By
Lucien Rajakarunanayake

Ranil sways and Ravi stays. That seems to be the R – R Rhythm, the swing and sway of reorganized politics or management of the UNP.

Ranil Wickremesinghe certainly defeated the No Confidence Motion against him in parliament, where most charges were about corruption involving the Central Bank Bond Scam. But that has not taken him and the UNP leadership any distance from the stuff of corruption.

The new Politbureau of the UNP has approved Ravi Karunanayake’s position as the Assistant Leader of the Party, and endorsed by the Working Committee. With such a decision by the Politbureau, it is clear that corruption is certainly the stuff of politics of the UNP today. It is much more a pattern of Bond Scam corruption, and nothing to do with Clean Government, which is the fading theme song of Yahapalanaya or Good Government.

Ravi K – Master of Penthouse Occupancy on Perpetual Funding – who remains a free man in our increasingly crooked society, has said that just one or two persons in the Party opposing his appointment as Assistant Leader is not worth commenting on. What a wonderful thought. He is right. If the Party leader, who is Prime Minister – who introduced the crooked Arjuna Mahendran to be the Governor, Central Bank, and saw the even more twisted Arjun Aloysius make his son-in-law millions from Treasury Bonds, with outlaw delight –wants him as Assistant Leader of the Party, who has any right to oppose it? Such protests are not the stuff of dirty politics and even worse party management.

After all those big promises of a major change in UNP politics, to face up to the Executive Sword wielding President, and the people who voted them out in local government polls, the luggage of corruption remains the payload of Jumbo politics.

Whether it is worth commenting or not, as Ravi K would think, it seem good to recall that this politician who held both the Finance and Foreign Ministry portfolios, with the grace of Ranil no doubt, did obtain several millions- Rs. 1.25 million a month – from the twisted and awry Perpetual Man as rent for his Penthouse at Monarch Residencies in Colombo. Many could consider this monarchic or super power corruption, but certainly not Ravi and his party leader. It is just the touch of success in the Free Market Economy that fuels the stuff of corruption.

Let us also not forget that this same former Finance Minister told several heads of State Banks, that they should not bid high at the Treasury bond auctions that went for the higher bids of his Penthouse Rent Master. What a delightful twist to the pledges given to the people to fight and defeat the forces of corruption?

But we should not stop at that. What about Forex Fraud and New York connections. Here we come to the other RR of this narration – Raj Rajaratnam, who has been found guilty of huge fraud and sentenced to imprisonment by the New York judiciary. There were strong allegations of forex transfers in millions from this RR crook, facilitated by Ravi K. It was a long case, and Ravi K was not found guilty. He was released by the Court, with expectations of revised and more suitable charge be filed later. Three years later, there are no revised charges. What a wonderful legal system that we have. Are we to forget that the Attorney General’s Department was and remains under the portfolio fold of the UNP?

Ravi K – K for Kleen – remains the Assistant Leader of the UNP, assisting the party leader Ranil W – not so White – who needs such support to reach the goal of Free Market Corruption.

The UNP and SLFP – are the two parties of the coalition of unity government. The SLFP awaits a “scientific reshuffle” of the Cabinet, by President Sirisena. We do not know what scientific, principles, maxis or theories would be the stuff of this scientific shuffle. But it would certainly look like the science of a huge cabinet once again. That will be the Sirisena petard.

The UNP, with all its history in the politics of Sri Lanka, has no formula for the politics of the future, but that of corruption. All its noise about party reorganizing for more popularity and better governance, has only led to the underlining of corruption in politics and governance, now and in the future. A party that must retain an Assistant Leader who is the touchstone of corruption, with a leadership that supports the corrupt, is hardly the stuff that will ever fight fraud and corruption in today or tomorrow.

A party that lays a red carpet to those involved or suspect of money laundering, and benefiting from fraud in Treasury Bonds, can have no claim to Clean Governance of any degree. It is the end of a false journey for Yahapalanaya or Clean Governance, and the source of Yama Palanaya or Devil’s Governance.

It is the R-R or Rolls Royce of the hugely corrupt.