Chief Executive, Mahinda or Sarath?

By Helasingha Bandara

(November 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I would suggest that the following article by Day is a must read before reading mine. He or She has said almost everything I wanted to say. I am just icing the cake.

"General Fonseka as the chief executive officer of future Sri Lanka" on Saturday, November 14, 2009. At the outset I must say that it is a foregone conclusion that Sri Lanka has been stagnant for the last 60 years on every front and she is still getting nowhere whilst the so called politicians are ruling her. What she desperately needs is good managers under an efficient Chief Executive, not the corrupt politicians, certainly not the dogs who are prepared to bark anywhere at any time for little perks

There are thousands of intellectuals of Sri Lanka origin who wish the development of their country. There are millions of ordinary folks who wish their quality of life within Sri Lanka improved. For all who wish to save the country from the clutches of the rogue politicians this is the opportune moment. We want an alternative. That is about to emerge.

People have relentlessly argued over who should get the credit for winning the war. There are plenty of people who should be awarded the credit for winning the war, me included for my little contribution in my little way. Sadly the likes of us, I mean the writers, did not even get a thank you. It is not fair to share the credit only among the politicos. The Rajapaksha regime did exactly that.

Irrespective of different claims by different people for the victory, who would disagree if sensible people conclude that Mahinda could not win the war without Sarath and vice versa? Therefore, if we are supposed to vote for the person who brought the victory, it is more than justifiable that we cast half of our vote to each of the two potential contestants but that is impractical. The conclusion then should be that the defeating of the tigers has to be removed from the election campaign equation and the other elements taken into account in the decision making.

Since the defeat of the LTTE this government has never looked back from its fast run towards hell. In the desire to annihilate opposition, the so called advisors of the President have always given the wrong advice. The government has resorted to cleansing any possible threat of a political nature or otherwise. It has not listened to positively critical but friendly advice. The entire nation seems to despise the dynasty building of this government: the appointing of Rajpakshas to all powerful political and administrative positions and the open policy to let politicians and party supporters steal the country’s wealth which should be invested for the development of its people. The lowest point this government has reached is its tolerance of the dogs that I mentioned earlier. Mahinda Rajapaksha could do very well without them.

General Fonseka has every right to enter politics. The biggest mistake of Mahinda was to try to demean and insult the General. Even the very loyal supporters of Mahinda Rajpaksha would not tolerate such dirty work. This government is full of dirt and it has no hesitation to throw such dirt at anyone at any time. The nation is not full of idiots but sensible people who are mindful of this. Mahinda could do much better by being graceful.

Sarath Fonseka has a clean record. No nepotism, neither corruption is attached to his name. He is supposed to be an efficient manager of affairs. He is known to have cleaned the army of corrupt elements before winning the war. People have hope that he has transferable skills.

All he has to do is to declare that he stands as an independent candidate and expects support from all parties including the SLFP. If he can include in his manifesto that the powers of MPs’ that range from midwifery to selecting Vice Chancellors would be abolished, they would be given job descriptions with powers only to make decisions at the parliamentary level within the parliament and all avenues for stealing public money and for other corrupt activities would be closed, he needs nothing else to say to win.

People in Sri Lanka undoubtedly believe in democracy but are fed up of the corrupt version of democracy that we currently have in Sri Lanka. It is more than desirable to reform the so called Sri Lanka democracy, to replace it with policies and procedures that can restore both economic and social glory for which we were known for in the past.

-Sri Lanka Guardian