Sri Lanka Has Not One, Two Viruses: Covid 19 & Corruption

Gotabaya Rajapaksa

By Vishwamithra –JUNE 2, 2021

“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ~ Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

When the Covid-19 virus attacked the globe, firstly The People’s Republic of China and thereafter indiscriminately all over, those countries whose leaders adopted policies based on science and plain simple logic managed the containment of the virus to an acceptable level that can be called satisfactory. But the counties which have narcissistic leaders at the helm, who thought that they are bigger than the country they lead, chose to play a very self-centered game. For them the pandemic crisis was another opportunity to display their self-proclaimed uniqueness. As usual, the United States of America, the sole ‘mega super power’ in the world, took the lead in this idiotic venture. 

Ironically each of these countries had to grapple, instead of one, with two viruses. America had two viruses: 1. Covid-19 2. Donald Trump. With Trump’s political defeat, now America has to cope with only one, the Covid kind. Brazil and India too experienced the same; Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi respectively share that contemptible credit of being the second virus that has gripped their respective countries. Now Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the leader of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has come into the mix. Bravo! What a glory to be in the same category with Trump, Modi and Bolsonaro!

Tisaranee Gunasekara’s column under Patriot, Bared dated May 23, published in Colombo Telegraph is undoubtedly one of the most illuminating pieces of journalism that combined facts with a lot of truth-telling. A portrayal of a perishing island, focus on the malignancies of a regime so bent on making profits at the expense of those who voted them to power and a ruthless analysis of a malfunctioning government are all enunciated in the most understandable lingo, Tisaranee, as always, never pulls her punches nor does she give any quarter where such is not necessary.

Yet, the abysmal truth is the caravan keeps meandering along the same old path of corruption, nepotism and dishonesty, towards the same goal: profits and more profits. Therein lies the bitter misfortune. Avarice and indulgence in appalling cruelties go hand in hand and the ‘Cabal’ does not seem to comprehend the nuances of human behavior; or they simply reject the opportunity to employ curative measures when such processes are deemed imminent.

The ‘Cabal’s’ scope of understanding is narrow and unreservedly shallow. Deep appreciation of any socio-economic and political issues evades them; space for any counteraction is ‘to let’, as the saying goes. Those sycophants who surround them are fearful of punishment if they happen to disagree with the Master. These are no findings of a deep psychoanalysis; they are commonsensical observations.

As it was with Donald Trump, Nandasena’s inadequacies and complete void of empathy were bared open like rotten wound kept under rags of corruption and dishonesty. The oozing became apparent in the presence of the deadly Covid-19 and unfortunately the virus began its own destructive course, claiming the lives and livelihoods of the average voter more than it affected the ‘cabal’.

Waiting in the wings of this monstrous virus was another clan of vultures: Rajapaksa cabal and its unquestioning stooges. Their purpose of life has always been one of avaricious travels. Ever ready to pounce upon the littlest hint of a ‘deal’, these political scavengers are now showing their true colors. Ancient Roman author/writer Pliny the Elder describes avarice as follows: ‘the lust of avarice so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess them than they possess their wealth’. The current crop of the scroungers of the Rajapaksa cabal fits perfectly into this description of avarice and its facilitating comedians. The double jeopardy of the Covid-19 coupled with the Rajapaksa-corruption has slowly begun to take hold of the local body politic.

The irony is that the Covid virus will go away one day; it is possible that with mass vaccination and methodical contact tracing, Sri Lanka might attain the stage in which the spread of the Covid virus would remain contained.

At the current rate, The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) projects that Sri Lanka would have a whopping 11,907 COVID-19 deaths by September 1, 2021 (Source: IHME Website). The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is a research institute working in the area of global health statistics and impact evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. Its reliability and accuracy is largely trusted by the scientific community, not only in the USA, but all over the world.

The following graphic illustrates the true situation in our region:

It gives a full presentation of the Covid-19 Projections for September 1, 2021

Even daily deaths data are projections for September 1, 2021

For whatever reasons, North Korea, South Korea and Bhutan data is not available.

Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

See where Sri Lanka is placed. It’s right in the middle of the table. It’s not a palatable read at all. No one is blaming the current rulers for the Covid-19’s arrival in Sri Lanka. But the total responsibility for the management or lack thereof the crisis that followed is certainly theirs. There is enough anecdotal evidence as to the corrupt practices of the Rajapaksa henchmen who readily made profits out of the spread of the Covid. In addition to their absolute incompetence in handling such a massive pandemic, the total insensitivity displayed by them through their greedy money-making practices is fundamentally immoral and downright diabolical.

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