{"id":128893,"date":"2014-08-10T00:03:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T18:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=128893"},"modified":"2014-08-17T13:07:45","modified_gmt":"2014-08-17T07:37:45","slug":"who-brought-the-elephant-into-the-room-and-who-will-remove-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/who-brought-the-elephant-into-the-room-and-who-will-remove-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Brought The Elephant Into The Room And Who Will Remove It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Elephants are majestic creatures.\u00a0 They are also beasts of burden.\u00a0 They give stature to pageants.\u00a0 Those who have tusks are especially valuable to the point that they are hunted, killed and divested of their prized \u2018possessions\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 They also enhance status of owners.\u00a0 Elephants are sought then for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 There are therefore laws about acquisition.\u00a0 Whether these are adequate is a moot point.\u00a0 What is clear is that enforcement is a joke.\u00a0 What\u2019s worse is that there are sinister forces which deliberately and systematically subvert enforcement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are talking here about the case of the illegal capture of elephants.\u00a0 This is an issue that has been in the news for quite some time.\u00a0 It is not just a matter of one status-seeking ruffian ferreting away a baby elephant, coming up with all kinds of excuses when found out and then working the system with whatever oil works to give slip to the law.\u00a0 We are talking about an entire set of rogues working in concert.\u00a0 We are talking of a system that is tailor made for theft.\u00a0 We are talking also of a culture that encourages wrongdoing, trips those who would dare, by way of carrying out duties, subvert such machinations.<\/p>\n

The allegations are serious enough.\u00a0 Environmentalists have complained that forged documents have been submitted to support applications to register calf-elephants.\u00a0\u00a0 An audit query carried out by the Auditor General\u2019s Department has revealed that this allegation is correct and that the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance and the Public Property Act have been violated. A single permit (No 229) has been issued for two elephants (one male, one female).\u00a0 Four other permits (Nos 331, 334, 358 and 359) have been issued by the Department of Wildlife Conservation although the stated information does not tally with the size of the animals.\u00a0 In the case of Permit No 331, the elephant for which the permit was sought is a male although the application indicates it is a female.\u00a0 Permits 226 and 338 contain forged signatures of former DWLC Director General, Chandrawansha Pathiraja.<\/p>\n

The hanky-panky with respect to registration has been well documented.\u00a0 Officials are yet to respond adequately to allegations. It would have been disturbing enough if relevant authorities had taken refuge in the ostrich option.\u00a0 What we see, however, is active collusion by authorities.\u00a0 In one case, for example, a magistrate is implicated over improper registration.\u00a0 The owner of the Hambantota Bird Park Ajith Gallage as well as the now suspended Wildlife Officer and Flying Squad chief (no less!) have been identified among those involved in forging documents to obtain licenses for elephants captured illegally from the wild.<\/p>\n

What is most disturbing about the current situation is the sudden and inexplicable transfer of a key official involved in the investigation.\u00a0 Deputy Auditor General A. H. M. L. Ambanwela,\u00a0previously\u00a0in charge of the DWLC, Forest Department and Central Environment Authority (CEA) sections was transferred to the Labour and Sport section.\u00a0 Ambanwela, coincidentally was the person who compiled the audit query.\u00a0 His transfer is nothing less, at least in appearance, than throwing a spanner in the wheels of a process that would clearly have embarrassed a lot of important people.\u00a0 The Auditor General has not covered himself in glory here.\u00a0 Indeed it appears that either he himself is implicated or he does not have the integrity to defend the honor of the institution he heads in the face of political pressure.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that Ambanwela has been in the news.\u00a0 When he was working on an audit of procurement in the Central Province he was subjected to an acid attack.\u00a0 He is a man who has suffered and has borne his suffering without a flinch, clearly a man of integrity who takes his job seriously.\u00a0 His track record is unblemished.\u00a0\u00a0 His new post, not surprisingly, carries little responsibility. A officer of his caliber and experience, one would imagine, would have been ideal to oversee areas such as the\u00a0 ETF, an entity that had been rocked by scandal after scandal.<\/p>\n

The problem here is that Lalith Ambanwela being sidelined from the case is not a random, one-off affair. It is one of what has come to become routine whenever any official or politician comes under investigation.\u00a0 Lalith Ambalwela had acid thrown on his face.\u00a0 A key witness in the case involving a politician forcing a school teacher to get on her knees was found dead inside a well recently.\u00a0 Police officers who crossed the path of politicians, big and small, have been transferred by the dozen.<\/p>\n

It is clear that rules and regulations, law and order, are not worth much in this country.\u00a0 When a country reaches a point where honest officials with skill and a strong sense of integrity are deliberately sidelined or are subjected to threat, intimidation and attack, when a country comes to a point where the institutional apparatus does not function or is replaced by informal arrangements where political interference is what counts, it can be described as anarchic.<\/p>\n

Lalith Ambanwela is not the only official who takes his job seriously.\u00a0 There are countless others in the public service.\u00a0 He is not the only such official who has been given the short end of the stick.\u00a0 That\u2019s what is most bothersome.\u00a0 When such people are attacked, a strong message is given to all.\u00a0 Those who are faint of heart will fold up immediately. \u00a0Over time a culture is produced; a culture of complacency, of looking askance and of doing-as-told-and-shutting-up.\u00a0 In such a situation people like Ambanwela are quickly dismissed as mavericks and offloaded.\u00a0 Or worse, one must add, considering what he has already had to suffer.<\/p>\n

What does all this tell us of the overall picture?\u00a0 The Government is clearly not clueless or spineless.\u00a0 In fact it is showing remarkable clarity and spunk.\u00a0 It is in in-your-face mode.\u00a0 It is doing the dirty and asking \u2018so what?\u2019\u00a0 In short the entire institutional apparatus has collapsed.\u00a0 Fresh paint on fa\u00e7ade cannot fool everyone.\u00a0 The \u2018dirty\u2019 of the inside is, after all, seen by all and all the time too, whether it is in a police station, in a crime scene or a traffic accident involving VIPs.<\/p>\n

There are two things one might do well to remember.\u00a0 If the boss is up to no good, it\u00a0 amounts to a license for everyone under him or her to likewise indulge in wrongdoing.\u00a0 Secondly, if anyone in any institution is up to mischief, the chances are that those above are either up to mischief themselves or else incompetent and\/or powerless to put a stop to it.\u00a0 There\u2019s a huge elephant in the room.\u00a0 It is a wild elephant.\u00a0 It is not the kind of creature that is the kathaanaayaka<\/i> or protagonist of this story.\u00a0 It has a name. Corruption.\u00a0 It has been brought in by the powerful.\u00a0 It is on a rampage.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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