His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Temple Trees, Colombo 3
General Sarath Fonseka, 3 Rajakeeya Mawatha, Colombo 7
Commitment to eliminate Corruption in Sri Lanka
Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) would like to congratulate you on your commitment towards eliminating fraud and corruption from Sri Lanka as expressed in your Election Manifesto. TISL is pleased to note that the two principal candidates have recognized this need as a priority.
As an organization working exclusively in the field of anti-corruption, we wish to assure both of you that we will extend our fullest cooperation for any serious effort and commitment to fight corruption and promote integrity in Sri Lanka.
Nevertheless it is unfortunate to note that commitments for good governance during an election campaign are not often taken seriously after winning the election. Thus every citizen of the country has a duty to monitor the conduct of the winner in relation to his or her commitments. For this purpose, we propose to engage ourselves in maintaining a continuous report card system to ascertain whether the winner seriously discharges his political commitment to eliminate corruption, at least in relation to main aspects in combating corruption including introduction of Right to Information Law, introduction of an effective Audit Act, introduction of a Whistle Blower Law, assuring independence of the Commission to Investigate into Bribery and Corruption in Sri Lanka, and an effective financial integrity and oversight in public contracting and expenditure. We will submit the report card to the President elect, one year into his office.
We wish both of you every success in your political commitments.
Yours sincerely,
JC Weliamuna