Ajit Randeniya

The motley crew of people and political parties Robert Blake commissioned to manufacture Adigar PawnsekaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s farcical presidential candidature has now dwindled down effectively to the bank robber and self-confessed murderer Somawansa Amarasinghe. Amarasinghe seems to be stealing the limelight at every possible occasion; the photograph of his bare-bodied appearance in a Hindu temple, by the side of Pawnseka, was a sight to behold!

Now it appears other non-political agents of Blake and the western intelligence agencies are slowly stepping out in an apparent attempt to fill the embarrassing gap in support to the pawn. The most obvious amongst these was the intervention last week of J.C. Weliamuna, a veteran of BlakeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s bogus ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”anti corruptionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ crusade. If Amarasinghe is a bank robber, Weliamuna is the sneaky pickpocket of Sri Lankan society.

J.C. Weliamuna is a thief who is engaged in one of the most sinister money laundering operations, collecting millions of dollars from foreign intelligence agencies, through their ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”aidƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ agencies and INGO arms, under the guise of corruption fighting.

He has made his strategic, partisan entry in to the election campaign with the submission to the Elections Commissioner of his ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”report on the abuse of public resources in the electionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. He has also announced plans to launch a weekly report on the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”abuse of State funds and resourcesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ until a week after the Presidential election. He has also delivered a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”LectureƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ during the week.

According to Weliamuna, his report is the summary of 80 ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”conclusiveƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ investigations carried out by a TISL investigation team and:ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The report is self- explanatory and contains evidence that proves that public resources have been utilised for campaigning purposes.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Curiously, Weliamuna does not want to press for legal action (even with such conclusive evidence?) and the intention is purely to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”mobilise public opinionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. But he would welcome anyone looking to use their report to file legal action! Any takers?

Before we go any further, the public officials from the state media, transport and other organisations and the air force who have been falsely accused in this scandal sheet have given perfectly valid explanations to the Daily Mirror: they have said that there services are sold for a fee to anyone, and where they have been used by any political party, they were paid for. Now that should put an end to this thiefƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s charges.

What this scandalous intervention shows is that, irrespective of the results of the impending election (which President Rajapakse is going to win with an increased majority), people like Weliamuna need to be ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”weeded-outƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ from public life if countries like Sri Lanka are to ever develop and gain true independence.

Weliamuna belongs to a breed of despicable Third World collaborators of various neocolonialist projects. The neocolonialist creation of traitors of WeliamunaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ilk in the developing world was foreseen by early independence leaders such as Kwame Nkurmah, (1889-1979), the leader of Ghana, the first African country to achieve independence in 1957.

In NkrumahƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s seminal book, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Neo-Colonialism: the last Stage of Imperialism, the most significant study of imperialism since Lenin’s ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Imperialism: the highest stage of CapitalismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ he explains in great detail how the West, and especially the United States, was responding to the success of national liberation movements, by shifting its tactics from colonialism to neo-colonialism: “Without a qualm it dispenses with its flags” and “claims that it is ‘giving’ independence to its former subjects, to be followed by ‘aid’ for their development. Under cover of such phrases, however, it devises innumerable ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism.”

In this comprehensive and prophetic analysis of the neocolonialist designs, Nkrumah observed that neocolonial exploitation operates “not only in the economic field, but also in the political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ He predicted the use of UN agencies and mass media by the neocolonialists as means of pursuing their objectives. Nkrumah also observed the then-emerging trend of distortion of Christianity through the creation of sects and cults to support the aims of neo-colonialism. He wrote: “Following the liberation movement there has been a veritable riptide of religious sects, the overwhelming majority of them American. Typical of these are JehovahƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Witnesses who recently created trouble in certain developing countries by busily teaching their citizens not to salute the new national flags. The number of evangelists continues to grow.” NkrumahƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s message to the developing world was that: “With the utmost speed, neo-colonialism must be analysed in clear and simple terms for the full mass understanding by the surging organisations of the African peoples.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

As is to be expected with such an enlightened leader fighting the evil of neocolonialism, Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966 by a CIA backed military coup, while he was was on a state visit to North Vietnam and China.

Weliamuna is a typical neocolonialist collaborator-for-profit, in his particular case through the outfit known as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”TransparencyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ International that is typical of the neocolonialist traps. The deception starts with the naming of the trap of course, with references to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”transparencyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, despite its own financing being more opaque than a gorillaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”nether endƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢! (Thanks, Geoffrey Chaucer).

This particular contraption, which we shall call ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Opacity InternationalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in fairness to authenticity of language, was created in 1993 by a neocolonialist agent named Peter Eigen who was (and probably still is) a World Bank operative in charge of creating the organizational infrastructure for the much heralded panacea for the developing world at the time, of Globalisation.

The expressed objective of TI was to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”fight against corruption at the national levelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. Since its founding, the TI virus has spread to over 90 countries. TI is funded by western ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”development agenciesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ (read intelligence agencies, USAID, NORAD etc) and multinational companies renowned for bribery and corruption in the developing world.

Amongst the truckloads of ideological hogwash put out by TI, there are concepts such as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”The National Integrity System (NIS) assessment approachƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and corruption perception index (CPI). The true objectives behind the totally contrived TI corruption prevention campaigns and the totally meaningless nature of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”pseudoscienceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ behind concepts such as NIS and CPI are now beginning to attract the attention of genuine university academics, exposing the business serving purpose of CPI.

In 2008, Dr William De Maria of the Business School of The University of Queensland published a number of research papers on the bogus science of TI. In a paper titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Measurements and markets: deconstructing the corruption perception indexƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (International Journal of Public Sector Management, 21: 7, 777 ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” 797) Dr De Maria examines how the measurement of African ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-corruptionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ has been manipulated to serve western economic interests. In another paper, “The New War on African “Corruption”: Just another Neo-Colonial Adventure”? (Ch. 8, Against the Grain: Advances in Post-Colonial Organisation Studies), De Maria, proves that the CPI is a flawed, business-centric instrument that is oblivious to cultural variance: so much for intellectual corruption!

Another intriguing aspect of TIƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s existence is its total focus on the developing world, and more particularly on the Middle East; it sponsored a larger study ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-to explore and evaluate the experience of Arab states of Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco in terms of systems of integrityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. It is not surprising at all that Israel is not included. How can Zionists behind the project cast aspersions about their Utopia?

But it went on to evaluate the implementation of a national integrity system, would you believe, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)! The PNA is similar to a town council, but without any institutional capacity to perform its functions due to its territory being under Israeli military occupation, with its borders and border-crossings fully controlled by Israel. But TI is hell-bent on teaching the oppressed Palestinians some morals!

Amongst its ideological hogwash, TI defines corruption as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the abuse of the public office for private gainƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Assuming TI itself is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”publicƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, Weliamuna violates his own gospel! Weliamuna should be required by law to declare his assets including overseas bank accounts and receipts from foreign ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”aidƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ agencies before he can inquire about others. Sri Lankans including any young graduates considering ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”careersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ at TI under WeliamunaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s tutelage need to be appraised of the fraud that is TI.

This pickpocket needs to be taken to task.