Governance and corruption issues have been at the core of the political and socio-economic discussions in Sri Lanka for a long time and the interest of this topic deepened since the 2015 election campaign.
The election of new Governments have been heavily influenced by the stand taken by contesting political parties on corruption. Public perception about the performances of Governments depends on the way they conduct themselves in relation to corruption. The unpresented economic crisis which unfolded in 2022 and the International Monetary Fund’s governance diagnostic report further expounded the relevance and importance of corruption in the country.
The NPP Government came to power promising a corruption-free regime and taking legal action against corrupt political and bureaucratic elites was a major election pledge.
The educated segment of the society which is proficient in English including academics, professionals and civil society organisations seem to be well aware of the governance and corruption issues faced by the country. However, to what extent the public understand and perceive corruption as an important issue that directly or indirectly affects their well-being is an area for more research.
In this context, findings of a recent public perceptions survey presented in this article demonstrate how the public understands the impact of corruption on the economy and their well-being.
This survey was undertaken by Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) covering 2,611 households in eight districts. Districts and DS divisions were purposely selected and the GN divisions and households within GN divisions were randomly selected.
The standard good practices in designing the questionnaire, enumerator selection and training and implementing the survey was strictly adhered in collecting the data.
The survey was conducted between October 2024 and January 2025. The questions were framed to identify the reasons for the economic crisis including Covid-19 pandemic, long term economic mismanagement and corruption. The majority of the respondents, about 78% recognised the contribution of the pandemic for the economic crisis.
This article focuses on governance and corruption issues. The respondents were presented a statement in relation to the causes of the economic crisis and requested to respond stating whether they strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree.
Appropriateness of economic policies and its implementation
When respondents were presented with a statement – “leaders didn’t know the right policies” – 32% strongly agreed and 37% agreed. In total, 69% of the respondents believe that the leader of the country did not have a good knowledge about appropriate policies. Only 7% disagreed with the statement.
When a similar statement was given to the respondents, 27% strongly agreed that good policies were not properly implemented and 38% agreed. Together 65% of the respondents opine that good policies were not properly implemented and only 6% disagreed with the statement.
For both statements about 11-13% of the respondents stated that they have no firm opinion about the issue. What do these findings reveal?
In an era of scientific and evidence-based policy making is a must to thrive in a highly competitive globalised environment, the public believe that we didn’t have knowledgeable policymakers and their efforts on implementing good policies are wanting.Thus the majority of the respondents perceive that poor economic governance is a cause of the economic crisis.
There has been a lively debate on corruption among the academics, professionals and political leaders. However, it was not clear whether the public considers corruption as one of the main reasons for the collapse of the economy.
To shed some light on this issue, the perception survey asked whether the corruption and stealing by political leaders is a reason for the economic crisis. About 42% strongly agreed that corruption and stealing were the main reasons for the economic crisis and 35% agreed.
Thus, together 77% of the respondents believe that corruption by political leaders is a cause of the economic crisis. Only 3% disagreed. However, 11% did not express any firm opinion on the issue. A similar statement was presented about the corruption by government officials. About 38% of the respondents strongly agreed that corruption stealing by government officials is a reason for the economic crisis and about 34% agreed. Together 72% of the respondents believe that corruption and stealing by the government officials is a reason for the economic crisis. Only 3% disagreed and 13% did not express any firm opinion about the issue. Thus, the public believes that both political leaders and government officials are corrupt and their corrupt actions are a reason for the collapse of the economy. The results are also indicating that the significance of the corruption by political leaders is higher than that of government officials.
The results show that the majority of the respondents have firm opinions on governance and corruption issues. However, the categories of neutral and don’t know are also indicative of the lack of awareness of the public on the issues that matter for their well-being.
This category represents about 22%-29% of the sample. As per the results in table 1, lack awareness or firm opinions about economic policies and their implementation seem to be higher than that of corruption.
The majority has some idea about what is happening in the country while about one fourth of the population is not sure about the reasons behind the recent economic crisis that pushed many to poverty and destitution.
These findings indicate that awareness building on economic matters still has a role in Sri Lankan society.
Table 1: Awareness of economic policy and corruption issues
The findings of this survey may not be surprising but it has some important messages.
First, the majority of the public perceives corruption as an important issue. It is a reaffirmation for the ruling party that its anti-corruption work is supported by the public. Remaining uncorrupt and intensifying the legal action against past corruption will be appreciated by the public.
The findings also provide a strong message to the opposition. Rather than trying to play -down the gravity of the impact of corruption issues, as currently done by some opposition parliamentarians, they should reform themselves, take an anti-corruption stand and conduct accordingly, if they are to have a political future.
Second, the public perception highlights the importance of formulating appropriate economic policies and implementing them. It is too early to assess the present government’s approach for economic policy.
At present, the economy is doing well with about 5% growth but the likelihood of slowing down is pointed out by professional and funding agencies. The ultimate public approval depends on how well-off they are and reducing corruption is only a necessary condition for this end.
Therefore, designing the right kind of economic policies and implementing them fully should be given the deserving priority while working against corruption.
Third, awareness on economic governance and corruption issues by the public is quite high in Sri Lanka but there still some room for improvements.
The writer served as CEPA’s Executive Director and held senior positions at the Asian Development Bank
