Courtesy Ceylon Today

Among all the things the environmentally-conscious superhero, Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority, was supposed to protect, his bank account was not one of them.

He was caught red-handed in a dramatic arrest last week when he traded his green cape for what would have been some big bucks (and greener’ pastures) as he was accepting a bribe to the tune of Rs 10 million in return for illegally facilitating a permit for an individual.

The Chairman, who was arrested along with two others, had promised to facilitate an environmental clearance permit for refining the discarded fuel removed from ships. Fortunately, the businessman seeking an annual environmental licence for the project reported the shady deal to the Justice Minister and brought the whole matter to light.

Moreover, the CEA Chairman is said to have allegedly demanded seven million rupees initially, to issue the licence before adding a few more millions to the sum he was demanding when the businessman delayed bribing him. According to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, the other two suspects were arrested for aiding and abetting –  perhaps what he calls being eco-friendly – the Chairman.

Isn’t it quite ironic that he was calling for efforts to clean up the environment when he is a pollutant himself? What is unfortunate is, that such news of corrupt State officials is not surprising anymore and is almost expected. Every other day we hear some news or other to suggest or indicate how corrupt State officials are and the incredibly pathetic levels they go to, to ensure they exploit their positions and connections of power. Imagine the extremely sad situation our country is in when even those who are entrusted with safeguarding the environment, only look to, by hook or by crook, financially safeguard themselves.

This again boils down to why our system on the whole is failing so badly and why political appointments further jeopardise our future. This incident also highlights, once again, that such appointments will only disappoint the public because finding officials who truly serve with integrity is like finding a needle in a haystack. More often than not, political appointees end up doing no good to anyone and engage in many under-the-table deals to, of course, only benefit themselves and their cronies. Thus, inefficiency and corruption are inevitable in the departments they head. Moreover, the frequent changes in political leadership are bound to destabilise any sense of stability and continuity in policy implementation which endangers and nullifies work, time and money previously put into policy research and government initiatives.

No surprise, the public services in Sri Lanka are in an atrocious state of affairs because of officials like the Chairman in question. The public can hardly get anything done with due procedure in a reasonable time because officials down to the grassroots such as the Grama Niladhari also look to make money, even if it is in a few hundred rupees, just to carry out their job – nothing more.

Can you blame the public who resort to pulling strings to get a job done in a government institution because they just can’t seem to be successful after spending days and weeks in government offices being bounced around from department to department by competent workers, who it turns out, have no method to their madness! In the end, you’ve just wasted valuable hours of your life you’ll never get back for a job that is eventually magically done, without exaggeration, in five minutes and one phone call. 

Government decisions, wrong policymakers, corrupt institutions, unscrupulous officials, eroded public trust in government institutions and the present and future of the country, all come to a bottleneck – which further boils down to why we don’t feel safe in our own country. And that’s why it is unfair for the government to raise eyebrows and throw shade at the public who chose to leave seeking better opportunities elsewhere because they are not being served with all fairness. However, we will give it to you for holding these individuals accountable for their actions because, as we all have seen, it is not the easiest to hold individuals accountable in this land and sometimes it seems too much to ask even for heinous crimes committed – but in the bigger picture, there is so much to do and so little time.