Just hours after the New Year fireworks stopped and the smoke cleared, an elite cast of Sri Lankans that also included high-ranking clergymen came together on one platform as part of the enough-is-enough campaign to rid the country of corruption in sport and the Society at large, lock stock and barrel.
Among the anti-corruption activists was Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, former World Cup winning cricketers Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena along with the veteran Sidat Wettimuny who were unmistakable by their presence.
But it will never be known why the trio of two World Cup winning teams failed to stand up against corruption in unison last year and their presence now on the political platform for the first time begs for answers.
They sat tight and listened attentively while President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his inimitable head-turning address declared that “corrupt elements were above the law”.
“This is not only about the cleanliness of the environment. It’s also about what is broken down and rotting and left orphaned. It is about replacement and clean-up in every sphere of Society that we have to heal”, said President Dissanayake in a New Year’s Day address that officially launched his drive for a healthy “Clean Sri Lanka”.
De Silva, Sangakkara, Jayawardena and Wettimuny have at some stage played off-field roles at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and would know better the inner workings of an Establishment that came inches close to a thorough clean-up only to be thwarted by former President Ranil Wickremasinghe who held the trump card after Parliament voted unanimously for change that never occurred in 2023.
Several crusaders for change are keeping their fingers crossed with all-talk and no play being the name of the game so far as the wait continues for an acceptable governance of the country’s pride and passion called cricket.
Last week SLC claimed it decided to install Committees compatible with financial transparency while at the same time slashing the number of votes to elect its office-bearers from 147 to 60 in what opponents argue is an eyewash to stamp out what is said to be vote-buying that has been documented in Investigative Reports as one of the factors causing the entry of shady elements into cricket administration.
Sri Lanka’s Olympic sports set-up called the National Olympic Committee (NOC) has also gained notoriety with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) halting funding and threatening it with a ban over abuse and mismanagement that was also raised in Parliament in 2023.
