LIMITATION OF GOVERNANCE MECHANISM
Anti-corruption activity is given much publicity during the last three years Narrow political interests are seen to be main concern The political process is increasingly played out through the language of corruption and anti-corruption
Over the last few years, a high internal profile has been given to the development and implementation of an internally coordinated anti-corruption strategy in Sri Lanka.
This experience allows anticorruption strategy, and good governance agenda informing it, to be assessed and for some lessons to be drawn regarding the internal management of anti-corruption capacity building programme; designed to strengthen state institutions to ensure that anti-corruption justice to be transitional and for reconciliation to be meaningful.
But, the major limitation of the internal regulation in the governance sphere; is that institutionalizing the unreliability of the State and dependance on poor internal mechanisms of regulation and conflict management.
This problem arises in favour of the SLFP and UNP in the country, which has led to internal regulation and reform of the governance sphere being shaped by external more than the needs of the people in the country.
The Government felt that they were not accountable to internal and external actors and were highly conscious of their limited capacity to further the interest of their societies against these internal political pressures (being an unfortunate power struggle than the country’s future).
The Governance and civil society programme developed by the Government and bureaucracy appear to give a little room for the consensus building and socially legitimating role of the political sphere.
There seems to be a view that questions of governance and social regulation can be resolved through the top-down regulation of the present administrators and the couple with the public awareness campaigning with the support of the internal and external experts.
We need to concern priorities and domestic requirements in
the process of reforming, which can result in isolating corrupted ruling elites and potentially destabilizing from the political sphere.
The political process is increasingly played out through the language of corruption and anti-corruption.
Allegations of corrupt practices have been used to provide a blank cheque to legitimize political interference
by present political administrators and taken up as the language of political and personal faction-fighting among SLFP, UNP and JVP parties themselves As well as attempting to use internal and external power against their political opponents.
It has been turned into the administrative and bureaucratic questions of administrative etiquette and good practice or of good governance, alleged to stand independently of or over and above –political interest.
The focus on the politicization of the corruption and the anticorruption or the corruption of political administration in the country (present administrative system has been corrupted by political interference).
This process is clearly illustrated in the wake of the success of the political changes during January 2015, but nothing has changed despite during election corruption was high on the agenda.
Narrow political interests are seen to be main concerns, as they are based on self-interest rather than on the good society as a whole; Political corruption is that the use of powers by Government officials for illegitimate political and private gain.
An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, and is done under the colour of law or involves trading in influence.
Forms of corruption vary, but inclusion of bribery and corruption may facilitate the misuse of Government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police sadicism, is also considered political corruption. The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction.
The artificial nature of policies, implementing through administrators involved in policy processes has little awareness of the social and economic limitations.
For instance, some political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, Government officials have broad or ill-defined powers; make it difficult to empower and anticorruption
capacity builders.
We need to understand international policy concerns and has marked a clear reposition in international thinking, international actors have taken leadership, today’s approaches would be insisting on the regulatory role as emphasizing the importance of external guidance and international capacity (Present Government has taken consultancy from the US based anti-corruption organization and advice for restoring Central Bank of Sri Lanka) at the local level, whether we like it or not.
Though the Western-influence through the promotion of institutional changes introduced at the state level and pay less attention to how societal pressures and demand (best example is the general public attitude of the anticorruption institution in Sri Lanka) are against on the legitimate institutional mechanisms.
This is based on the assumption that the political culture, powerful forces and challenges of corruption and nepotism and militarization, commercialization and politicization process in the country.
Our need is to continue that learning about history and also analyzing present context; we are already far behind as Asia continues to develop (due to poor management and corrupted administrative system in the country). As well as, we are experiencing in the influence of an Asia with increasing geopolitical power struggle (we get trapped with the geopolitical motivated lone and artificial development) but we should be intelligent enough to recognize where we should be able to get enormous benefits to the country’s economic development, peacebuilding and reconciliation programme, if we are prepared to adjust previous attitudes and policy mistakes in the country; current foreign policy must be focused on an anti-corruption approach and prioritization of good governance on international standard level current requirements of the need, international recognition, sovereignty and internal security (we must work together with the academic researchers and high-level professionals in the country to achieve this)
Once, Sri Lanka was an admirable exponent in the past, designed to maximize the benefits of amicable cooperation for all. We should endeavour to regain something at least of that earlier perceptive and strength.
There is no doubt that the Government has the greater responsibility to ensure that the requisite legal frameworks, policy implementation mechanisms, mobility are in place; corruption free country and to develop peacebuilding and to establish meaningful reconciliation and sustainable peace programme for the ethnic harmony, and also institute a culture of accountability.
An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, and is done under the colour of law or involves trading in influence
It has been turned into the administrative and bureaucratic questions of administrative etiquette and good practice or of good governance, alleged to stand independently of or over and above – political interest