More than 300 people from the Northern Province took to the streets in the Vavuniya town on Saturday (28th June 2014), urging people to unite against corruption and demand the government to eradicate corruption.
Hundreds of youth, who wore black T-shirts printed “Kill corruption or let it kill you”, took to the streets with the Shelter for Integrity, Vavuniya, the legal aid arm of Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL). The administrative system in the Northern Province had broken down with the civil war and corruption was rampant in various government agencies, the people alleged. The post-war development projects failed to benefit the people and further damaged the livelihood of the Northern people, they pointed out.
The crowd from 15 areas in the Vavuniya District gathered and visited government institutions, seeking the support of government officials and the public to eradicate corruption. The event attracted more than 10,000 onlookers around the town area.
People paraded back to the hospital junction and the bus stand at 2:30 in the afternoon and the youth leaders from Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and the Citizen-Based Organizations’ leaders took turns delivering speeches and raised awareness of corruption in a public meeting.