It is said that the speaker rarely speaks but always listens. We hope he listens not only to MPs but also to the general public.

There is a lot the speaker could do to curb bribery and corruption among the MPs.

There are, of course, many MPs who are above B & C. But the general feeling among the public is that most MPs resort to B & C. This is primarily due to the failure of past speakers to take some tangible and transparent action to monitor the wrongful activities of MPs.

All MPs are supposed to submit to the speaker a declaration of their assets and liabilities on an annual basis. Does this actually happen? Are these declarations carefully perused by the speaker? If there are major discrepancies in their declarations, are such cases referred to the Bribery and Corruption commission for further action? As far as the public is aware, there has not been a single such instance for the last several decades.

What about the disposal of duty free vehicles and the sale of permits for import of duty free vehicles? This is a very common occurrence well known to the public. Is there an procedure to monitor the abuse of such permits? If there is no such procedure at present, can the present speaker introduce such a procedure whereby the MPs will be liable to furnish a declaration on oath that the permits (or the vehicles) have not been sold to others? They could be directed to submit the vehicles and the documents for inspection by an official nominated by the speaker. The speaker could also make an announcement to the public to bring to his notice any instances where the vehicles imported on duty free permits of MPs have been sold (or transferred on lease) and are being permanently used by others.

Another common feature of their corruption is the very lavish life style of many MPs. There are instances where they spend a couple of millions on a wedding. From where do they get such money? Are the hotel bill and other expenses paid by their business associates for favours granted? Is this not bribery and corruption?

If we wish to curb B & C in the country, some tangible and transparent steps need to be taken in regard to MPs.

The present speaker being independent of the governing party and being a member of a family well known for their honesty and integrity could play a very important and useful role to curb this cancer eating into all sectors of our society.

We hope the present Speaker will listen to us.

Sarath Abeywickrama
Nugegoda