Chandre Dharmawardana

The claim that Champika “is a capable person” is based on

(1) comparing him with many other MPs who are uneducated

(2) that Champika has an engineering degree and so, he is “educated”.

I think this assessment is incorrect. A person must be judged not only on his “degree”, but also on his performance (track record).

On that basis, I think, if anything, he is “ILL-EDUCATED” and unsuited for office.

Here are my reasons:

(i) He and Ven. Ratana was behind the “Toxin-free agriculture” movement that set up a body called SEMA to run agricultural policy through Sirisena’s Presidential secretariate while Sirisena was the president. 

They banned the herbicide Glyphosate and the loss to the country has been calculated to be three times that of the bond-scam. They were part of the move to “organic agriculture” although they are very silent now and put the blame on Gotabhaya. It is alleged that they also had a hand in various shady deals regarding organic fertilizers, biofilm-biofertilizers, etc. 

In all this Champika was assisted by one of his Moratuwa University engineering buddies, Asoka Abegunawardena (?). These are people who have somehow managed to acquire an engineering degree although their capacity to think critically seems to be zero.

(ii) When Champika was energy minister he put a lot of government money and support to a scam project known as “Polipto”, supposed to be a method for converting waste polythene to petrol. 

LankaWeb – POLIPTO

LankaWeb – POLIPTO

Anyone who had any basic training in engineering should have been able to see through such a scam. So, once again we see that Campika R’s engineering is at best an “ill-education”

(iii)Look at his performance during his time as the energy minister, and the story of the Norchchollei coal tender during his time, or was he complicit, you wonder if his Engineering degree is seen to be of any use:

http://www.ceylontoday.lk/51-100825-news-detail-champikas-cabinet-paper-on-the-coal-tender-who-siphoned-off-rs12-billion.html

(iv) Then there are questions about his direct or indirect involvement in the Aluthgama-Kaadiyawatta & Beruwala clash with Muslims

(iv) Champika has shown no hesitation in being outright Marxist (“the end justifies the means, however violent”) or outright Buddhist (JHU) when it fits his agenda. He was one of the lead accusers of the Rajapaksas when he joined Sirisena, and was behind many searches of people’s properties, and digs of land (even in Welgama’s property) but they did not carry through any of the indictments to completion. 

(v) It was alleged by others that his name, or people close to him appeared in the “Panama papers” that listed people who had stacked off money off-shore. No one knows if these are mere allegations, or what.

So what does Champika R stand for, based on his track record?