CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Disgrace of The Decade-Supreme Court Ruling on CBK's Abuse of Power

By Darmitha-Kotte

The entire nation has been put to disgrace by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her abuse of Executive Powers. We the citizens of this country and the then Cabinet of Ministers(who compromised national integrity) too should be punished for having tolerated for eleven years(1994-2005), the arrogance and high-handed manner in which she ruled this country. We are ever grateful to The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka for having given a landmark ruling on CBK's misdeeds and for having brought her down to earth with a bang! We are happy that due to the timely action taken by parties that objected to CBK being given a Consultancy assignment for education in South East Asia, atleast the UNICEF and UN were saved the ignominy of going to courts against her at a later date, when they would certainly have discovered her atrocious manipulations. If not, Sri lanka would have certainly hit the international news headlines-thank goodness for preventing such a disaster.

Under the 1978 Constitution Sri Lanka has had four Executive Presidents including Chandrika Kumaratunga who in their own ways except for Mr. D.B.Wijetunge was truly a gentleman, the other three all thought they were " the Cat's whiskers" but none of them matched the atrocities, arrogance and abuse of power as Chandrika Kumaratunga. The late JR Jayawardane declared that the only thing he could not do, was change a woman into a man and vice versa, the late R.Premadasa was feared by all and sundry(to his credit, he did some constructive work which is still appreciated) but CBK really went berserk! On retirement none of the other Executive Presidents took for themselves anything that was not their entitlement according to stipulations in the Constitution-except CBK who swindled this country hook, line and sinker. Yet she is such an "embodiment of virtue" according to her own assessment of herself. She is so full of herself that she thinks Sri Lankan politics cannot do without her! In reality, Sri Lanka is far better off without either her or her brother in Sri Lankan politics- they have both proved that they are "leeches" sucking the blood of this country. No other former President of this country has taken the privilege of selecting government property "to set up an office after retirement" as Chandrika has done at Independence Square after evicting the Ranaviru soldiers from their rehabilitation centre. That is the extent of her insensitivity towards the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the protection of this country!

The perks that Chandrika Kumaratunga "acquired for herself" using her official status of Executive President just before stepping down are: allocation of land at Madiwela; 36 vehicles; security staff of 168 instead of the entitlement of 7; private staff totaling 248 persons; the "office" selected at No.27, Independence Avenue,Colombo 7 throwing out the Ranaviru soldiers and their rehabilitation centre and attempt to siphon off Rs.600million from the President's Fund to a private fund of which she had personal involvement with- all this is an excellent example of honesty, humility and commitment to serving the country that Chandrika Kumaratunga set for herself! The Cabinet Ministers who aided and abetted in this national crime have exhibited that they are spineless and servile in front of their President. Sri Lanka can do very without such unpatriotic politicians if we can ever get rid of them for good?

As a former Executive President, by all means Chandrika Kumaratunga must be provided with the security that is the entitlement by law-nothing more or nothing less must be provided. However, she is not one to be satisfied with allocations provided to every other former Executive President but would want " a little bit more" than the others, because of her ego & because she thinks she is more prone to LTTE terrorist attacks than the others- this is utter nonsense! Instead of the entitled 7 security personnel, she set for herself 168-all at State expense! Having connived with the LTTE leader Prabhakaran and Thamilselvam to smuggle off their children to greener pastures for safe living while other Tamil children in the North and East are kidnapped to be made members of "the children's brigade"- the terrorist top hierarchy would not be so ungrateful as to make an attempt on her life!

Not being satisfied with holding the supreme office of Executive President in this country from 1994-2005 no effort was made to step down with dignity. It is widely speculated that she still hopes to return to the Sri Lankan Parliament even as a National List politician through the UNP( as reported in "Ravaya" of 27th May,2007). Recently it has been reported that Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe has also expressed views in support of Chandrika Kumaratunga which ofcourse is not surprising given the fact, that both these people are utterly disgruntled about being out of power in the political arena-each needs to pat the other's back, to create problems for the incumbent GOSL and the agenda of eliminating the terrorists! This is the patriotism that we the citizens of this country, are expected to follow. In this attempt to cheapen herself by returning to Parliament as a National List nominee, she expects a UNP politician to step down and "offer" that place to her! She is also known to be plotting and planning behind the scenes, to make life difficult for the incumbent President by attempting to create dissention within the Cabinet by manipulating her brother Anura Bandaranaike, Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchie( who unfortunately became the biggest scapegoat) in this attempt. The involvement of the UNP in all this conspiracy was quite obvious when Mr. Choksy and Mr. Marapane two well respected lawyers and UNP stalwarts appeared to speak on behalf of Sripathie Sooriyarachchi.

Let it be known to leaders of this country whether they be past, present or future Presidents( or leaders) that they came to that position in this country through the mandate given by the citizens of this country. The least they are expected to do, is to serve Sri Lanka honestly and with humility with the supreme duty of serving the country rather than the self. Let us not have any more leaders of the likes of late JR Jayawardane, Chandrika Kumaratunga or Ranil Wickramasinghe who have all proven that they have been and are traitors.

Let the incumbent President prove to the Sri Lankan Nation, that he will set a better example and be " A True Patriotic Son of Sri Lanka"- if he fails, he too will "enjoy the wrath of our citizens" just like Chandrika Kumaratunga!

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