Corruption is a Central Issue in Sri Lanka’s Upcoming Parliamentary Elections

Image used for representation only. Locals frustrated after lining up for hours in the hope of getting gas. Sri Lanka Crisis. Sri Lankans experiences Fuel Shortages resulting in long lines at fuel stations. Food shortages and price increases that are not affordable for many people. Electricity power cuts routinely every day.

(Photo: iStock)

In the lead-up to Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections on 14 November, corruption has emerged as a dominant and decisive issue.

On my visit to the country last month, the economic crisis was clearly visible. Shortages of essential goods, increasing food prices, and prolonged power cuts have severely impacted everyday life. Many citizens blamed the current economic turmoil on decades of mismanagement and corruption by successive governments. The country's debt has ballooned under administrations that have prioritised grand infrastructure projects, often awarded to companies with ties to powerful officials.

The Rajapaksa family, in particular, has come under scrutiny for allegedly using their influence to channel resources into projects that benefitted only a few, while leaving the majority of Sri Lankans to bear the financial burden.

Rajapaksa sold prime land in Colombo to the Chinese and others for a pittance. Army land on Galle Face was leased to the Shangri-La Hotel. The ITC hotel was leased on prime sea-facing naval land at a throwaway price. As was the Cinnamon Hotel.

We already know about the 99-year lease of the Hambantota port to China. Rajapaksa was seen as pro-Chinese. Geopolitics took over.

My informant regaled me with a conspiracy theory so outrageous that it nearly tipped me out of my chair. “The economic crisis was all orchestrated,” he insisted.

“The US, with India as its proxy, engineered Sri Lanka’s economic turmoil. Fuel supplies were strategically throttled, using a middleman—a Singapore-based agent, someone called Subramaniam, or something like that. He was forced to halt deliveries and send fuel prices soaring. The ripple effect struck agriculture, industry, and services, inflating prices across the board. As Sri Lanka struggled, India, backed by American funds, swooped in with a lifeline—offering a line of credit while China hesitated. Subramaniam resumed his deliveries, and suddenly, Sri Lankans found themselves indebted to India, blissfully unaware of the hidden puppeteers pulling the strings to undercut China’s influence in the region.”

He leaned in closer, his voice laden with irony. “You see, the Aragalaya protests, that movement against corruption, didn’t just bloom out of nowhere in 2022. Thousands marched against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, yes, but they weren’t exactly left to fend for themselves. Food, drinks, and even umbrellas were handed out like treats at a fair. And who was footing the bill? None other than Uncle Sam. This wasn’t just a spontaneous cry for justice—it was a stage-managed spectacle, a strategic push to unseat Rajapaksa, the pro-China leader, by the US and India, fanning public discontent into a bonfire,” he concluded, a sardonic smile flickering on his face.

Before fleeing the country, Rajapaksa asked several of his party leaders to take over his mantle but every one of them refused, except the serial loser, i.e., Ranil Wickremasinghe. Ranil had fought multiple elections and lost every time. He finally had an opportunity to hold a high office.

Ranil, several people told me, personally was not corrupt, but he never took to task or booked any corrupt minister or official, except the health minister who is in remand for importing millions of dollars of injections that were nothing but water. Other ministers were equally corrupt but Ranil turned a blind eye towards them. “Any worker going abroad had to pay Rs 100,000 to the minister in charge of labour and foreign employment. The bribe was openly demanded,” said a waiter in my hotel. 

"Rosy Senanayake, once a beauty queen and later a top advisor to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, was handed the keys to a Porsche Cayenne," chuckled a taxi driver. "I guess our leaders decided taxpayer money wasn’t meant for fixing potholes—it’s clearly earmarked for keeping VIPs cruising in style!"

Fed up with Rajapaksa’s corruption and Ranil’s condoning of it, Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD for short), a Marxist, won the presidency on the plank of fighting corruption.

Three days after he took the office, the car parks at Baladaksha Mawatha in Galle Face and at the Foundation Institute were packed with 833 abandoned cars — Mercedes, Porsche, Ferraris — that corrupt bureaucrats had bought with public money and were plying for personal use. Scared that their misuse of office and public money would be exposed and action would be taken against them, they had left the vehicles on the streets. 

AKD’s victory was viewed as a mandate of the Sri Lankan people to address corruption and move towards a more transparent and accountable government. When I landed in Colombo, AKD had been only 15 days in office – but disillusionment with his administration seemed to be setting in already.

Said a professor friend of mine: “So far, AKD has done nothing to move against the corrupt. Just two days ago, the new government appointed Citibank to purchase international bonds on its behalf! Citibank is known to promote corruption across the world. The bureaucrats advising the new government are still the same old corrupt fellows. In the coming parliamentary election, the only issue will be addressing corruption. AKD must throw two or three corrupt ministers in jail before the elections if he wants to win. Otherwise, the voters will feel that he is no different.”

With the parliamentary elections scheduled on 14 November, no politician or high-ranking officials have been arrested so far. And no one knows what happened to the abandoned vehicles. Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan voters are expected to give National People’s Power (AKD’s political party) a clear majority in the hope that its leaders will address the deeply rooted corruption that has long plagued Sri Lankan governance. 

(Akhil Bakshi, an author and explorer, is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Explorers Club USA, and Editor of ‘Indian Mountaineer’. He is also the founder of Bharatiya Yuva Shakti, an organisation that ensures good leadership at the village level. He tweets @AkhilBakshi1. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)