Trade unions, civil groups to fight corruption
Corruption has run rampant in Sri Lanka and its impact has been felt by the country. Without fighting individually it is better to move forward with a collective voice
Over 40 trade unions and 20 civil organisations have decided to create a coalition to fight corruption.
Trade unions and civil organisations belonging to education, health, transport, environment and other sectors will address the issue of corruption to minimise incidents where public money is misused.
The coalition would be formed on October 31 with the participation of representatives from trade unions such as the Health Services Trade Union Alliance and the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations.
“Corruption is one of the major problems Sri Lanka is facing today. We intend to fight it and we understand that we can make a real impact through a collective voice. As a health service trade union we exposed the corrupt activities of the former health services director general. But he retired and did not get any punishment. This is people’s tax money which is wasted because of these kinds of corrupt activities” said Saman Rathnarpiya, Chairman of the Health Services Trade Union Alliance.
He said controversial deals like the Hedging Deal and importing poor quality crude oil has cost millions for Sri Lanka which had to be paid off ultimately by the tax payer.
Therefore the coalition was to be formed to fight corruption and it would have an action committee to head the coalition.
Rathnapriya said that even though bodies like the Bribery or Corruption Commission and the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) have been set up, their functions are limited and do not have enough power to make an effective impact to bring corrupt activities before the law.
Meanwhile spokesperson for Transparency International Sri Lanka, Shan Wijetunga expressing their support to the coalition said, “Corruption has run rampant in Sri Lanka and its impact has been felt by the country. Without fighting individually it is better to move forward with a collective voice. So we extend our support to this coalition.”