Public gullibility

Sri Lankan public seems to be quite gullible. Just look at the series of frauds and deceptions perpetrated by conmen on the innocent public for the last couple of months or more. The Golden Key range of frauds, the Sakviti scam, the Danduwam Mudalalis scam, the petrol fraud, the Green tree scam and the false motor traffic registry are only a few well-known examples.

The impact of these scams on the public is so extensive that the Sinhala word Sakviti, meaning Universal monarch has now earned a new meaning, ie ace con man.

In all these ace conmen had hoodwinked large numbers of persons and defrauded huge sums of money. The victims are all not innocent rural folk. Among the victims are high-ranking members of the Armed Forces and the Police, the clergy of several religions, sports personnel and leading members of the society.

It is no secret that they could carry on their nefarious activities thanks to the patronage and support they received from well-placed persons in the higher echelons of society.

These fraudsters had used the public recognition of certain well-known individuals to attract depositors for the illegal financial institutions they ran with or without the consent of those individuals.

It is up to the authorities that comprise financial and law enforcement institutions to make people aware of the dangers inherent in keeping faith in such illegal institutions, to close any loopholes in the existing law that allows such fraudsters to operate with impunity and educate the public on the opportunities available to the public to deposit their hard earned money in safe hands.

What is more irritating is the fact that several such fraudsters have been hobnobbing with the powers that be and even receiving State honours.

To the list of fraudsters must be added the numbers that collect money from the gullible public with promises of foreign or local employment, at times even using the good names of parliamentarians or ministers without the latter knowing anything about such actions.

The lack of transparent procedures for recruitment of personnel for employment, as well as the existence of a large number of bogus job agencies, has complicated the problem that the ordinary man is unable to distinguish between the genuine and the bogus.

Time has come for the authorities to carry on a relentless struggle against such fraudsters and clean the society of the evils of bribery and corruption.

Strengthening the regulatory mechanisms and weeding out corruption at such mechanisms as a priority are essential if the general public is to be freed from the clutches of con men.

Prison reforms

That there is much to be desired in the Sri Lankan prison system is common knowledge. That it provides first time convicts and remand prisoners to graduate into hardcore criminals instead of being reformed is the perception the man in the street has of prisons.

Corruption, brutality, violence, over-crowding, unhygienic conditions are all terms associated with the prison system. Moreover the prisons are run on archaic rules, regulations and procedures drawn out during the colonial era.

Prisoners are also humans and they deserve humane treatment. Emphasis must be on rehabilitation and not punishment.

It is glad that the new Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister has taken up the issue of prison reforms in earnest. He has correctly understood that there should be a strategic change in conceptualizing the prison system and its management.

Sri Lanka is far backward in prison management. Even the prison hospital is managed like a hospital prison. Not only convicted prisoners but even remand prisoners and other detainees are looked down upon as criminals and treated as non-humans.

Basic sanitary facilities are lacking in most prisons for the simple reason that they now house several times the numbers they were expected to hold at the time of their construction.

Prison reforms are an urgent necessity. It is hoped that the new Minister will deliver. Good luck, Mr Minister.