated to bring about progressive attitudinal change in society. Also, the political leadership could demonstrate “a lead by example role” in an exemplary and praiseworthy manner to encourage emulation by the state apparatus and the public.

Towards Inducing a Positive Outlook in the Future Society

Today’s young ones will form the future society. Hence, they have an indispensable role in shaping the outlook of the future society. The CLSI, therefore, should ensure that its broader objectives are incorporated into the national educational curriculum to groom today’s young ones to become responsible citizens. Children should be educated and trained in collaborative existence, respecting ethics, values, the rule of law, and social decorum through instructional and informative learning and extracurricular activities, so that future generations will demonstrate a natural propensity to abhor anti-social behavior, including corruption, which is a negative and illegal phenomenon. That will surely pave the way for society to rid itself of undesirable elements.

CSLI to Promote Health and Well-being

As an integral part of the CSLI, action must be taken to provide and improve public sanitary facilities, as what is available today is far below the expected standards. Moreover, providing sanitation facilities of proper hygienic standards at an adequate scale to schools is a dire necessity that remains largely unfulfilled. Whilst some of the leading schools in Colombo still lack sanitation at proper hygienic standards, the situation in schools in outstations and far-flung areas remains pathetic and seriously wanting. Ironically, authorities at one stage bragged about providing tab-computers to schools, turning a blind eye to the fact that basic sanitation in numerous schools was pathetically lacking. Training children from very early stages of their lives on “wholesome personal hygiene practices” would have a huge salutary impact on society in the time to come.

The government could join hands with the private sector in investing in the construction, maintenance, and upkeep of sanitary facilities at public places and schools. Whilst the private sector could consider such endeavours as part of its CSR activities, the Government could also chip in concessions like tax rebates in line with savings on infrastructure developments to foster private-public partnerships in this endeavor.

CSLI as a Catalyst to Boost State Revenue

Cleaning public infrastructure, like roads, canals, townships, transportation hubs, and environs, including beaches, lagoons, riversides, waterbodies, and the like, would immensely contribute to beautifying our landscape. It would be highly appealing to many overseas travelers visiting SL on vacation. Moreover, it is also important to maintain a high standard of cleanliness and proper sanitation at places of tourist attractions, such as archeological sites, as these places sorely lack sanitation facilities today. These improvements will undoubtedly enhance SL’s and its tourist attractions’ appeal to overseas travelers and drive foreign income to greater heights.

Indispensable Need to Keep Momentum

CSLI commenced with a bang with the Head of State presiding over its launch. It is a monumental endeavour. SL has seen many such endeavours seeing the light of day only to fizzle out. What is of the essence is to keep the momentum going. Starting is always easy, but remaining steadfastly committed to a cause demands unwavering commitment.

We saw many places being cleaned by various groups and organisations in the limelight, with the symbolic participation of some leading politicos when CSLI took off the ground. It remains to be seen if the places so cleaned with gusto would be maintained in a state of cleanliness and the aesthetic appeal by regular actions. There is no doubt that consistency is key.

The last thing that is needed is for CSLI to become a fiasco. Besides, CSLI in a profound sense must embrace the holistic view that society must undergo fundamental change to rid itself of the elements tainted with immorality, whilst laying the groundwork for a better tomorrow.