Transparency International Sri Lanka Chapter (TISL), the only national organization committed to rolling back corruption is initiating a process to receive complaints on corruption in Tsunami reconstruction work. While conducting its recently concluded Value for Money Audit project and Tsunami Responses project TISL realized the inadequacy of a public complaint procedure on corruption in tsunami recovery process. TISL realizes that any negative public sentiments on tsunami recovery process should be substantiated with relevant information. Presence of a forum to receive such information is paramount in this regard.
The programme will be implemented for a period of five month in which one month will be totally allocated to receive complaints. Complaints can be lodged through the hotline (5627432) or be sent through fax (011 2592287), regular mail (28/1, Buller’s Lane, Colombo 07) or e-mail (voicecorruption@tisrilanka.org) till the 28th of February 2007. Complaints are welcome from all tsunami affected districts and complains can be lodged in Sinhala, Tamil or English.
All complaints with substantial evidence will be analyzed to measure the problematic areas in the recovery process while channeling them to relevant authorities where appropriate. (namely Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Auditor General’s Department, RADA and Colombo Fraud Investigations Bureau). In addition to the complaint procedure a research will be conducted to collate so far reported corruption cases in media. A follow up will be conducted to look into their current status. Public forums giving an opportunity for the public to directly share concerns and experiences with TISL officials will be held in Hambantota, Matara, Galle, Kalutara and Colombo in March and April. The dates of public forums will be announced later.
Press releases will issues on regular basis to divulge the project experiences to the public. TISL strongly believes that this effort will be another step to mount pressure to lobby for policy level changes in order to minimize corruption in Sri Lanka while creating a public discussion on the subject.