Being honest

When the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), Director-General Sarath Jayamanne, and a Government delegation recently visited Bhutan for an anti-corruption conference, they met the country’s Prime Minister.

As tradition requires and as a token of friendship in meetings of this nature, the delegation presented the Prime Minister with a souvenir.

“The PM looked at us (with concern) and said, ‘If I accept this I would be charged with accepting a bribe’,” recalled Mr. Jayamanne, speaking at a recent panel discussion on ‘Integrity vs Corruption’ at the monthly meeting of the Sunday Times Business Club (STBC) held at the Kingsbury Colombo hotel.

“We were embarrassed by the response. However, the PM said that such gifts can be entered in a register and placed in a special room in his office for such gifts. These cannot be removed or taken home by anyone,” he said.

Mr. Jayamanne was illustrating how a small country like Bhutan taught them a lesson on how to deal with bribery and corruption which plague Sri Lanka.

According to experts, corruption increases poverty by decreasing the total GDP available for distribution; reduces spending power and affects the poor who are unable to pay bribes on demand, and thereby denied basic justice. The STBC event came on the back of the launch of the Government’s 5-year National Action Plan to combat bribery and corruption.

Despite, tough laws to deal with bribery and corruption, corruption is ingrained in Sri Lankan society particularly in public institutions and often in revenue-generating institutions like the Customs for example.

According to the last 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI), Sri Lanka has been placed at 89th position, slightly better than being placed at 91 in 2017. Still, in the region, Sri Lanka lags behind Bhutan (25th) and India (78th).

The best measurement of integrity and honesty is displaying honesty in private, not merely in public. “Your actions in private are the best form of honesty, not merely displaying these actions in public,” says Mr. Jayamanne.

As I reflected on corruption, bribery, honesty and integrity and watched Kussi Amma Sera and her bosom pals, Serapina and Mabel Rasthiyadu, once again, engaged in a heated conversation under the Margosa tree on the crippling power cuts, the phone rang.

It was my jolly-mood economist friend, Sammiya (short for Samson) on the line and wanting to, ironically discuss bribery and corruption issues. “I say…..….I saw the picture in the Business Times last week showing a discussion on anti-bribery and anti-corruption which are serious issues in society today,” he said.

Continuing, he explained how during his walks at the ‘ Weli’ Park at Nugegoda, friends related tales of widespread corruption in state institutions. “I was told of how at a certain municipality, bribes have to be paid at every point to get a job done or a project approved. Bribery is rampant.”

“In another instance, a bribe of Rs. 100,000 was sought by some policemen to release a suspect caught with a few ounces of heroin. These are just a few instances. Bribery reeks from top to bottom in all spheres, be it political or public institutions. But only the sprats are caught while the big fellows go scot-free,” he said.

“Absolutely, apart from the recent detection of the President’s Chief of Staff on corruption charges, only Grama Sevakas or policemen are taken to task for small offences,” I said.

The conversation then continued on different areas like the power cuts, corruption in the energy sector which is one of the reasons why Sri Lanka has been caught napping with a power crisis and how the crisis is affecting small shops and small businesses.

Integrity, according to Wikipedia, is the “practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions”.

While Sri Lanka has climbed a few, good steps up the ladder of integrity, as per the global TI index, this is not good enough and a concerted Government effort is required to go after the ‘big boys’ and white-collar criminals.

At the STBC discussion, TI Sri Lanka Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere explained that his organisation is launching a corporate reporting assessment of listed companies in the Colombo stock market to see the extent to which companies have anti-corruption and anti-bribery policies. This is a very good move as corruption is also rampant in sections of the private sector, in particular in the pump-and-dump era in the stock market. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced action against powerful businessman Dr. Sena Yaddehige for alleged insider dealing. In anti-corruption law, the giver and the receiver are both liable of committing an offence.

While the Government has so far dealt with corruption through law enforcement (prosecuting the crooks), the new Action Plan puts a lot of emphasis on creating awareness on this scourge in society and prevention. How far the plan would work, particularly during an election year when corruption and dishonesty will be at play, remains to be seen.

As the words ‘dishonesty’, ‘corruption’ and ‘integrity’ rang in my ears, I was distracted by Kussi Amma Sera and her friends, demonstratively, discussing the power crisis.

“Balanna Akka…….thavama podi minisun-ge viduliya vitharai kapanne. Kolombata kiri, apita kekiri ( Look, it’s still the small man who is affected by power cuts. Colombo is having milk and we are having kekiri),” said Serapina.

“Minissu harima tharahen inne. Ada anduva chandayak thibboth….….paradina-wa (People are very angry. If the Government holds an election today, they will lose),” said an agitated Mabel Rasthiyadu.

At that moment, I switched off from their conversation to put the final touches to today’s discussion on honesty, integrity and good governance. For that matter, the energy crisis has become a shouting match between all stakeholders – former power and energy ministers accusing current ministers of not doing their job, officials blaming each other and unions threatening to strike.

Watching these antics in public, it never fails to amaze me how Sri Lankans have been suckered into voting these politicians into power, over and over again, despite failing poorly in their performance and promises.

PS – With the long vacation next week owing to the Avurudu holidays, Kussi Amma Sera and her friends will also make their way to their respective villages for an extended vacation. Missing will be their thoughts and ideas for this column. Any ideas from readers, please?