Should Minister Kumara Jayakody resign?

Nonetheless, should Jayakody step down from his ministerial position as the Opposition parties demand? It is a tricky situation

Unlike so many other allegations leveled by the Opposition against the government,  the allegation of corruption by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) against Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody was no doubt a slap in the face of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP).

The CIABOC which filed charges against him, has alleged that in 2016, while serving as the Manager of the Procurement and Import Division of the Ceylon Fertiliser Company, Jayakody committed an act of corruption, causing a loss of Rs. 8,859,708 to the state by influencing a procurement process related to the refurbishment of the company’s Hunupitiya warehouse to confer an undue benefit on a private contractor.

When the Opposition parties accused the government of corruption in the controversial release of more than 300 containers from the Colombo port without physical inspection,  and in the controversy surrounding the importation of substandard coal, they  failed  to pinpoint what exactly the corruption were and who exactly the culprit(s) were. 

And those two incidents are not without precedents. According to the report submitted by the committee appointed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, containers had been released 13 times before without physical inspection under a decision under which the containers in question were also released. The findings of this committee were not challenged by the Opposition or any civil society organisation.

Similarly, Coal samples have failed tests previously as well,  for which fines have been imposed as in the current controversial coal purchase. Only a thorough investigation by a competent and a legal mechanism (not by the media or the Opposition) could it  be established whether corruption is involved in these two issues. President Dissanayake has told a group of journalists last week that though a loss had been incurred, the proper procurement process had been in place. 

However, in the case of Minister Jayakody, the charges are specific, the accused is specific,  and how the alleged corruption has taken place is specific, though the case is yet to be proved, until which time Jayakody is legally considered innocent. 

The contention by  leaders of the government have been that the incident for which the minister is accused has taken place ten years ago,  and it did not affect the NPP or its core party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) seen as an untainted party. President Dissanayake had told the same group of journalists that if a minister is found to have used his powers for  corrupt practices, he would be kicked out immediately. 

The point seems to be that the NPP/JVP cannot take responsibility for any misdeed committed by any of its members prior to him/her joining the party,  and  NPP members might have been involved in misdeeds including crime and corruption before they joined the party. Yes, the NPP expanded its support base from 3 percent to 62 percent by admitting supporters of other parties, which the NPP deemed corrupt, into their ranks. Some of them became active members of the NPP even to take up positions as MPs and ministers, on the grounds that any person, even a criminal, has the right to be reformed.

Nonetheless, should Jayakody step down from his ministerial position as the Opposition parties demand? It is a tricky situation. No government can and should press any member of it to step down from any position just because Opposition parties make a big fuss. That could hypothetically leave the government stranded without anybody left in it, given the number of allegations levelled by the Opposition. Jayakody has only been indicted, but Prasanna Ranathunga and Premalal Jayasekara were elected to parliament while they were convicted by courts. The SJB Chairman of the Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha Lasantha Wickramasekara had six pending cases and was serving a suspended prison term when he was shot dead  October last year. 

Yet, the NPP should not forget that its strongest trump card in politics has  been  morality, which should be manifested in every aspect of its activities including governance. A minister of the NPP government being accused of corruption not by the Opposition but by the CIABOC, the prime prosecutor of corruption, despite the time it was allegedly committed, would severely damage the reputation of the government and the NPP.  Minister Jayakody’s resignation or his expulsion is the only step towards damage control and an assurance of noninterference in the case.