Y T I R G E INT ghly appreciated SEPTEMBER
2014
i h s t r o f f e L TIS
Good governance practices introduced by TISL to several local authorities in the Galle District have won the plaudits of politicians, public officials and CBO Leaders. Southern Province Chief Minister, Shan Wijayalal de Silva thanked TISL for engaging all three stakeholders’ in a Pradeshiya Sabha - citizens, elected members and public officials, and engaging them not only during the planning process but right through out. Attending the workshop as the chief guest, to share experience on local governance held at Wakwella training center in Galle, he pointed out that the term Governance denotes bringing about a change to the natural process. "Good governance therefore helps to improve the performance of the governance process. During the past three years TISL contributed towards a very important task which led to increase transparency and accountability of local government institutions through citizen participation in local governance and also improved the performance of local government institutions,” he said.
“In good governance both citizens and elected representatives have equal rights. The rule of law is equal to all. Therefore, wherever good governance is practiced citizens respond when good there are violations or deviations. God governance principles are much more relevant in the present context than ever before,” he added. Expressing his gratitude to TISL for selecting four local government institutions (Ambalangoda Urban Council and Pradeshiya Sabhas of Ambalanagoda, Bope Poddala & Yakkalamulla) from the Southern Province for the project, the chief minister equested TISL to replicate the programme in the whole province. The Commissioner of Local Government - Galle District, Dilleka Kudaachchi stated that she got an opportunity to join some of the programmes organized by TISL under the governance project. She appreciated TISL's effort to improve the service delivery of local government institutions for citizens.
Transparency International Sri Lanka - 183/5, Highlevel Road, Colombo-06
“Local government institutions have been set up for citizens and therefore citizen participation in governance process is vital.It was clear from the views expressed by chairmen, officials and citizens that TISL programmes had brought about a positive change,” she stressed. “The best evaluators or judges are citizens and making them informed and strengthening them is commendable." Public in Galle turned up in large numbers to take part in the workshop and see the mini exhibition highlighting the TISL's work in Galle District. Former chairman of Bope Poddala PS (now a member of the Southern Provincial Council) Chanaka Sampath Madugoda & present chairman Pushpalal Kumarasinghe, Chairman of Ambalangoda UC - attorney at law Aruna Pradeep, Venerable Ukwatte Chandima Thero, Chariman of the Bope Pddala Pradeshiya Sabha, Chairman of Amblangoda PS - Chandima Muhandirmage, Chairman of Yakkalamulla PS, TISL Executive Director - S Ranugge and TISL manager - Ananda Jayasekera also addressed the gathering. This initiative was financially supported by National Endowment for Democracy.
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More vigilance on
public sector corruption An action plan to expand the capacity to unearth corruption, fraud and malpractice in the public sector has been developed by the Coalition against Corruption (CAC) set up on the initiative of TISL. Apart from revealing the corruption and fraud issues to the public, CAC has decided to share the information with relevant institutions including Parliament and CIABOC with a view to initiate necessary action.
The action plan was developed at a workshop organised by TISL for CAC members to enhance knowledge on corruption and anti- corruption initiatives. More than 20 leading trade union leaders attended the two-day workshop.
CAC members decided to expand the Coalition to regional level. Regional bodies will be formed in each province. It was also agreed to work closely with parliamentarians providing them with information regularly on corrupt activities in the public sector. They will continue to work closely with TISL to mitigate corruption in the country.
Latest Governance Report launched Professionals, trade union leaders and media gathered at the launch of the Sri Lanka Governance Report 2012/13’ compiled by TISL. It is the only publication that exclusively focuses on the status of governance in Sri Lanka. The first copy of the report was officially handed over to the chief guest, Royal Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka H.E. Grete Lochen by TISL Executive Director S. Ranugge at a ceremony held in BMICH. The Governance Report brings into focus key governance issues and discusses the main incidents, trends and best practices pertaining to governance within a given year. The latest report focuses on issues related to seven thematic areas of governance with balanced and unbiased content based on accurate and credible evidence. In her speech, Ambassador Grete Løchen said that good governance is a great opportunity for any government to show people friendly execution of power. "Corruption remains a grave a challenge to the promotion of good governance, sustainable development, democracy, peace and stability. When the public
feels that their government is stealing from the people, it leads to an erosion of trust and confidence in public institutions. When institutions charged with exercising scrutiny and control, such as audit institutions, parliaments, ombudsmen, the judiciary and police are not delivering or seen as biased and not independent, the whole basis for democratic development is undermined.," she added Stressing on the need for the public institutions to be more open about their work, she felt that a Right to Information Act could be one step in the right direction. "Without organizations such as Transparency International and other watch dog orgnaizations the fight for good governance will simply not succeed. Not in Norway, not in Sri Lanka," she stated. Dr. Udana Fernando made the key note address on the Governance Situation in Sri Lanka. The Governance Report is available on http://www.tisrilanka.org/pub/reports/GOV_201213.pdf
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'Start anti-corruption campaigns with school children' The need for public awareness initiatives and campaigns on anti-corruption to encompass school children – at all levels was emphasized at the launch of TISL Research Report on Women’s Experience of Corruption in Public Service. Delivering the keynote address Professor Maithree Wickramasinghe, - Director, Center for Studies, University of Kelaniya said that modules on personal ethics, ethics in public service, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens should be incorporated into the syllabi of schools, administrative service training and women’s empowerment programs particularly in the rural areas. The research study is the first of its kind to deal with the interplay between corruption and gender in Sri Lanka. Referring to the finding in the TISL report that women have faced the highest instances of corruption in obtaining legal service, she said that the Police and the Judiciary need to take special note of the fact, and take preventative and remedial measures to purge their institutions. "After all, they are the implementing and remedial agencies of the law”, she pointed out. Commenting on the signing of the United Nations Convention against Corruption by Sri Lanka in March 2004; she said that ten years later, the standards, measure and rules in the Convention have still not been translated into the legal and regulatory frameworks of the country – conveying a lack of political will.
Appreciating TISL's effort , Professor Wickremasinghe said that she had no doubt that the study will add greatly to our understanding of the disproportionate impact of the practice – especially on women. She kicked off her address by stating that corruption in the public service has a multidimensional impact on both women and men. "Of course, we tend to discuss the consequences of corruption in generalized or even abstract terms of democracy: as a denial of basic entitlements from the state; or a deficit in the quality and efficiency, or wholesale failure of the public service; or a breakdown in the rule of law or government; the overall outcome being a deficiency in democracy and a loss of public faith, she said. Stating that at the level of citizens, corruption can have a differential impact on diverse groups in societies – including women as a collective, she quoted from a UNIFEMA report (2008) which claimed that women are more vulnerable to the impact of corruption than men, especially in terms of public service delivery, given that they form a larger proportion of the poor; and take on the primary responsibility for childcare, the sick and the
elderly irrespective of whether they do productive work. Consequently, they are more reliant on free public services, both for themselves and their families. She added: "Within women as a collective then, the TISL research study conveys there could be a variance in the impact of corruption depending on a number of factors. These include considerations such as whether these women are located in rural, plantation or urban locations; whether they are from poor or low-income backgrounds; whether they are the sole breadwinners in their families or whether they come from female-headed households; whether they speak Sinhala or Tamil; whether they have links to community-based organizations, etc. Here I would like to flag a few points of import arising from the study.” She went on to make a detailed analysis of the report. Full speech is available on our website http://www.tisrilanka.org/?p=12025
‘Taste in Data Journalism’ Journalists got an opportunity to master skills and tools that lead to new story angles and richer multimedia storytelling in the digital media age recently at a TISL three-day data journalism workshop held in Colombo.
Journalists, graphic designers and developers came together to find public-interest angles in government, non-government and private sector data, analyze financial reports to evaluate economic growth in Excel, and visualize progress towards development indicators with Google Charts. The workshop marks an important step towards a more advanced, data-driven media sector in Sri Lanka that facilitates greater governmental transparency and accountability.
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Sri Lanka’s Executive overwhelmingly strong The 2014 National Integrity System (NIS) Report recommends that the Executive Presidency to be abolished leading to a more equitable balance of power among the three organs of State - the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The recommendation is based on the finding hat Sri Lanka's Executive is overwhelmingly strong compared to the other actors/institutions of the country’s National Integrity System NIS). It further recommends that the President should give up holding any ministerial portfolios, limit the number of Cabinet Ministers, hand over the appointment of judges over to an independent commission in order to preserve impartiality and conflict of interest and to prevent interference from the Executive. Another recommendation is that appointments, dismissals, transfers and disciplinary procedures of the Public Sector should be revised to ensure the independence of the Public Sector. The assessment done by TISL this year also revealed that the independence of several of the 13 pillars including Public Sector, Media, Civil Society, Judiciiary and Anti -Corruption Commission is compromised. The NIS assessment was launched at the OPA auditorium on 28 July with the participation of parliamentarians, government officials professionals and the public. The assessment also pointed out that the role played by the pillars in fighting corruption is minimal and the capacity, governance and the
role played by the political parties, media and civil society found to be very weak. The absence of a law that guarantees Right to Information, 18th Amendment to the Constitution, lack of independent public commissions and the absence of a law that protects whistleblowers have also contributed towards weakening the National Integrity System. Another important finding is the minimal role played by many of the pillars in directly combating corruption. The 13 pillars forming the NIS of Sri Lanka are: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, Public Sector, Law Enforcement Agencies, Election Commission, Complaint Mechanisms (including Human Rights Commission & Ombudsman), Auditor General’s Department , Anti-Corruption Commission, Political Parties, Media, Civil Society, and Business. The concept of a National Integrity System originated within the Transparency International movement in the 1990s as its primary conceptual tool of how corruption could be best fought and ultimately prevented.
It draws together the actors and institutions which are crucial in fighting corruption in any given governance framework. This is the third such study conducted by TISL. In 2010 TISL conducted a comprehensive study that was well accepted by the relevant stakeholders. The primary purpose of the 2014 Study was to assess whether there had been any progress over time with regard to the country’s integrity system, identify specific changes (both positive and negative) since the previous NIS report , and identify recommendations and advocacy priorities for improving the country’s integrity system. A comparison with the results of the 2010 assessment shows that the governance situation has not improved since 2010 and in some cases even deteriorated. The 18th amendment to the Constitution is cited as one of the main causes for this deterioration.
MPs to form Alliance against Corruption? MPs may soon form an Allaince against Corruption following a request by TISL. The request was made at a recent meeting with Opposition MPs led by the United National Party leadership council chairman Karu Jayasuriya. To strengthen the request TISL, along with members of Coalition against Corruption (CAC) handed over details of cases of incidents of corruption in government departments, corporations and other state institutions. Supporting documents for each case were also given so that the MPs can take them up at COPE meetings.
The members requested CAC to send information on corruption and frauds for them to take them up at parliamentary sittings. Parliamentarians Lakshman Kirriella, Ravi Karunanayake, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Rosy Senanayake and Eran Wickremarathna took part in the discussion. Joint conveners of the coalition Saman Rathnapriya, Josep Stalin and Thilak Kariyawasam along with other CAC members and TISL representatives were present at the meeting. TISL representatives pointed out that Sri Lanka is going down in the corruption ratings and according to the latest Global Corruption Perception Index Sri Lanka was placed 92 among the 182 countries surveyed. Sri Lanka
has fallen down 12 places compared to the 2012 report. Hence, they pointed out the importance of Members of Parliament to play a crucial role to minimize corruption. They requested them to form an alliance with other party members in parliament to challenge corruption as one unit. Members appreciated and thanked TISL and CAC for their continued struggle to free the country from corruption. Meanwhile, on a request made by COPE Chairman Senior Minister D E W Gunasekera copies were also handed over to the office of the COPE, the parliamentary committee overseeing wastage and corruption in government institutions.
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Shelter for Integrity News Legal advice to curb corruption
Shelter for Integrity – TISL's free legal aid centre has been busy over the past few months creating awareness of the need to combat corruption as well as handling burning issues faced by the public in their day to day life. These relate to land disputes, human rights matters and the like.
'Kill corruption or let corruption kill you' Hundreds of youth wearing black T-shirts with the slogan 'Kill corruption or let it kill you', took to the streets of Vavuniya town on 28th June urging people to unite against corruption and demand the government to eradicate corruption.
The crowd from 15 areas in the Vavuniya District gathered and visited government institutions, seeking the support of government officials and the public to eradicate corruption. The event attracted more than 10,000 onlookers around the town area.
The administrative system in the Northern Province had broken down with the civil war and corruption was rampant in various government agencies, they alleged. The post-war development projects failed to benefit the people and further damaged the livelihood of the Northern people, they pointed out.
The demonstrators paraded back to the hospital junction and the bus stand in the afternoon and the youth leaders from Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and the leaders of citizen-based organizations delivered speeches and raised awareness of corruption at a public meeting.
Training police officers Over 120 police officers from the Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts attended two anti-corruption intervention training workshops which were coordinated by Vanni District's Deputy Inspector General’s office. Laws pertaining to combating corruption was one of the highlights of the agenda and they discussed when and how they should mediate in a corruption related complaint or incident at the workshop. U. K. Disanayake DIG of Vavuniyava , Champika Siriwardana Mullaitivu SP, and Edmand Mahendra Kilinochchi SSP extended their fullest support and cooperation in conducting the training workshops.
Legal Clinic in Badulla Hundreds turned up at the legal clinic in Badulla where special focus was on labour, administration and foreign employment issues in the district. The legal officers from Foreign Employment Bureau, Legal Aid Commission, Human Rights Commission and legal facilitators attended. Non-collaboration and inefficiencies of the public officers were the main issues identified among the reported complainants. The public from distant areas including Bandarawela, Hali- Ela, Badulla, Passara, Moneragala and Demodara turned up for legal advice "Many malpractices are taking place in government institutions in Badulla and most of these failed to provide a better service to the public,", the Executive Director of 'Future in our Hands Development Foundation', Prabath Kumara�said. The legal clinic was held in partnership with the Foundation.
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North residents seek redress The public in several districts in the North got an opportunity to redress their grievances at a Public Platform organised by the Vavuniya office of Shelter for Integrity, TISL's legal arm. At the Public Platform the public were able to communicate directly with the government officials on many issues. These included land, water, military involvement in land acquisition, security, road development, health care for kidney patients, illegal drugs, and elephant attacks. The Platform created a space for the government officials to identify the issues and give solutions to common problems. The hall at Royal Garden was packed to capacity with over 450 participants including residents and CBO leaders from Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi, and Jaffna Districts. It was the first such opportunity they got in the post-war period. TISL appreciated the efforts of government officials including the Additional Govt. Agent S. Mohanathan, Vavuniya South DS Divisional Secretary M.S. Janaka, Vavuniya DS Asst. Divisional Secretary
Our Determination Despite threats TISL will continue with its efforts to promote accountability, good governance and integrity in the country.
“TISL has always played an active and constructive role in advocating for government transparency and accountability. Currently our work is under serious threat. TISL activities were hampered by organaised elements. But we move on steadily,” stressed TISL Executive Director S. Ranugge ` addressing the TISL Members’ Day on 27 June. The Members’ Day immediately followed the Annual General Meeting which was presided over by Chairman J.C.Weliamuna. At the AGM, the Directors’ Report and the Audited Accounts for the financial year ended 31st December 2013 were adopted. Auditors Ernest and Young were re-appointed.
S. Karanan, Assistant Director of Planning S. Sunmugananthan, and the DIG of Vavuniya. TISL was represented by Executive Director S. Ranugge, Legal Manager Jagath Liyana Arachchi, Local Governance Projects Manager Ananda Jayasekera, and the Regional Coordinator Ravindra de Silva. Following the successful conclusion of the event, Shelter for Integrity, Vavuniya branch received requests from several Divisional Secretaries in Vavuniya to conduct similar platforms in their areas. Meanwhile, an exhibition on TISL's the achievements in curbing corruption along with Shelter for Integrity held in Vavuniya drew large crowds. The exhibition on the theme 'Hand-In-Hand for a Better Governance and Society' conveyed a strong message on the importance of anti-corruption initiatives and the cooperation between the public sectors and the citizens.
Appealing to the members to become active partners of the organization, Executive Director Ranugge requested them to rally round TISL. “Without your support and collective thinking we may not be able to face the challenges” he said. He wanted the members to follow TISL activities and contribute towards the achievement of the goals of the organization. “We are not giving up. During the past decade we faced many turbulences. But we managed to grow” echoed Chairman J.C.Weliamuna. “The struggle was fraught with the excitement of dealing with the constraints imposed by a state mechanism more tensed and hyper active to further consolidate its power and influence. Our activities were disrupted. Yet we managed to continue. Hence we need to critically assess the situation and take remedial measures to face these growing challenges,” he added. While appreciating the commitment and encouragement of all TISL members throughout the year, he thanked them for the ideas shared when developing specific programs. “We hope to strengthen your support and make it more systematic in the coming year,” he concluded.
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