"Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy," said Mahatma Gandhi," as they undoubtedly are today." Nothing describes the contemporary Sri Lankan politics better than this immortal Gandhian apothegm.

We have seen many a battle against corruption in this country. But, it continues to thrive eating as it does into the vitals of society. Former US Ambassador in Colombo Robert Blake once said quoting from a report that Sri Lanka's GDP would have increased by a couple of more percentage points but for corruption. Perhaps, the economic cost of corruption could be much higher and the social cost is simply unquantifiable. Hence it is only natural that some opinion leaders have become so concerned about corruption besides bribery and waste.

However, a vast majority of people remain apathetic about corruption, maybe owing to their realisation that there is nothing they could do about it. They seem to be thinking that 'what cannot be cured must be endured'. We are reminded of Bess Myerson's words of wisdom: "The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference."

Most vociferous among the campaigners against bribery and corruption are politicians. And this is the very reason why those campaigns have come a cropper! Politicians of all hues have reduced anti-corruption drives to mere political bludgeons against their rivals. When their purpose is served they discard them and indulge themselves in corruption to their heart's content. What the SLFP-led People's Alliance (PA) did in 1994 is a case in point. It made a hue and cry about, inter alia, the UNP's corruption and promised to bring all the corrupt politicians who had been in power for 17 long years to the Galle Face Green and punish them in public. The PA got a popular mandate to rule the country but not a single corrupt UNPer got punished. Instead, the newly elected were busy lining their pockets at our expense. One of the first few things that President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government did after assuming office was to strip the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) of its powers to initiate investigations on its own. The PA government was ably assisted in this endeavour by the JVP and the UNP in Parliament!

In 2001, the UNP-led United Front (UNF) sought our vote to get rid of the PA government and eliminate corruption and we obliged, only to be disillusioned. No corrupt PA politician was brought to justice for plundering public wealth! Instead, the UNF began to make up for the lost time and its corrupt deals which cost the country billions of rupees are well documented in two COPE reports filed under MP Wijedasa Rajapakshe's chairmanship. The Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva shot down some of them. But, today both former COPE Chairman and the ex-Chief Justice find themselves in the exalted company of UNF politicians on the political platform!

The UNF and the JVP are trying to oust President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the grounds of corruption, abuse of power and nepotism. The Opposition's right to level allegations against an incumbent government cannot be questioned but it ought to substantiate the charges in a convincing manner without relying on hearsay.

The government has suddenly decided to introduce an anti-corruption bill! There is no harm in introducing new laws but what about the implementation of the existing ones? We don't want to be told that the government has so far failed to battle corruption effectively for want of laws.

Similarly, one should not make the mistake of buying the Opposition's claim that it wants to secure the presidency to wipe out corruption, nepotism etc. For, the UNF-JVP combine has not countered the allegations of abuse of power, corruption and nepotism against its common candidate Sarath Fonseka. It has apparently chosen to dodge the Hicorp debate trotting out lame excuses. Now that Fonseka has taken to politics to battle corruption, nepotism and abuse of power, there is no reason why he should baulk at countering the allegations that he abused his position as army chief to help his son-in-law do business with the army fraudulently through Hicorp International.

Yesterday, the government produced a witness, an ex-army officer from the Sinha Regiment, in a bid to prove that Fonseka was at fault. Strangely, Fonseka’s handlers, to wit, the UNF and the JVP, are silent on this score! It is high time they came forward and countered the very serious allegations against their man.