Rajitha Senarathna admits corruption by the government on the “Subharathi” program.

| SLBC Watch

(January 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Rajitha Senarathna, the Minister of Construction and Engineering Services, in an hour long political speech made by the “Subharathi” program on the 9th (today) admitted corruption on the part of the government and stated that the government will do something about it in the future. He said that Mao Zedong had written about contradictions. In Mao Zedong’s writings, he has said that the greater contradiction should be fought first and later other things can be fought against. In Sri Lanka, the major contradiction was the terrorism of the LTTE and this had to be fought, and during that time it was not possible to fight against corruption simultaneously.

The minister said that he has talked about this with the President and in the future the government will fight against corruption.

The minister also repeatedly said that the election campaign against the incumbent president has been carried out on behalf of the imperialist powers in the world. They are all engaged in a huge conspiracy and the opposition are merely puppets. When a telephone caller asked about who the foreign governments involved in the conspiracy against Sri Lanka are, the minister replied that these things involve diplomatic matters and therefore it cannot be divulged before the election.

An hour long monologue by the minister was allowed by the “Subharathi” program, which is engaged daily in propaganda on behalf of Mahinda Rajapaksha, the government’s candidate for the forthcoming election.

The presenter of the program was Indika Jayarathna.

The abuse of state media for the private purpose of promoting a particular candidate is itself corruption. The daily abuse of the “Subharathi” program should be investigated as corruption by the SLBC, which is using the program to support one particular candidate of its choice. The election commissioner and the competent authority appointed to deal with state electronic media should take steps to close down the “Subharathi” program as it is conducted in direct violation of electoral law.