Pivithuru
Hela Urumaya General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila has certainly cast himself as
the comedian of the pack clamouring for the return of Mahinda Rajapaksa. He
certainly is the showman among the foursome comprising of himself, Wimal
Weerawansa, Dinesh Gunawardena and Vasudeva Nanaykkara who forms the frontline
in the 'Bring back Mahinda brigade. Nary day passes without local TV audiences
being treated to the clownish antics of Gammanpila.
Be
it staging a double cross into the bosom of his avowed leader after initially
joining his former colleagues in the Hela Urumaya to support Maithripala
Sirisena, the flaunting of a spurious national flag during a frenzied protest
by the pro- Rajapaksa clan ,or in introducing a novel way to collect campaign
funds by asking voters in the Colombo District to fork out Rs. 100 each for
electioneering .The man is never out of the limelight and revels in an audience
.One has only to see his animated and "eager to be interviewed"
countenance when coming out of the Bribery Commission or the Prisons ,where a
colleague is languishing, into the glare of the TV lights to realise this.
True,
as part of the public face in the Bring back Mahinda campaign Gammanpila needs
to be in the media spotlight and it appears he is always ready with his script
for the next day's TV show .But Gammnapila will be better advised to chose his
script carefully lest he magnifies his clownish image before a discerning
public . The former Jathika Hela Urumaya stalwart on Wednesday certainly pulled
a stunt one too many which he might come to regret. Going before the Bribery
Commission Gammanpila who has a long line of colleagues in the Rajapaksa camp arraigned
before the Bribery Commission has complained to Commission that the appointment
of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the post by President Maithripala
Sirisena amounted to a bribe and both President Sirisena as the bribe giver and
the Premier as the acceptor had committed an offense.
This
appears to be a last fling of the dice for Gammanpila and Co. who is fast
running out of ideas to staunch the avalanche of bribery complaints against the
Rajapaksas and their acolytes and it also appears that Gammanpila true to form
is working to a script the lines of which is written at Medamulana or the
Abhayaramaya.
Isn't
Gammnapila who we believe is up to date on political developments in Sri Lanka
aware that prior to the last Presidential election Common candidate Maithripala
Sirisena made an open proclamation to the public that in the event of his
victory the Prime Minister would be Ranil Wickremsinghe whose party provided
the machinery and the votes for the former's victory ? If this was a bribe then
indeed it is bribe given in the open before 6.2 million voters who too would be
culpable in the offence by virtue of aiding and abetting in a bribe. Is the
memory of Udaya Gammanpila so short so as to have all too soon forgotten the
episode where the Mahinda Rajapaksa backers screamed their heads off against
Bribery charges brought against the former President for appointing UNP
renegade Tissa Attanayake as a Minister on the basis that the former President
was only exercising his constitutional right to appoint any member of
Parliament that catches his fancy (the appointment was made after Sirisena was
first sworn in as President). Isn't Sauce for the Goose Sauce for the Gander?
Gammnapila
in his haste to be the star on prime time Television once again it appears has
shot himself in the foot. So much for the credibility of the Pivithuru Hela
Urumaya which is a misnomer of the first order. We offer a word of caution to
Gammnapila and his likes. Don't , devalue and denigrate established arms of the
state such as the Bribery Commission in the eyes of the public by resorting to
frivolity .These bodies are formed for orderly administration of the country
.Treating them as a joke to fulfill one's political agendas could only lead to
anarchy. This is more so at a time a time these bodies have been given full
autonomy to operate on their own. Don't insult the intelligence of the public
with puerile claims and showmanship. There is today a big effort being made to
camouflage the massive corruption scandals involving the Rajapaksa family with
side show and filibuster in order to lead the public up the garden path. The
Bribery Commission we are confident is eminently competent to shift the chaff
from the grain. There should also be provision to deal with the likes of Gammnapila
who attempt to make a mockery of the Commission by bringing before it cases
that are frivolous and meant to throw on the smokescreen on the serious cases
before it.
The
19th Amendment has infused fresh life to the hitherto to dormant Bribery
Commission .The Courts too are functioning independently without the executive
breathing down its neck .The Supreme Court verdict stalling the arrest of the
former Defence Secretary is glaring example of this. The judiciary is no longer
under assault in a literal sense when one recalls the physical attack carried
out against the former President of the Judicial service Commission. Anybody
can go before the courts to obtain justice unlike in the past when the
country's highest court was invaded by police and the armed forces preventing a
former Chief Justice no less going to hear her own case. The public should be
indebted to President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe for once again
enthroning the supremacy of the law in the country.
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