By Vishwamithra –

“The will is the strong man carrying on his shoulders the lame man who can see”  ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

The grapevine was busy. It’s main story was not a flattering one for the current administration. The Speaker of Parliament was being accused of doctoring his resume. The accusation was not super serious, but not really commendatory to the government either. In order to enrich his curriculum vitae, the document that details one’s academic and professional history, Speaker Asoka Sapumal Ranwala was accused of embellishing qualifications; apparently after removing the said fake qualification of a PhD, it was rather inexcusable to continue to be charge of the affairs of Parliament, the People’s Legislative Assembly.

The people elected AKD as President and NPP as the overwhelming winner of parliamentary seats in the House, expected something very proximate to purity; they looked forward to honesty; they willingly and eagerly rejected seven to eight decades of corrupt politics. Not because they hated the past leaders so much, but they were willing to embrace a new vision that was shown to them by the new men and women of the National People’s Power (NPP). That new vision was devoid of corrupt practices; dishonesty, both in public and private lives of the new leaders; such brazen (mal)practices should be absent from their very lives and livelihoods.

The phrase ‘purity in politics’ sounds like an oxymoron. However, the NPP came to power with a massive mandate from the people because the members led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake promised on election platform that they would usher in a new era that would be anti-corruption, anti-dishonesty and anti-political perversion. Having been assured of attaining such lofty ideals, the people voted them into power expecting absolute transparency in matters of governance and bureaucratic affairs more than anything else. Zero tolerance for any act of dishonesty was taken for granted by the voter. It is in that circumstance that the government and parliament must act. It might have been too late. But better late than never.

The integrity of Parliament and the overall transparency of the NPP-led administration is being questioned now and the general view of a majority of the electorate is that the subject in question, the Speaker of Parliament should have resigned. Every minute he stayed as Speaker, the third (3^rd) citizen – President, Prime Minister and Speaker, in that order- of the country, would have further blackened the ‘purity’ image that they created on the election platform.

There should not be any ifs and buts. No person, however much he or she has been loyal to the cause of the NPP and AKD, is above the Party, Parliament and country. Ruthless execution of strictest discipline and impartial and objective discharge of duty must be exercised, not tomorrow or the day after. The people are watching you and please don’t let them down. And they did not let them down. The Speaker’s resignation, even after a couple of weeks, was a better example than had he chosen to stay on.

This is not being sensational writing. It is how I see it, period! There have been good Speakers and thoroughly useless and substandard ones. There also have been exemplary ones who functioned as Speaker in Parliament with impeccable dignity, decorum and integrity. Speaker of Parliament in a democracy is one office that not only mirrors the character of the man or woman who holds it, it enhances the character and persona of the holder. He has sole authority and power over the affairs of the House and all parliamentarians are expected to be ruled by his authority. He sheds his party loyalties once he wears the Speaker’s robe and wig. It is not a position one can take lightly and issue judgments and conduct the dealings of that august body. Any  questioning of his integrity will be a stain on the entire House of Parliament. It is not a matter of little typo. It is the good name of Parliament.

Could the current Parliament that is being dominated by a vast majority of NPP members have acted wisely and privately asked the Speaker to step down and spare the indignities that would have certainly followed had he chosen to stay on?

Zero means nothing, nada, naught. Tolerating even a modicum of dishonesty, carelessness or clumsiness will have a telling effect on the government. Once that fundamental trust is broken, once that elementary confidence is questioned without a reciprocal foolproof explanation from the subject in question, the stain that would scar the body of the NPP, it would have been extremely hard to repair it. However, before it became irreparable, the Speaker acted, albeit a little late. There cannot be any compromise on this matter.

Bigger men have come and gone. President Dissanayake, Prime Minister Harini and the NPP as a Party in power were visited with a great opportunity to show the country that they meant business if and when they asked or pressurized the Speaker to step down. It is not the time to look at history books in order to find moral equivalency with other Speakers in the past. We have passed that station. The journey cannot be halted nor can it be stopped for the sake of one single individual. Sacrifice at the a supremely high level might not come again. The NPP had to show that they were willing and ready to make any sacrifice in order to attain what was promised at the altar elections, even at the cost of some collateral damage to some individuals.

What follows the Speaker’s ouster or resignation becomes a matter of political strategy. The NPP has the mind, will and skills to navigate once the initial current was contained and overcome. It is a once in a generation opportunity that visits any political party to exhibit unusual credentials for integrity, honesty and ruthlessness in regard to intra-party discipline. The NPP, even with some obvious reluctance, responded and the Speaker resigned. It is obvious that there must have been inner discussion within the NPP leadership to ask Ranwala to step down.

Nonetheless, there is one more thought that is irking some inquiring men and women today: how many more, if there is any, amongst the NPP parliamentarians whose paper qualifications could be dubious? There is only one way that question can be answered. A high level NPP leadership consisting of no more than three whose academic qualifications are beyond question should ask each and every NPP parliamentarian who has campaigned and entered into parliament to authenticate their said credentials. That could be done in camera and if the results show that no more NPP parliamentarians whose credentials could be questioned, then they could be satisfied. If any question arises in the future, then they will be armed with the truth.    

One messy circumstance has been cleverly avoided. The government and the NPP as a political party are two different and separate entities. Each has its own dynamic organisms. A clever and strategically minded thinker-leader would be able to identify the two as such and render leadership to the two organizations with equal commitment to the goals and purposes of each entity. It is not easy as it sounds.

In the old communist world, the government and the party were the same. USSR, East Germany, China, Cuba, Vietnam and even most of the Eastern European communist regimes such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia etc. followed the same path. That old communist world has collapsed. Although the Western media is still adhering to their uninformed dissemination of news the same old way and calls the NPP government as a ‘left-wing communist’ regime, it is not so. If it were, if the NPP-led political entity that asked for the votes and mandate to govern Sri Lanka as a ‘left-wing communist’ party , the people in Sri Lanka would not have given such an overwhelming victory, both at the Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Pragmatic management of government affairs may border on some principles that have been promulgated by Karl Marx; some very realistic approaches adopted by countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Norway in Scandinavia and New Zealand in Australasia have come to pass the  litmus test of good governance and sensible economic practices. Whatever the policies and principles followed by these governments, they have served their respective countrymen well and wisely.  Their economies have not collapsed to the abyss of bankruptcy. Their free press has not faced any draconian laws and regulations. Whatever the ideological path they have chosen to tread, their sociopolitical survival has withstood some potentially dangerous curves and falls. The people are continuing to repose their faith and confidence in their system of governance. That alone is a testimony for their enduring stamina, not only of the system, but more so of the people.

That is the ultimate outcome we are all asking for, specifically from AKD and his NPP government. At the very outset of this column, I mentioned the notion of Zero-tolerance. It may be extremely hard and excruciatingly painful to adhere to such an extreme position when you run a government; but at the end of the fight it would dawn on one that  fruits are many and thorns few. Whatever they lack, the NPP has shown that determination and will is in deficiency. Appuhamy, Mudiyanse, Natarajah and Hameed who voted for AKD and the NPP would expect them to show that will and determination, not once, not twice, but all the time.

*The writer can be reached at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com