-By Presidential affairs correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -16.Dec.2024, 11.30 PM) In a land where cricket scandals can sometimes seem more significant than corruption investigations, Sri Lanka has a new protagonist aiming to rewrite the nation’s story — President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Freshly elected, fiery as ever, and armed with a mandate that smells like roasted cashews at a street fair, Anura Kumara promises nothing less than a reckoning. He’s here to confront the Dark State — an insidious cocktail of shady politicians, opportunistic businessmen, and civil servants who think honesty is an out-of-date operating system.
Riding on the wave of NPP-led hope and voter desperation, Anura Kumara’s campaign speeches sounded less like political oratory and more like an episode of Colombo Confidential. Promises were flung out like frisbees at Galle Face Green:
• Investigate vehicle assembly scammers who slap a logo on used imports and call it “made in Sri Lanka.”
• Round up distillery owners who’ve been making money hand over fist while regular citizens can’t even afford their “extra strong.”
• Pursue those involved in VAT scams so complicated they make quantum physics look like basic arithmetic.
• Dismantle private hospital rackets where “patients” are “hostages,” all while the medicine mafia inflates pill prices with more precision than NASA calibrates Mars landings.
But the most ambitious promise? Anura Kumara vowed to demolish Sri Lanka’s Deep State — the shadowy network of corrupt actors who have turned governance into a game of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” (Hint: Everyone involved.)
At one rally, a young supporter waved a sign that read, “Make Sri Lanka Honest Again.” It was a slogan as catchy as it was naive, but Anura Kumara seized on it. He took the stage, his voice rising above the sounds of the cheering crowd and a rogue mobile bakery van selling roti.
“Who stole from the taxpayers?” he thundered. “Who grabbed land as if it were a New Year sale? Who sold tenders like they were auctioning mangoes at Pettah market?”
The crowd roared back: “The Deep State!”
If President Anura Kumara has a superpower, it’s making systemic corruption sound like a soap opera villain everyone loves to hate. By the time he was done listing the alleged crimes — from dodgy government suppliers to shipping cartels with murky deals — the audience looked ready to march straight to Parliament with pitchforks.
Now that he’s in office, the task ahead is Herculean. This isn’t a straightforward game of chess. The Deep State is like a hydra: cut off one head, and five more grow in its place. For every corrupt official sacked, there’s a cousin, neighbor, or distant aunt ready to step in.
Let’s start with tenders. Under previous governments, the process of awarding government contracts was so shady that even the shadows felt uncomfortable. Stories abound of contracts handed out to companies whose only “qualifications” were their proximity to certain ministers’ dinner tables.
President Anura has already launched an investigation into the infamous “Dodgy Bond scam to Nowhere,” a project that cost taxpayers billions but exists only as a line item in a corrupt bureaucrat’s Excel sheet.
The VAT scam is another headache. SJB Chairman , Imithiyaz was allegedly covering up For years, unscrupulous businessmen and their government allies have been siphoning off funds through a tax refund scheme so convoluted that even accountants weep when trying to explain it. Anura Kumara has pledged to untangle this web and hold the culprits accountable.
“VAT doesn’t stand for ‘Very Accessible Theft,’” he quipped at a recent press conference, earning both chuckles and awkward silence from the journalists present — some of whom might be less than impartial in their reporting.
Speaking of journalists, President Anura has no illusions about the media landscape. “In Sri Lanka,” he once said, “there are three types of journalists: the brave, the corrupt, and the ones who write reviews for biryani shops.”
The NPP government is up against a subset of the press that operates less like watchdogs and more like well-paid lapdogs. These journalists-for-hire amplify the voices of former leaders like Ranil and Mahinda, whose administrations arguably built the foundations of the Dark State.
If the health sector were a film, it’d be titled Hostel: Patient Edition. Anura Kumara’s administration has accused private hospitals of holding patients hostage with inflated bills, while the “medicine mafia” hoards essential drugs to drive up prices.
Imagine needing a routine blood test and leaving the hospital with a bill so large it includes a complimentary existential crisis. President Anura has vowed to dismantle these rackets, starting with a cap on private hospital fees and stricter regulations on pharmaceutical companies.
Investors are another frustrated group in Sri Lanka. Since 2015, major projects have been delayed or scrapped altogether, including the much-hyped Light Railway. This wasn’t just a cancellation; it was a signal to investors that Sri Lanka’s bureaucracy moves slower than a snail on Ambalangoda beach.
Anura Kumara has taken aim at the cabal of civil servants and business elites who sabotage projects to maintain the status quo. “They don’t want progress,” he declared. “They want profits for themselves and potholes for everyone else.”
Of course, the Dark State isn’t limited to politicians and businessmen. The judiciary hasn’t escaped scrutiny either. Certain judges and lawyers, according to the President, have been complicit in perpetuating corruption, either by delaying cases or issuing verdicts that defy logic.
One particularly infamous case involved a shipping company accused of embezzling millions. Despite overwhelming evidence, the case has been postponed so many times that legal analysts joke it’ll probably be heard by holograms in 2050.
Anura Kumara’s solution? Judicial reform. But whether the reforms will pass in a Parliament filled with vested interests remains to be seen.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for President Anura is dealing with the remnants of past regimes. The Deep State actors installed by Ranil and Mahinda remain entrenched in key institutions. These individuals are not just obstructing the NPP’s anti-corruption drive; they’re actively plotting to undermine it.
Civil servants demanding bribes, businessmen lobbying for favors, and unions that exist in name only are all part of this sabotage squad.
Demolishing the Deep State is no easy task, but Anura Kumara is nothing if not determined. His administration has already begun laying the groundwork:
• Establishing independent commissions to investigate corruption.
• Strengthening whistleblower protections.
• Streamlining government processes to reduce opportunities for bribery.
But whether these measures will be enough remains uncertain. Sri Lanka’s Deep State isn’t just a system; it’s a culture — and cultures are notoriously difficult to change.
For all the seriousness of his mission, President Anura has managed to maintain his sense of humor. At a recent event, when asked about the challenges of fighting corruption, he quipped, “It’s like peeling onions: the more you peel, the more you cry, and there’s always another layer.”
He even joked about the private hospital crisis, saying, “Maybe I should open a presidential clinic: free treatment, no hostage-taking.”
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s battle against the Deep State is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious reform efforts in Sri Lanka’s history. Whether he succeeds or not will depend on his ability to navigate a landscape filled with vested interests, entrenched corruption, and a public that alternates between hope and cynicism.
For now, Sri Lanka watches — and waits. After all, promises are easy to make; it’s the follow-through that separates legends from footnotes.
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by (2024-12-17 00:47:04)
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