The Day of the Independent Jackal

HIGHWAY CODE: A traffic policeman at the Kollupitiya Junction was recently nabbed by sleuths of the Bribery Commission while receiving a solicited bribe from the driver of a vehicle.

Kollupitiya Junction is well-known for police constables on traffic duty, but more interested in the extra "something" they can extract from drivers nabbed for even the mildest violation of the Highway Code.

The Kollupitiya incident is mere child's play compared to the operation the Commission on Bribery and Corruption will have to launch soon, unless it has done so already, to catch the givers and takers in the CMC elections.

We've often heard of the tiger being on the prowl for its prey. In this instance it's the elephant that's on the prowl.

There's no thrashing through the jungle making much noise seeking food for sustenance, for it is the political elephant that is on the prowl. Its prey is the Independent Lists for the forthcoming elections to the CMC.

There are posters all over the city showing Sirisena Cooray robed in his mayoral garb, with the Town Hall in the background, and a faded elephant symbol, with a message about coming forward despite many obstacles.

This poster and the message underlying it, as well as the open statements by Cooray and other members of the UNP about seeking alternate means to get elected to the CMC, despite its official nominations list being disqualified under the law, comprise the most brazen insult to the citizenry of Colombo.

It's a worse insult to those who support the UNP in the belief it is a party that does not flout the norms of decency in politics.

Independents catch the scent

Many are the "Independents" waiting to fall prey to the voraciously hungry rogue elephant on the prowl. It is known that during elections, leading political parties file some lists of "independents" too; in the hope of weaning away at least some votes of their opponents.

This does not mean there are no genuine independent groups that come forward, not necessarily for election, but as a means of making known to the public their dissenting views on current issues.

This is particularly so in elections to parliament, with the free TV and radio time given for political broadcasts to political parties and independent groups in the fray.

But the situation in the elections to the CMC is totally different. Many of the independent groups that have filed lists of candidates are now there for what they can get out of the UNP elephant, driven mad by the Courts upholding the rejection of its list of candidates as invalid.

The UNP's hunger has made jackals of these independents on the hunt for their own profit. Unable to contest under its own elephant symbol, the UNP is looking for an independent group it can buy over, to return to the familiar seats of corruption in the CMC.

It may seem easy to make such a purchase, even by public auction, for a party loaded with wealth as the UNP is. In a clear case of supply and demand, with the number of "independent lists" on offer being limited, the asking price is reported to be rising by the day.

Even worse is that though sufficient "advance" payments may be paid, there is still the possibility of the successful "independents" demanding more than their promised pound of filthy lucre after the poll, in case they win.

This is where the sleuths of the Commission on Bribery and Corruption have their work cast for them.

They should by now be on the trail of every leader in the UNP's failed CMC elections organization; every failed candidate on the UNP's rejected list, and every member of the independent groups that successfully filed lists for nomination. We are already informed that huge amounts are on offer for a whole list.

All this money is only meant to cheat the voters of Colombo into voting into the CMC, persons whose very nominations have been rejected by the Elections Commissioner. This is corruption of the worst kind.

No easy task

The UNP may have enough dirty money to be laundered into the pockets of one independent group or another. But it won't be so easy to have its members sitting in the CMC through this means.

It will have to forget the elephant symbol and begin placing large advertisements in print and the electronic media asking people to vote for the "Joker" symbol of the identified independent group. "Vote for the Joker to put the UNP back" the slogans will have to say.

This means, making more than jokers of actual voters. With the elephant symbol not on the ballot paper, those wanting to vote the UNP in through the backdoor may mark their cross against the Joker. But the matter of preferences is no easy task.

There will be no name of Sirisena Cooray or any of the others on the UNP's rejected nominations list on the ballot paper.

Therefore, the voters will have to be thoroughly educated earlier that No. 15 and the name Ganudenu Pusvedilla on the Joker list stands for Sirisena Cooray. And so it will have to be with all the fifty or more candidates whose names are on the list of the chosen independent jackals.

Even if the UNP publicizes the numbers and names of those on the "Joker" list by plastering all of Colombo with posters, in blatant violation of election law, it will still be no easy task to make the voters recall these names and numbers in the confines of the voting cubicle.

Many an expected "manaapey" that had been paid for, would have gone to another and Ganudenu Pusvedilla may be trailing the list for all his efforts.

One must not forget that with the UNP being divided into so many blocks, especially over the CMC elections, there is every possibility of cross-canvassing for rival candidates from the UNP, within the chosen group of independents.

The result of all this is that while the UNP voters of Colombo will be fooled, those who will win the day, making a real killing in buckshee will be the chosen independents, whatever the number they poll.

Many millions in rupees or foreign exchange will change hands to ensure the election of the Joker group to the CMC, with the added assurance that the preferential voting is in the same order as those who have mismanaged the UNP's entry into the fray in Colombo would want it.

It's a pity that voters who make a mistake in marking their preferential votes will be unable to ask for some tippex to alter a mistake in marking one's preference, although tippex came so handy in striking out some names and inserting others in the rejected nomination list of the UNP.

With many of the municipal councils the UNP held for decades won by the UPFA this time, many UNPers doubt their ability to go against the tide and hold on to Colombo, even if they contested under the usual elephant symbol.

The joker racket of wooing the independent jackals with loads of cash and other benefits, will certainly not appeal to many traditional UNP voters who may prefer to sit out this election, instead of voting in pack of Joke Elephants into the CMC.

Do I see Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara smiling at how the Mahinda Chintana fortunes have swung towards him?