incident because it is incorrigible, horrendous and indefensible but no, we are not surprised because this was, after all, Lohan Ratwattewhose previous foray into national headlines was twenty years ago when he was the son of the then Deputy Defence Minister AnuruddhaRatwatte
It was only last week that we stated in these columns that the government couldn’t stoop any lower in its actions and its callous disregard for good governance than in appointing its own National List parliamentarian Ajith NivardCabraal as the Governor of the Central Bank.
Before the week was out, it did- when its State Minister overseeing Prisons Lohan Ratwatteallegedly visited two prisons in the dead of the night in a drunken stupor and allegedly threatened two inmates at the Anuradhapura prison.
Yes, we are shocked at the alleged incident because it is incorrigible, horrendous and indefensible but no, we are not surprised because this was, after all, Lohan Ratwattewhose previous foray into national headlines was twenty years ago when he was the son of the then Deputy Defence Minister AnuruddhaRatwatte.
On that occasion, the reason for him being in the news was as a co-accused of the Udathalawinnamassacre on the day of the 2001 December general election when ten Muslim youth were gunned down in cold blood. Lohan, his brother Chanuka and father Anuruddha were charged with murder along with several soldiers but were later acquitted.
As is wont to happen with the Sri Lankan justice system, the charges against the Ratwattes were laid after the election of a United National Party government in 2001. They were acquitted in 2006 when a government led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was in office and Mahinda Rajapaksa was President.
That history notwithstanding, if the alleged incidents at the prisons are true, then we can see a pattern here: pointing guns at people of minority communities and threatening them- only, in this instance, the guns were not fired. Twenty years may have passed but people such as Lohan Ratwatte never change!
What is even more interesting is the aftermath following reports of this incident which indicates just how morally bankrupt this government is.
After reports of the incident first emerged, the Commissioner General of Prisons tells us that “no such incident has been reported” to him. The poor man is no doubt singing for his supper but he is technically correct as he was to later point out: at the time of the question, he later claimed, it hadn’t been brought to his notice!
As pressure from media reports about the incident escalated, Ratwatte publicised a letter written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In it he said he was offering his resignation as State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation to avoid “placing the government in a difficult position”. The letter is deafeningly silent about any culpability for the alleged incident.
What followed was a statement issued by the Presidential Media Division. That sounded an entirely different note. It said that the State Minister had resigned after “taking responsibility for the events at the prison”. This implies that there were some “events” that had occurred in prison and that Ratwatte was indeed responsible for them!
Then, Ratwatte decides to break his silence. He goes on the record, in a few interviews with selected media outlets and denies that he acted inappropriately. He acknowledges he visited the prison but states that as the minister, he is entitled to do so at any time. He vehemently denies threatening any one and denies carrying a weapon, saying he didn’t even carry his mobile phone with him.
While the uproar against Ratwatte continued mostly in social media, another question emerges: how is it that Ratwatte still continues in his role as State Minister of Gem and Jewellery Related Industries, when he is being accused of atrocious conduct as a minister in another portfolio and has resigned from those positions?
To solve this conundrum, Ratwatte’sparliamentary colleague, the irrepressible Wimal Weerawansa has an answer. Lohan Ratwatte has not stolen any gems, has he, Weerawansa asked incredulously. So, the argument now is that he can continue overseeing the gem and jewelleryindustries until he commits an offence in that sphere!
To be fair by Weerawansa, he is not the first to think of a similar argument- this is reminiscent of Ravi Karunanayake, when he was accused of financial impropriety in the Central Bank bond scam, being appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Ranil Wickremesinghe!
Weerawansa knows how to make a virtue out of a necessity and goes on to say that Ratwatte is an example to other politicians. His rationale is that mistakes are made by everyone and that it is a noble quality to acknowledge those mistakes and resign. Unwittingly perhaps, Weerawansa has let the cat out of the bag: he is admitting that Ratwatte has indeed committed the alleged offence.
What next, you may ask? Initially, there was some mention of there being no complaint and then an organisation dedicated to the welfare of prisoners did lodge a complaint. Now we have been assured by the Minister of Public security that the Inspector General of Police will conduct an investigation.
Being familiar with how such matters are conducted, the only person looking forward to the results of that investigation is probably only Ratwatte himself. Already, we have been told that there is no closed-circuit television footage available for the areas in which the incident is alleged to have occurred. So, with no conclusive evidence to find Ratwatte guilty, we know where this is heading and young Lohan could be back supervising the prisons again before you could say ‘Udathalawinna’.
The question most people are asking is what will happen to Lohan Ratwatte? Will he be charged with entering a prison in an unlawful manner and behaving in a disorderly and threatening manner? Or will this issue go the way of most other similar matters of political intimidation that get swept under the carpet after the passage of two weeks when the next scandal breaks?
The more important question though is why this government bothers to pay even lip service to the rule of law when it is acting with gross impunity- and immunity for those violating it on their behalf?
