SLFP all out to field corrupt-free leaders: President Sirisena

By Sandun A Jayasekera and Hemantha De silva

President Maithripala Sirisena said SLFP was taking efforts to provide the country with leaders who work for the country as citizens and not for themselves.  
He made this comment addressing the SLFP Galle District Convention at the Elpitiya Public Grounds at the week end.  President Sirisena emphasised that it was not his political policy to allow corruption among close relatives. The President further said that the country needed a corruption free people’s government for tomorrow.  

President Sirisena said that during his five-year tenure, he had taken every possible step to curb corruption and fraud and said that he was the only President who appointed Presidential Commissions to investigate corruption in the former governments as well as the existing one.  

He said he had no allegations against him unlike all previous presidents who were accused of human rights violations, accumulation of personal properties and political revenge. He added that by mid-November, he would end his term of office as the cleanest politician on the list of presidents unlike the previous presidents who faced accusations.  

“We  must begin saving the country and cleaning the rot from lowest level. The top has already deteriorated beyond repair. Therefore, it is impossible to clean the top. In Sri Lanka 95% in politics are serving themselves and only a very few serve the country. The policy of the SLFP is to do politics to serve the country,” President Sirisena stressed.  

President Sirisena noted that he had never let his friends or relatives to use his position for illegal acts or to engage in misdeeds. “Today, there are three governments or power bases in Sri Lanka namely, President, Prime Minister and Speaker,” he said.   

He made an appeal from the Elpitiya voters to return honest, educated, corruption free candidates as their representative in the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha at the October 11 Local Government polls.  President Sirisena made a pledge to the voters in elpitiya to make the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha, the most efficient, powerful and productive one in the country  at the forthcoming LG  polls if the people there voted for the SLFP.