Sri Lanka, the small island on Indian Ocean, is badly affected by the civil war between LTTE and the government army. Aside from war, there are many other problems, this small country is suffering from and one such problem is corruption. According to a report published in southasianmedia.net, corruption in recent times in Sri Lanka has reached its all time high. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), one of the major socialist parties of Sri Lanka and Transparency international Sri Lanka (TISL) said that corruption has reached dizzy heights in Sri Lanka and urged the political parties to address the issue. I am quoting from the report
The JVP and Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) Thursday charged that corruption had reached dizzy heights in Sri Lanka and urged the political leadership to address the issue. Hailing moves by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) for its ‘proactive oversight work’, TISL said media reports are indicative of large scale corruption in many spheres. “Recent media reports raise an alarming scale of corruption in the country in many fields, including defence procurements, public contracts, tax collection, judicial administration, foreign investments, political decision making, law enforcement and planning”, it said. TISL said unless urgent steps are taken, the country would be pushed towards the capture of a legitimate state by shadow collusive alliances, both politically and otherwise.
TISL said that because of the absence of right to information, corrupted officials have been able to continue their works. TISL said that government should take firm stand against corrupted people.
According to another report published in Colombo page earlier this month, Sri Lankan Bribery and Corruption Commission has brought charges against 118 people between April 2005 and October 2006. Within these 18 months, 24 have been punished and 41 have been acquitted. The sad part of the story is that police officials are at the top among corrupted government officials.
Corruption is present more or less in all the countries of the world. It is true that corruption is a serious issue. No matter, where the corruption occurs, large number of people suffers from this. Like Sri Lanka, corruption is also a major problem in other South Asian countries like Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The government of all these countries should take necessary steps to prevent corruption for the best interest of their people.
Related article:
South Asian Media. Net
Daily Mirror
Colombo Page
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