Daylight Robbery by Senior State Officials! Contd. It just goes on and on!

I reported earlier (I believe it was my last Blog entry) about how ANY paddy land can be refilled for development at a price, thanks to collective connivance of State Officials without conscience. Just look at the houses these people live in the private cars they have, the overseas travel they engage in, and Countries they retire in with their loot, having educated their children first with some of the loot, and then set them up with the money transfers to buy house and home, all part of the package. Heard about Australia as a safe haven for the ill gotten gains. So much for preventing Boat People, while accepting daylight robbers with open arms as they have money! Its all part of the sordid way in which all the heritage and resources of Sri Lanka are spirited away, by our very own people. Before blaming the ills of the world on the USA look inwards to our so called Public Servants, (not all but some, and a few bad apples can still despoil a whole nation.)

Well here is another story and from this and many more to follow, you can see how Public Servants use their position to fleece the state and fill their own pockets, and nothing gets done about it, as NO ONE wishes to get entangled by disciplining and prosecuting state officials, as there is a honor among thieves to protect their own, in much the same way as the Police always protect their own, even when they know they have broken the law.

This leads to a state of endemic corruption, in which Sri Lanka is DEEPLY MIRED in and even a good and honest politician, even if there is EVEN one who is in this category, is prevented by this WALL OF SHAME from penetrating this bastion of STATE CORRUPTION to get at the nub of the problem that ails us, so it can be PUBLICIZED and urgent action taken to correct ABUSE.

The supposed collective conscience of the nation, the MEDIA is sadly COMPLICIT in this CRIME, and do not report it as they are paid in ARRACK not to disclose what is staring them in the face, and to that extent, our FOURTH ESTATE IS A SHAMELESS PARTICIPANT IN THIS ORGANIZED CRIME.

That is why we have to turn to Social Media, with Fake News that has always been around in the mainstream media, due to its acceptance as authentic, has resulted in the  public being completely hoodwinked. The beauty of Social Media such as this Blog is that we are aware of the Fake News being an issue and so there is MORE thought going into the readership of Social Media, who analyze what they read, even here in my blog, and by weighing he pros and cons will determine whether it is more likely to be truth or not.

I have devoted this Blog primarily to bring to my reader, information that they will NOT be privy to elsewhere, anywhere for that matter, and certainly will not appear in any Newspaper or TV show as they are meant to merely pursue the Owners’ Agenda and NOT produce factual analysis for the reader to evaluate. In fact as far as I know this is the ONLY Blog that primarily reports Sri Lankan situations, and conundrums and anti-PUBLIC actions, IN THE INTERESTS PURELY OF THE SRI LANKAN PEOPLE. It seeks NO fear or favor, and asks for nothing, just to think about the probable likelihood of what is written here.

THOSE ENTRUSTED TO PROTECT THE WILD PROTECT THEMSELVES INSTEAD

Prince Edward Windsor, the youngest son of the Queen of England is here in Sri Lanka to represent the Queen in the 70^th Anniversary Celebrations of the Independence from Great Britain on 4^th February 1948. He is expected to be a visitor at the Minneriya National Park on Monday, 5^th of February 2018.

The Park has been awarded a contract of Rs5M to resurface the roads within the park to fill all the holes and make the drive around the park a pleasant one for visitors in their Jeeps. I don’t know how the Prince is going to travel, be it in a Land Rover Discovery or a Range Rover, the preferred mode of travel of British Royalty.

Instead of awarding this complete contract to a company with strict conditions on what needs to be done, the Head, has taken upon it himself to get the Jeep Owners Association to provide two Tractor Trailers Free, for  his use to help in resurfacing the road. He then uses the employees of the National Park, on their normal duty time, and without a break, say about 20 staff, or as much as he can get, to collect the earth and then spread it all around the needed areas, and then report that the job has been completed, and will request that the amount passed be given to him in cash to pay for the work.

Of course in his log he will say how many loads of earth had been transferred, how many man hours were used, how many vehicles were hired for how many days in making his claim for Rs4M, to show he was able to finish the job under budget and thereby saving the state Rs1M and get brownie points as a wonder boy who should be promoted to even higher levels in his Career.

Of course the Jeep Owners Association don’t know of this scam, that he is actually being paid full rates for the use of their tractor trailers, and neither do the unsuspecting staff, who HAVE TO follow orders and do as they are told, no questions asked.

This is another example of how the State is scammed, in this case for Rs4M and the public pay for it! Worse, it ends with a shoddy job, half done, which will only last till the next torrential rains. Knowing the park, and knowing the desperate need for a small permanent bridge in a place that can prevent so much road erosion, that Rs4M would be far better spent, but the Minister has not put that need on the front burner, just a boru show pot hole fill up only!!

You ain’t seen nothing yet! Wait when 10,000 elected peoples representatives get into the act – there will be no Country left for the future~

If any of you intelligent readers wonder why we in Sri Lanka have been unable to grasp the extent of how the public are fooled – just read this ONE example of many of the hidden goings on, which you are not even made aware of in the social media, as our level of intelligence is so non-existent due to an education system that has stifled ANY kind of imagination, it is ripe for the rip off artists.

Tell me you don’t know that as soon as the Local Government Elections are over, the winners have already made deals to give people permits for filling paddy land, permits to build in questionable areas, and contracts at inflated prices for various small projects of roads or drains or whatever. So while the public funds are used, a few people including the Elected Members make a cut, not small I might add, of your money.

So in effect you are electing crooks. Nevertheless, do you think there was NO thievery while there were NO elected officials in local government in the last two years, as the Councils’ terms had expired.

THE ANSWER IS A FIRM NO. THE PUBLIC SERVANTS FILLED IT!

Why? Because this theft is carried out to a massive extent by the unelected officials, now in Government Service who have taken a pledge to protect the State. Included are the hangers on of MPs and Ministers and even the President and the PM, using the power of their office to loot the nation’s future, that is the environment, and all policies set up to protect the state from itself.

The example I wish to draw to your attention is on the filling up of Paddy Lands. We all know that it is illegal to fill up paddy lands, as they are in lower ground and used as drainage during excessive rains and to protect our farmers, and ensure we are self-sufficient in agriculture. Natural sponge wetlands too.

Despite this, mainly with the connivance of Government Servants in many Departments across the board, they have ensured that people have been given permits, to fill about 250,000 acres of paddy land  in the past 15 years, ONLY in the Western Province and now there is very little left. The demand for buildable land for shops, offices, factories and homes has been such that, rules and regulations have been flouted without any concern for the consequences.

Where is the Media in all this? Nowhere as they dare not bring this issue up, as they are silenced by the powerful and moneyed interests into total silence, that is on journalists who have common sense and sense of community spirit who wish to publicize this environmental disaster. Others are just dumb.

If you wonder how so many people are able to buy brand new Range Rovers today at Rs30M a pop, just read the rest of the story and you will know how.

You all know that land prices in the Western Province have skyrocketed to stratospheric proportions. With NO rules in Colombo, designating only small areas for high rise development, we are now seeing apartment complexes in every nook and cranny, and permission for all of them have been given due to large scale bribery, not through fair means, as Public Servants wait to be bribed before giving permission and they are acutely aware that time is money, and so often demand an apartment or two in these buildings for their signature to pass plans. This is like a bribe of Rs50M or Rs100M to them. We must stop this!

Getting back to the filling of paddy lands, I asked a person a few days ago, if I could get the permit to fill 4 acres of land about 25km from the heart of Colombo. The land is worthless as paddy land, as due to rain run-off, it is impossible to cultivate. It fills up with water because all the land at higher ground is built up and there is nowhere for the water to go except into the lower ground paddy fields. If this land is filled the land is worth a minimum of Rs250K a perch, and there are 160 perches to an acre, the minimum value of an acre would be 40Million. So I was told I will have to pay 25% of that value as the fee to obtain permission to fill and that permission is only valid for one year. So Rs10M per acre or Rs40M for the whole deal, but must be filled in one year.

To be honest I don’t mind paying the Government that money for this permission if that is legal and above board, but to pay the fixer who is part of the President’s inner circle and another fixer who is part of the Prime Minister’s inner circle, that is unconscionable. In this instance I honestly don’t believe either the President or the PM knows about it, or partakes in any largesse directly, but as these people are part of their circle, they MUST benefit indirectly in some way, even if it is for their election costs.

I then investigated how this Rs40M is divided. I can’t say exactly but the people partaking in sharing this largesse are all the people whose permission is required before the official permit to fill is obtained. Almost all Public Servants.

I thought all this was quite illegal. So how come it is permitted? The point is it is not illegal, just that different rules apply to different jurisdictions, and those rules and permission have to be complied with. It should be made illegal, surely.

One of the biggest gravy trains is under the President himself. That is the Central Environmental Authority. They are responsible for the safeguarding of the environment and their officials make hay while the sun shines by selling their rights and the nation’s future to the highest bidder. In short destroying it.

It is no secret that for the right price they will sign their mother’s death warrant, and almighty Mammon is their God as they want the Range Rover just like their boss and they see a simple way of getting it.

So this fixer gives a cut to the agent who brought the investor, who needs the permit, another cut to the CEA official, another to the Divisional Secretariat official, another to UDA official whose permission is needed for development, another to the RDA official to check that no road has to pass through that land, and so on about 6 people have to been paid off but the main man working under the auspices of the PM or President takes the Golden Share as he COORDINATES the whole process, working from the PMs or Pres Office.

SO you see how this works. The original owner of the paddy lands is fooled by being paid about twice the paddy land value for the property, which amounts to peanuts as the permission to fill, is the key to profit. With so many builders looking for land, the person who goes to do the deal may have already pre sold the land with the conditional promise of a filling permit, so he too becomes just another cog in this wheel.

Have you noticed how many Keells and Food City outlets are coming up around the Western Province? Have you seen where they are being built? And do you know the history of how that land was allowed to be built on? As far as Cargills and Keells are concerned they have a formula of how much they are willing to pay and how long they are willing to sign on to the leases of the properties etc. so they don’t care as long as the correct legal procedures are done, what the history has been. It is simply matching supply with demand and rules are bent to make it happen and many people get rich along the way.

The government does not get a red cent in all this and it is high time all this stops and either it is simply forbidden or all permission merely has a price payable to the State, who will be able to bridge the deficit from this money! 

The Philippines is to stop sending workers to KUWAIT!

Should Sri Lanka follow suit? If so how should we rationalize the argument?

The link below shows the rationale for the action by the Philippine Government.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42752388

It is estimated that there are 250,000 Filipinas working in Kuwait, most as maids and domestic helpers. In total the Philippines’ foreign workers remit US$2B a month from all over the world, a little over double that of Sri Lanka. The action is taken due to a rising, though still a TINY minority of abuse cases be they sexual or otherwise, leading to slavery and suicide.

We in Sri Lanka can also identify with this issue, and again the incidence is small. The philosophical question is how small is small and how much is acceptable? Is this stance by the Government pushing the Kuwaitis into taking action against their own citizens who are the abusers?

Muslim countries don’t send their women folk to work in the Middle East, so Sri Lanka and the Philippines fill this void, and even India discourages women from working in the Middle East. I know there are Nepalese, but even here, it is the men who go and work in very difficult conditions, many dying in Qatar while building their air-conditioned Soccer Stadiums for the World Cup, in the intense heat and poor working conditions. All this is borne out of poverty.

We must understand that while the economy benefits by worker remittances, we as a country must count the social cost. In this regard, recent developments prevent women with underage children from going, but many flout this law, by forgery or lying about their dependents, as I personally know women who have left leaving infant children recently.

If you ask the majority of workers in Kuwait, if they want to return there will be an overwhelming NO, as their money is what keeps their families in Sri Lanka from hunger, and many have gone to flee from abusive husbands who arguably can be worse than abusive employers.

While people should be allowed to go of their own free will to better themselves, they MUST be made aware of the consequences, and if they find themselves in an abusive situation, they need to know how to extricate themselves from it, using the assistance of the Embassy there, and their passports must not be held by the employer.  

Allowing women their fundamental and human rights seems to irk many civilians in Sri Lanka the wrong way! Still Colonial Mentality of the leaders

I even know of a foolish woman who said she completely rejects the permission given to women to buy liquor/alcohol. Is she kidding? Or is she really serious, worse she is a candidate in the local council elections, and does she believe this stance is going to improve her chances? Or is she simply grandstanding, and out of ignorance cannot defend this statement, as it simply formalizing by removing an archaic rule of prohibition which was NEVER ENFORCED for obvious reasons, as a person could take the matter up as a FR petition to the Supreme Court and let the courts overturn this rule!

It simply goes to show the caliber of women we have put on our slate, simple village idiots no less, not realizing that on the one had they want parity and equality with men, and then on the other rejecting a women’s right to purchase alcohol.

So here are some suggestions for the newly empowered women. Go tell your husbands that they can come home, and she will go buy the alcohol, and he must drink at home, and tell him if he changes from Arrack to larger, she will also enjoy a drink with him and so does not have to show off to his friends and get drunk and come home wasted making a total fool of himself in front of her and the children.

Does anyone buy my story? Well try it for a while and you will see that there could be hope! But alas no. I just got wind of a statement the President has made, at an election rally in Agalawatte, to the effect that he is going to rescind this order, effectively consigning women to break the law, and the police having to enforce a stupid law, just to ease the pressure put on a Gramasevaka minded President consigning our women to the an age that never existed.

This kind of regressive thinking is all part and parcel of why the intelligent and educated wish to leave this Country while the village idiots are allowed to rule, an enslaved state.

I appeal to the youth who see the absurdity of politicized statements that are actually human rights violations, in any country and even in ancient Sri Lanka, the Kings of Polonnaruwa would never have tolerated such dictats, and would even consign their leader, in this case the President to the Tower until he saw sense. In fact this rule was one the British used to subjugate their subjects!

Kata Kiyannada? 

Trump has used the shit word to describe countries, just be glad he has not heard of Sri Lanka, otherwise he would say the same about us.

Trump wants to stop the crude underbelly of the world trying to come to the USA. What’s wrong with that? Nothing

If a country makes a decision that they don’t want people who are desperate to come there, from arriving, like Australia, what is wrong with that? These are people who are fleeing oppression and others who are merely hoping for a better deal than they can get in their own country, those two are the main reasons, why people go to other countries and try to live their permanently.

Read the link below before reading on to understand the words of POTUS and why you think he utters these words in his own inimical style that is classic Trump, no less!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42656433  

This is the system today, and it was the system in the past. After all the Pilgrim Fathers ALSO fled oppression when they arrived in the Mayflower to New England in the 17^th Century and this is nothing different. IF the Red Indians, or Native Americans, to use the politically correct term, were powerful enough to prevent them from coming we will have a Native American State in what is today the USA.

We must face facts that the world is simply a place of survival of the fittest, and you are at the mercy of the fittest, and the name of the game should be how you become the fittest and not the enslaved.

Trump is simply representing the sentiments of the majority of the people who live in the United States, just as if the same words were used by one of our leaders it would be representing the same sentiments of this great Sri Lankan nation that is still thinking on ethnic lines due to its racist ideals, of each of the majority and minority communities. ALL ARE RACIST and so we don’t have a nationhood.

In the USA many are racist and many are not, as a land of immigrants it is easy not to be racist just as it is easy to be racist if you see your survival at stake. It all boils down to enlightened self-interest.

It is well to know before we criticize another, WHAT WOULD WE SAY IF IT WAS US FACING THE SAME KIND OF DESPERATION COMING TO OUR SHORES IN DROVES LEGALLY AS WELL AS ILLEGALLY?

Putin says that the North Korean Leader is a genius - but it is all a game, and Trump is one of the players. read all about it

What has the world come to? Putin is now saying North Korea’s KIM is a genius and in the same breadth that in reality both Trump and Kim are chums, chatting to each other all the time, laughing about how foolish the world is.

Please read the links below before following the rest of the story, as that is what it is, just a laugh at the expense of the world and these high and mighty professors who are pontificating on Foreign Policy, Defence Studies, War Games and putting the War Games into clever computers to analyse the likely outcomes, all of which are useless because the players are merely making up stories to frighten the public keep them away from the real problem of their personality defects.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5260423/Putin-says-Kim-Jong-shown-shrewd-mature.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5260505/Trump-probably-good-relationship-Kim.html

We the public are just being led a dance by all these players, who are being entertained by tis charade of upstaging to enhance their personal reputation and brands. Now most of the world admire Kim for standing up to BIG BROTHER USA and both Trump and Kim are laughing about these foolish people, when in fact both are mad and should in reality be sectioned in an Asylum preferably in adjoining rooms, so they can shout at each other!

All this shouting can be shown on reality TV and will form the show with the highest ratings in history as most of the world will be watching their shouting match, and being entertained by their absurdity itself!

So to think that there are so many highly paid think tanks all over the world working on a problem that does not exist, is too absurd as they are collectively costing the tax payers of all these countries inexorable amounts of money, while not one penny should be spent on this game, and instead concentrate our energies in putting these people away from the ability to harm humankind, by locking them away and throwing the keys.

All this may sound quite bizarre and the musings of a fertile mind, but just ponder on what I have written, read the links and please come to your conclusion on what is the likely true scenario, and NO ONE is going to confirm or deny my hypotheses either.

It is time for the Executive Director of CAFFFE to resign

 as he is completely biased and does not have a straight hair in his head anymore

Rajitha Keerthi Tennekoon as the Executive Director of CAFFFE tasked primarily with ensuring free and fair electoral processes in Elections, who did not during the MR regime dare to criticize the Government in power in this way, is suddenly using the freedoms promised and delivered by this Government to find fault with the Government and the Prime Minister in particular with a vendetta more reminiscent of someone SCORNED!

This kind of reprehensible revengeful statements like the one attributed here in the link below, should be looked at by those who govern CAFFFE to put their Executive Director on notice, NOT to use his august position to sling mud at each other just like the Parliamentarians are engaged in.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Tense-situation-in-House-set-up-by-Govt-CaFFe-143745.html

CAFFFE requires a level of integrity, which Tennekoon for whatever personality defect he suffers from is patently unqualified to hold this post, yet no one seems to have noticed his behavior, especially the use of social media to misuse his position to take advantage of a perceived independence, which upon reading that clearly indicates his patent bias.

It is quite possible he has a paymaster behind the scenes who possibly has enslaved him, which adds another dimension to this plot of his, effectively leading innocent people believing in his unbiased independence down the garden path, to make decisions that are wrong, without foundation, and completely inappropriate once his nakedness is exposed for all to see.

I will appeal to him to look in the mirror and ask if he has a conscience left in making unseemly allegations against the rulers in power, democratically elected, about whom we may or may not agree, to sling mud in a worse form that the parliamentary debacle of yesterday, which was true to form as none of the 225 are qualified to hold their MP posts, and CAFFFE has not agitated against ALL as patently unfit to rule, merely picking on the PM as the baddest of the bad that inhabits the earth when the rogues litter this country.

Pray tell me what has the PM financially gained from all his years in office other than his salary and perks of the position? What has Tennekoon gained in his capacity, earning more than the PM to throw mud at the PM and not disclosing most of his earnings for Tax purposes. So I ask him before he is exposed to the world as a huge fraud, to have his head screwed ON and not OFF