Unfulfilled pledges and questionable yahapalana moves

Mr. President, you were elected as President on a platform of ‘Yahapalanaya’ administration. But alas! Your promises remain largely unfulfilled.

You and the Prime Minister promised to instal good governance and bring to justice those who committed mass-scale corruption. But the people are waiting anxiously for the fulfilment of such pledges as no perpetrators of financial embezzlement have been punished. Further, the way inves- tigations are carried out by the FCID and CID raises questions. The alleged miscreants are summoned but little or no action is taken. The Attorney General’s department, too, should be taken to task, for its lapses in this regard.

A story doing the round is that the proceedings are disrupted by some officials who are loyal to the previous regime. I feel that the process of summoning people before the FCID has become a fashion and is probably aimed at pleasing the masses.

Another questionable move is the Foreign Ministry’s decision to pay for the cost of former President Mahinda Rajapake’s air passage to Uganda. Is it true such air passage expenses have been offered by the foreign minister without even cabinet approval? All these questionable actions beg an explanation from you Mr. President and you Mr. Prime Minister.

Former ambassador Udayanga Weeratunga, who is wanted by the FCID for questioning, is roaming at will flying from country to country and meeting MR wherever he goes. Yet the FCID is unable to trace his whereabouts.

My parting advice to you, Mr. President, is that bold decisions should be taken to establish a Yaphapalanaya administration. Lionel Caldera Battaramulla